Four Mountains

Four Mountains
Clockwise: Mount Tai, Mount Hua, Mount Heng (Hunan), and Mount Heng (Shanxi).
Traditional Chinese四嶽
Simplified Chinese四岳
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinSì Yuè
Middle Chinese
Middle ChinesesijH ngaewk
Old Chinese
Baxter–Sagart (2014)/*s.li[j]-s [ŋ]ˤrok/
Zhengzhang/*hljids ŋroːɡ/

The Four Mountains or Four Peaks (traditional Chinese: 四嶽; simplified Chinese: 四岳; pinyin: Sìyuè) are a set of deified mountains, variously interpreted in the Chinese classics, be it literally, as a ministerial position, or as a literal person or set of deities. They appear in the most ancient annals of traditional Chinese historiography and Chinese mythology.

Name

The name "Four Mountains" in Chinese uses 四 (sì), the standard character/word for the number four, plus 嶽 (yuè), which refers to a great mountain, or the highest peak of a mountain — in contrast to the usual word for mountain, 山 (shān), which may also be used to refer to a mere foothill or other geological prominence.

In traditional historiography

Mount Song, the Central Mountain.

The Four Mountains appear prominently in the Canon of Yao in the Book of Documents, where they are consistently written as 四岳. In this sequence, Emperor Yao of the Taotang clan is in the twilight years of his reign, faced with a devastating flood that cannot be stopped. He consults the Four Mountains for advice on who to enlist. They together suggest Gun, Earl of Chong, to do it, but after 9 years of attempts, he fails. Yao consults the mountains again, wishing to abdicate, and they together suggest Chong Hua of the Youyu clan, who would be enthroned Emperor Shun. Emperor Shun would make several offerings to the Four Mountains, and eventually ask them to suggest a person to be his Minister of Works. They would recommend Yu the Great, the son of Gun, who, according to the Bamboo Annals was dismissed from office by Yao for his failure. Gao Yao and Xie of Shang would assist Yu in his flood control efforts, ultimately controlling the floods via opening streams, forming the Nine Provinces.

The Erya identifies the Four Mountains as Mount Tai, Mount Hua, the Mount Heng in Henan and the Mount Heng in Shanxi. It additionally identifies Mount Song as the Central Mountain. This interpretation is compiled in Ministry of Education Mandarin Chinese Dictionary, produced in 1994.

Interpretation

Yue in oracle bone script.

Mythologist Yang Lihui sees Four Mountains as four gods of a set of four mountains, with Four Mountains referring to the actual mountains themselves. K. C. Wu sees Four Mountains as being a ministerial position established by Yao to "oversee the mundane affairs of the empire", but points out that a real description of the functions of this position is lacking, nor is it certain whether there were one or four persons holding this ministerial position; however, he goes on to say that the evidence suggests the existence of four of them, and that they were charged with keeping themselves knowledgeable about what was going on throughout Yao's domain and advising him upon request. The importance of Four Mountains can be seen in the key role of selecting Gun to be the first to be put in charge of controlling the flood, then, later, in nominating Shun to be Yao's co-emperor, and later successor. Anne Birrell says that Four Peaks (alternate term for Four Mountains) is a "synonym for [the] ruling nobility of the four quarters of the world in the archaic era; also four mountains".

Oracle bones from the Late Shang period record a mountain deity named Yue (岳), identified with Mount Song, written using the same character used to refer to the Four Mountains in the Book of Documents. Manuel Rivera Espinoza concludes that the Four Mountains could be an innovation by the conquering Zhou dynasty, combining the Shang concept of the Four Directions (四方) with Yue.

Cosmology

Anthony Christie relates the figure of Four Mountains to the Chinese cosmological idea of a square earth, with each of the peaks representing one of the four cardinal directions which the ruler would tour, and at which he would perform various imperial rituals, upon taking possession of his realm. The person or person(s) of Four Mountains being afterwards present in court then symbolized the completion of the ruler's having taken possession of his entire realm.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Kroll, Paul W.; Baxter, William H.; Boltz, William G.; Knechtges, David R.; Lien, Y. Edmund; Richter, Antje; Richter, Matthias L.; Warner, Ding Xiang (2017). A student's dictionary of classical and medieval Chinese (Revised ed.). Leiden Boston: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-32513-5.
  2. ↑ Fu, Sheng. "堯典". In Sturgeon, Donald (ed.). 尚書 (in Literary Chinese). Chinese Text Project. Retrieved 27 October 2026.
  3. ↑ Sturgeon, Donald (ed.). "帝堯陶唐氏". 竹書紀年 (in Literary Chinese). Chinese Text Project. Retrieved 27 October 2026. 六十九年，黜崇伯鯀。
  4. ↑ Fu, Sheng. "舜典". In Sturgeon, Donald (ed.). 尚書 (in Literary Chinese). Chinese Text Project. Retrieved 27 October 2026.
  5. ↑ Fu, Sheng. "益稷". In Sturgeon, Donald (ed.). 尚書 (in Literary Chinese). Chinese Text Project. Retrieved 27 October 2026.
  6. ↑ Sturgeon, Donald (ed.). "釋山". 爾雅 (in Literary Chinese). Chinese Text Project. Retrieved 27 October 2026. 泰山為東嶽，華山為西嶽，霍山為南嶽，恆山為北嶽，嵩高為中嶽。
  7. ↑ Taiwan Ministry of Education (1994). 教育部國語辭典 (in Chinese) (6 ed.). Taiwan: Taiwan Academic Network. Retrieved 27 October 2026. 東嶽泰山、西嶽華山、南嶽衡山、北嶽恆山。古代天子巡狩四方，於此朝見諸侯。《文選．陳琳．為曹洪與魏文帝書》：「漢中地形，實有險固，四嶽三塗，皆不及也。」也作「四岳」。
  8. ↑ Yang, An & Turner 2008, p. 128.
  9. ↑ Wu 1982, p. 68.
  10. ↑ Birrell 1993, p. 300.
  11. ↑ The Cambridge history of ancient China: from the origins of civilization to 221 B.C. Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press. 1999. ISBN 978-0-521-47030-8.
  12. ↑ Thorp, Robert L. (2006). China in the early bronze age: Shang civilization. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-3910-2.
  13. ↑ Rivera Espinoza, M. (2014). The Sacrality of The Mountain. Graduate Theses and Dissertations Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/2072
  14. ↑ Christie 1968, p. 67.

Bibliography