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)
1.6 “乙酉,天子北升于□。天子北征于犬戎。犬戎□胡 39 觴天子于當水之陽”。“升”
指登山,傳文闕其名,或爲恒山山脈之一山。 40 當水,或卽古之恒水,今山西沙河、唐河。
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1.6 “On the day of yiyou, the Son of Heaven ascended north.... The Son of Heaven
proceeded northward as far as the Rong of Quan. The Rong of Quan, the Hu [tribe], 39 drank to
the Son of Heaven on the north bank of the Dang River.” The character “升” (sheng) means to
ascend a mount whose name is missing. It is possibly a peak of the Heng Mountains. 40 The Dang
River was possibly the Heng River in the ancient times, and it is the present Sha River and Tang
River. 41
一說天子第三日所至“鈃山之下”,約當河北省獲鹿縣之東南境,第六日“北循虖沱之
陽”,二日而抵達犬戎之境,則犬戎疆界之南緣,約當河北曲陽、行唐兩縣境,其北亦卽太
行山區,或爲犬戎盤踞之地。 42 今案:其說欠確切。
It has been suggested that “the foot of Mount Xing,” which the Son of the Heaven
reached on the third day, is situated approximately in the southeast of Huolu, Hebei. Since he
“went northwards along the northern bank of the Hutuo River” on the sixth day, and arrived on
the border of the Quan Rong, the southern fringe of the frontier of the Quan Rong is
approximately the border of Quyang and Xingtang, Hebei. Its north is the Taihang mountain area,
which is possibly the location of Quan Rong. 42 In my opinion, this theory is insufficiently
precise.
1.7 “甲午,天子西征,乃絕隃之關隥”。“隃之關隥”,在今山西雁門山。 43
1.7 “On the day jiawu, the Son of Heaven proceeded on westward and crossed the steep
slope of [Mount] Yu.” “The steep slope of [Mount] Yu” is situated at the present Mount Yanmen,
Shanxi. 43
1.8 “己亥,至于焉居、禺知之平”。此傳所述焉居、禺知居地當在今河套東北。 44
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