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Abstract
In the early medieval period, a number of mantic texts were produced which discussed the issue of portents expressed through fashions in clothing. It was the contention of these authors that changing fashions served to predict the decline of dynasties, the deaths of emperors, and foreign invasions. This article explores this tradition in the context of apophenia, which occurs when individuals over-interpret random pieces of information, seeking to establish patterns that do not in fact exist. Such fateful fashions (fuyao) provide a clear example of the way in which apophenia was crucial for shaping omenological literature, in particular the “Wuxing zhi” (Treatises of the Five Phases) chapters of the dynastic histories.
魏晉南北朝時期，文人寫了許多預兆文獻，提出了奇装異服成爲凶兆的理論。一些作家，包括傅玄、干寳、沈約等認爲某些時尚潮流的變化是朝廷腐敗和崩潰的凶兆，或者皇帝之死和外敌入侵之預兆。本文討論到這種理論與圖形模式妄想症（apophenia）的關聯。圖形模式妄想症讓人過度解讀信息，建立匪夷所思的模式。因此，一些魏晉南北朝的文人創造了「服妖」，而且預兆文獻中的服妖很明顯地是圖形模式妄想症的表現，尤其在正史《宋書》之〈五行志〉中。本文探索歷史著作和前兆之關係，試圖證明圖形模式妄想症對預兆文獻的重要性。
Notes
1 For a comprehensive overview of the history of fashion as omens of ill-fortune, see CitationChen Baoliang 2014.
2 Previous authors have translated the term fuyao as “sartorial anomaly” or “ornamentation anomaly,” see CitationYang Shao-yun 2017, p. 261; and CitationDoran 2016, pp. 174–178 respectively. Both of these translations fail to convey the element of prediction contained within the term yao.
3 祥者福之先者也，見祥而為不善則福不至；妖者禍之先者也，見妖而為善則禍不至. Lüshi chunqiu, “Zhiyue” 制樂, p. 350. The significance of this text in defining the term yao and setting the scene for the creation of the fuyao is considered in CitationLiu Lu 2016.
4 For studies of such moralistic writings from various historical contexts, see for example CitationOlson 2008; CitationFriedman 2013; and CitationHarlow 2017.
5 There has been relatively little research to date on fuyao; however, the publications by Rebecca Doran have gone far to elucidate the early history of this form of omenology see CitationDoran 2019 and Citation2020 for her studies of hair and hat omens.
7 The term apophenia was coined in CitationConrad 1958. To date, the connections between apophenia and mantic traditions have been almost entirely ignored; for a pioneering article in this field, see CitationBoice – Boonmasai 2020. The term “omenological” was advanced to describe Chinese mantic practices through the study of Han dynasty portents; see CitationBielenstein 1950.
8 The financial aspect means that a great deal of the research on apophenia to date has been related to gambling, where individuals may stake money on the basis of patterns (such as “lucky numbers”) which do not in fact exist; see for example CitationWilke et al. 2014; and CitationArmstrong et al. 2020.
9 See for example CitationDeeley 2010; CitationMeschiari 2009; and CitationMishlove – Engen 2007. For a study of the relevance of this to understanding ancient Chinese texts, see CitationFarmer et al. 2000.
10 Hanshu 漢書 27B1.1365.
11 For different accounts of these events, see Zuozhuan 左傳, Min 2, pp. 268–272; Guoyu 國語, “Jinyu” 晉語 1, pp. 279–281; and Shiji 史記 39.1643.
12 Hanshu 27B1.1365–1367. The tale of Zizang’s ill-omened headgear is taken from the Zuozhuan, Xi 24, p. 427.
13 This suggestion is made in CitationYang Pingnan 2001, p. 426. The idea that kingfisher feather hats were worn by astrologers is reported by a number of Han dynasty sources, including the Shuowen jiezi zhu 説文解字注 (Explaining Graphs and Analyzing Characters) dictionary, where it is attributed to the Liji 禮記 (Records of Ritual), though this line is not found in the transmitted text; see Shuowen jiezi, “Niaobu” 鳥部, p. 271. If Zizang was murdered because of an incautiously expressed interest in prognostication, this would be comparable to the death of Liu Xian 劉賢 (d. 165 BCE), beaten to death by the future Emperor Jing of the Han dynasty (Han Jing di 漢景帝, r. 157–141 BCE) over a game of liubo 六博; see Shiji 106.2823.
14 劉向以爲近服妖者也. Hanshu 27B1.1366.
15 The correlation between action and correspondence is stressed in many accounts; for example, the Lunheng 論衡 (Doctrines Weighed) says: “People of this generation say that those who do good deeds will receive good luck, while bad luck will come to those who do evil deeds. The correspondence of good luck and bad is all [thanks to] Heaven: people do things and Heaven corresponds to it.” (世論行善者福至，為惡者禍來。福禍之應，皆天也。人為之，天應之). See Lunheng 論衡, “Fuxu” 福虛, p. 261.
16 For example, Story 180 in the Soushen ji is now commonly entitled “Xi Jin fuyao” 西晉服妖 (A Fashion Weird of the Western Jin Dynasty); see Soushen ji, p. 93.
17 It is striking that later dynastic histories, though they may include a section on fuyao, tend to eschew the idea of correspondence. The last dynastic history to use this formulation is the Xin Tangshu 新唐書 24.531.
18 This oblique reference concerns the rule of the developmentally disabled Emperor Hui of Jin (Jin Hui di 晉惠帝, r. 290–301; 301–307), whose incapacity to govern resulted in a succession of regents taking control of the regime.
19 晉興後，衣服上儉下豐，著衣者皆厭䙅蓋裙。君衰弱，臣放縱，下掩上之象也。陵遲至元康末，婦人出兩襠，加乎脛之上，此內出外也 … 干寶曰：「及晉之禍，天子失柄，權制寵臣，下掩上之應也。永嘉末，六宮才人，流徙戎、翟，內出外之應也。」. Songshu 30.887.
21 Indeed, CitationPan Xiaoming 1998 stresses the oppositional nature of the fuyao, whereby once some items of clothes were defined as dangerous and ill-omened, others naturally came to be viewed as safe and unthreatening.
22 This point is emphasized in CitationLi – Meng 2006.
23 貌之不恭，是謂不肅 … 時則有服妖. Shangshu dazhuan, “Hongfan,” pp. 63–64. See also Shangshu, “Hongfan,” pp. 296–325 for the original text of this chapter.
24 風俗狂慢，變節易度，則為剽輕奇怪之服，故有服妖. Hanshu 27B1.1353.
25 This chapter is also sometimes designated as “Anomalies and Disasters” or yizai 異災 chapter, in accordance with the wide scope of the material included; see Fengsu tongyi, “Yiwen” 佚文, “Fuyao” 服妖, p. 567 for a discussion of the two different chapter titles and the wide range of material found in quotations from this section of the text.
26 The relationship between these two texts is considered in CitationHuang Qishu 2014; and CitationMansvelt Beck 1990.
27 See Jinshu 晉書 27.818–820 and 27.822–827 respectively. Here, the Jinshu seems to be following a division first introduced in the Songshu 30.882–884; however, other near-contemporary dynastic histories such as the Nan Qishu only include fuyao and do not mention the mao bugong category. For a study of the importance of changing categorizations in the “Wuxing zhi” chapters of dynastic histories as indicative of shifts in political thinking, see CitationNylan 2019.
28 During the Qing dynasty, attempts were made by various scholars to recompile the Fuzi from quotations, with a five juan edition produced by Yan Kejun 嚴可均 (1762–1843), an alternative five juan edition compiled by Fu Yili 傅以禮 (1827–1898), and a three juan recension by Qian Baotang 錢保塘 (1833–1897). For studies of surviving material from the Fuzi; see for example CitationXin Zhifeng 2003; CitationWu Wanxia 2012; and CitationLiu Zhili 1998.
29 He Yan’s exceptional intellectual gifts and his supposedly debauched lifestyle are mentioned in various early sources; see for example Sanguo zhi 三國志 9.292–293; and Shishuo xinyu 世説新語, “Suhui” 夙惠, p. 505.
30 In her study of various kinds of yao, CitationCheng Hsiao-wen 2018, p. 2 n. 4, suggests that fuyao did not involve cross-dressing, but He Yan was certainly engaged in this kind of practice.
31 Quan Jinwen 全晉文 49.1741.
32 The earliest text to make reference to Mo Xi’s cross-dressing activities seems to be the Lienü zhuan 烈女傳 (Biography of Exemplary Women) which states that she “suspended a sword from her waist and wore [a man’s] belt and hat” (peijian daiguan 佩劍帶冠); see Lienü zhuan, “Niebi zhuan” 孽嬖傳, p. 281. For Mo Xi’s role in the destruction of the Xia dynasty, when she conspired against her husband, King Jie, see for example Guoyu, “Jinyu” 1, p. 255; and Lüshi chunqiu, “Shenda” 慎大, pp. 850–851.
33 魏尚書何晏，好服婦人之服。傅玄曰︰「此服妖也。」夫衣裳之制，所以定上下，殊內外也 … 若內外不殊，王制失敍，服妖既作，身隨之亡。末嬉冠男子之冠，桀亡天下；何晏服婦人之服，亦亡其家。其咎均也. Songshu 30.886–887.
34 See for example CitationGuo Xiaowen 2019; and CitationHu Xiangqin 2014.
35 For example, CitationLu Rong 1997, 10.123–124, in his discussion of the so-called Mawei qun 馬尾裙 or “Horse-tail Skirts” fashionable from the Ming dynasty, gives a very detailed account of how this trend was adopted by different social groups, before it was finally banned in the late fifteenth century. In this instance, status anxiety was indeed paramount.
36 Songshu 30.890–891. It is perhaps significant that these popular trends were ones that would have been current in the lifetime of Shen Yue 沈約 (441–513) and his co-authors, and hence this part of the text may speak to personal experience rather than relying on textual sources, which would be more likely to document elite practices.
37 The close connection between the Soushen ji and the Songshu in particular has long been noted, but the possibility remains that some of this overlap was created by revision during the transmission of the former text; see CitationDoran 2019, p. 27 n. 68; and CitationYu Zhaosheng 2008. A detailed discussion of the textual history is given in CitationCampany 1996, pp. 55–62. For a complete translation of this important zhiguai text; see CitationDeWoskin – Crump 1996.
38 For studies of what is known of this text; see CitationChen Junqiang 1995; and CitationOzaki Yasushi 1969.
39 昔初作履者，婦人圓頭，男子方頭。圓者，順從之義，所以別男女也。晉太康初，婦人皆履方頭，此去其圓從，與男無別也. Songshu 30.888. In the Soushen ji, “Fangtou ji” 方頭屐, p. 96, this shoe fashion is interpreted as an omen of Empress Jia Nanfeng’s 賈南風 (257–300) jealousy and determination to monopolize power.
40 As late at the reign of Emperor Chongzhen 崇禎 (r. 1627–1644) of the Ming dynasty, the official history of the dynasty records that people wore a kind of headcloth covering the eyebrows which was known as the “Family Ignorer” (burenqin 不認親), which presaged the upheavals of the Manchu invasion; see Mingshi 29.476.
41 See Xin Tangshu 34.879 and Songshi 65.1430, respectively.
42 Sima Yi ruled as emperor for seven years, before being deposed by the warlord Huan Wen 桓溫 (312–373), who imposed his great uncle, Sima Yu 司馬昱, as Emperor Jianwen 簡文 of the Jin 晉 dynasty (r. 372). For the official biography of this monarch, often designated as Feidi 廢帝 or the “Deposed Emperor,” see Jinshu 8.210–215.
43 晉海西初嗣位，迎官忘設豹尾。識者以為不終之象，近服妖也. Songshu 30.890.
44 Hou Hanshu 後漢書, “Zhi” 志 29.3649.
45 Reactions to the breaking of taboos about funerary garb, though frequently mentioned in passing, seems an unresearched area. For studies of early Chinese mourning rituals, see CitationBrown 2007; and CitationWu Qiaoqun 2018. For studies of concerns about pollution and taboo, see CitationEliade 1957; and CitationDouglas 1966.
46 Huan Xuan held great power in the Jin dynasty, as the son of the paramount general Huan Wen and Sima Xingnan 司馬興男, the Princess of Nankang (Nankang gongzhu 南康公主). His tense relationship with the ruling house culminated in him forcing the developmentally disabled Emperor An of Jin (Jin An di 晉安帝, r. 397–403; 404–419) to abdicate in his favor. For the official biography of Huan Xuan, see Jinshu 99.2585–2603.
47 桓玄篡立，殿上施絳綾帳，鏤黃金為顏，四角金龍，銜五色羽葆流蘇。羣下竊相謂曰：「頗類輀車。」此服妖也. Songshu 30.890.
48 Hou Hanshu 1A.10.
49 The wording of this line is almost identical to that found in the account of the death of Zizang of Zheng, given in the Zuozhuan, Xi 24, p. 427. Here, the moral of the story is summed up as follows: “The gentleman said: ‘When clothing is incorrect, it will bring disaster upon yourself’” (君子曰：「服之不衷, 身之災也」). This was apparently viewed as an acceptable explanation for fuyao.
50 更始諸將軍過雒陽者數十輩，皆幘而衣婦人衣繡擁𩭪。時智者見之，以為服之不中，身之災也 … 是服妖也。其後更始遂為赤眉所殺. Hou Hanshu, “Zhi” 13.3270. For a detailed study of this story see CitationDoran 2019.
51 See for example Xin Tangshu 34.878, for the account of the Taiping Princess (Taiping gongzhu 太平公主, d. 713) dressing up as a military official.
52 晉惠帝元康中，婦人之飾有五兵佩，又以金、銀、瑇瑁之屬為斧、鉞、戈、戟，以當笄□。干寶曰：「男女之別，國之大節，故服物異等，贄幣不同。今婦人而以兵器為飾，又妖之大也。」遂有賈后之事，終以兵亡天下. Songshu 30.888 and Soushen ji, “Furen bingshi” 婦人兵飾, p. 97. The transmitted text of the Soushen ji omits the clause about the empire being destroyed by warfare.
53 永明中，宮內服用射獵錦文，為騎射兵戈之象。至建武初，虜大為寇. Nan Qishu 20.373.
54 King Wuling of Zhao’s dress reforms are discussed in a wide variety of pre and early imperial texts; see for example Zhanguo ce 戰國策, Zhao 2: “Wuling wang ping zhoujian ju” 武靈王平晝間居, pp. 965–970; Shiji 43.1805–1811; Lunheng, “Jiyao” 紀妖, p. 916; and Fengsu tongyi, “Huangba” 皇霸, p. 36.
55 This prejudice is known to have continued well into the Tang dynasty; see CitationCahill 2014 and Citation1999.
56 靈帝好胡服、胡帳、胡床、胡坐、胡飯 … 京都貴戚皆競為之。此服妖也。其後董卓多擁胡兵，填塞街衢，虜掠宮掖，發掘園陵. Hou Hanshu, “Zhi” 13.3272.
57 太康中，天下又以氈為絈頭及絡帶，衿口。百姓相戲曰：「中國必為胡所破也 。」氈產於胡，而天下以為絈頭、帶身、衿口；胡既三制之矣，能无敗乎? 干寶曰：「元康中，氐、羌反，至于永嘉，劉淵，石勒遂有中都。自後四夷迭據華土，是其應也 。」Songshu 30.887; and Soushen ji, “Diqi dishi” 翟器翟食, p. 94; and “Zhanmotou” 氊絈頭, p. 97.
58 One example of this is the bad reaction of Shirindari 失憐答里 (d. 1299), the principal wife of Temür Khan, Emperor Chengzong of the Yuan dynasty (Yuan Chengzong Tiemu’er 元成宗鐵穆耳, r. 1294–1307), to being presented with objects previously owned by Yang Guifei 楊貴妃 (719–756) and Zhang Lihua 張麗華 (d. 589), women blamed for the downfall of the Tang and Chen dynasties respectively. See Yuanshi yeting ji 110.1a. To the Mongol empress, being gifted items connected with such ill-omened women was a studied insult.
59 For an overview of the concept of contact relics in Christian tradition; see CitationBartlett 2013, pp. 244–250. The same idea is strongly present in Buddhism, which also recognizes the importance of contact relics (Sanskrit: paribhogika dhatu); see CitationStrong 2004; and in Confucianism; see CitationMurray 2014.
60 For an account of Emperor Ling’s very similar behavior, see Hou Hanshu 8.346.
61 晉司馬道子於府北園內為酒鑪列肆，使姬人酤鬻酒肴，如裨販者。數遊其中，身自買易，因醉寓寢，動連日夜。漢靈帝嘗若此。干寶以為：「君將失位，降在皁隸之象也。」道子卒見廢徙，以庶人終. Songshu 30.890.
62 CitationLi Jianguo 1984, p. 280 n. 3.
63 如慶元間四凶 … 以深衣冠履而為怪服妖服。嗚呼！可不哀哉，痛哉！姑筆之以俟好古愽雅知禮通方之士而正焉. Xuezhai zhanbi 2.5a.
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Olivia Milburn
Olivia Milburn (Mi Oumin 米歐敏), is currently employed as Professor at Hong Kong University. Her research interests include the history of the ancient kingdoms of Wu and Yue, early Chinese philosophical writings, the portrayal of minority groups in early and medieval Chinese literature, and representations of women in imperial era history and fiction. Among her recent publications are: Kingdoms in Peril by Feng Menglong (translation, 4 vols.; Berkeley 2023); “Jealousy and Domestic Violence by Women in Early and Medieval China,” T’oung Pao (2021); “Sweet Tangerines and Bitter Oranges: Elite Displaced Persons in the Rhetoric of Early Medieval China,” Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, and Reviews (2020); “A Taste of Honey: Early Medieval Chinese Writings on Sweeteners,” Early Medieval China (2020), and “Featherwork in Early and Medieval China,” Journal of the American Oriental Society (2020).