Mu Tianzi Zhuan - Sino-Platonic Papers

YU Taishan, “The Communication Lines between East and West as Seen in the Mu Tianzi Zhuan”
Sino-Platonic Papers, 197 (January, 2010)
to the north.” And according to the Hanshu, ch. 94B, we know that during the reign period of
Emperor Yuan of Han, Chanyu Zhizhi of the Xiongnu revolted and went to the Han and turned
west, “then he attacked Wujie to the north, and the Wujie surrendered to him. He called out their
force to breach the Jiankun to the west, to bring about the surrender of the Dingling to the north,
then annexed the three tribes.” From this, we know that the Jiankun were located to the west of
the Wujie, and the Dingling were located to the north of the Wujie. At that time, “the Jiankun is
distant by 7,000 li from the court of Chanyu to the east, and is distant by 5,000 li from the state
of Jushi.” The reference to the statement that the Modu Chanyu “conquered the tribes of Hunyu,
Qushe, Dingling, Gekun, and Xinli to the north,” in fact, means “conquered…to the northwest.”
It is generally suggested that the central territory of the Dingling was located around Lake Baikal,
and Gekun (Jiankun) was located in the valley of the Yenisei River. The geographical situation
of the Xinli is not clearly known, but it was also located at the northern foot of the Altai
Mountains. As to the Wujie, according to more reliable research, they lived at the southern foot
of the Altai Mountains. 26 They had yet to ascend the historical stage at the time described by the
Mu Tianzi Zhuan.
穆天子遇見剞閭氏、曹奴之人和鄄韓氏似乎表明其去途取道阿爾泰山北麓,而烏揭
居地的位置強烈暗示穆天子乃取道阿爾泰山南麓東歸的。
That Mu, the Son of Heaven, met the Jilü, the Caonu people, and the Juanhan tribe seems
to show that his westward journey was along the northern foot of the Altai Mountains, and the
location of the Wujie’s residence suggests strongly that the homeward journey of Mu, the Son of
Heaven, was along the southern foot of the Altai Mountains.
二、在漢文典籍中,西王母多被置於極西之地。例如:在《史記·大宛列傳》中弱
水、西王母在條枝國,而在《後漢書·西域傳》和《魏略·西戎傳》中,弱水和西王母則
在大秦國西。這是因爲在前者描述的時代,中國人對于外部世界的瞭解在西面到條枝國爲
止,而在後者描述的時代,最西面的國家已經是大秦了。由此可見,穆天子會晤的西王母
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