Hetuluoshu Legend
01 · Historical Records
The Hetuluoshu legend has a long history and a long, unbroken process of evolution. Zhu Xi's Original Meaning of the Book of Changes of the Southern Song for the first time appended a “Hetu and Luoshu” diagram. In the Qing, Mao Qiling pointed out in his Textual Study of the Errors in the Hetu and Luoshu that the Hetu is the “number of the great expansion” and the Luoshu the “system of the nine palaces of the Bright Hall”.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Hetuluoshu legend is a system of folk legends born in the Luoyang area concerning “the River giving forth the diagram” and “the Luo giving forth the writing” and related stories, in which the “River” is the Yellow River and the “Luo” the Luo River; it consists mainly of such episodes as the Yellow River offering the diagram, the legend of the Dragon-Horse Diagram Temple, the Luo River giving forth the writing, the divine turtle offering the Luoshu and the Luo giving forth the writing. The legend circulates in the He-Luo region—the present Mengjin and Luoning counties and other counties and cities of Luoyang, Henan—and is also current in most of Henan and in parts of Shaanxi and Gansu. Its gist is roughly this: it is said that in the time of Fuxi a dragon horse floated out of the Yellow River, and the whorls of hair on its body became the figure “one and six below, two and seven above, three and eight to the left, four and nine to the right, five and ten in the centre”—this is the “Hetu”. Fuxi drew the eight trigrams in accordance with the “Hetu”, which became the source of the later Book of Changes. When Yu the Great was controlling the waters a divine turtle floated out of the Luo River, and on its back were lines, circles and dots arranged in groups by themselves—this is the “Luoshu”; Yu interpreted the “Luoshu”, and this became the “Great Plan” chapter of the later Book of Documents. The Hetuluoshu legend is recorded in such pre-Qin texts as the Book of Changes, the Analects, the Book of Documents and the Book of Rites, and Confucius, Sima Qian and others spoke highly of it. It was already recorded in pre-Qin literature. By the Western Han, Kong Anguo and Liu Xin and others interpreted the “Hetu and Luoshu”. The prevalence of “weft texts” in the Eastern Han enriched and filled out the content of the legend. Such modern books as Five Thousand Years of Luoyang compiled by the cultural-relics scholar Xu Jinxing and others also often record it. The Hetuluoshu legend bears witness to the long history of Chinese civilization and contains the nation's wisdom and creativity; it advanced the development of philosophy, astronomy and arithmetic, and by its weighty and profound spiritual and cultural character plays a positive role in strengthening national pride, self-confidence and cohesion.
The Yellow River Offers the Diagram
The legend of the dragon horse floating out of the Yellow River, whose whorls of hair formed the “Hetu”.
The Legend of the Dragon-Horse Diagram Temple
The temple legend connected with the dragon horse bearing the diagram in the Mengjin area.
The Divine Turtle Offers the Luoshu
The legend of the divine turtle floating out of the Luo River, the patterns on its shell forming the “Luoshu”.
The Textual Lineage of the Hetu and Luoshu
The lineage of records through the ages in the Book of Changes, the Book of Documents and the Book of Rites and Zhu Xi's Original Meaning of the Book of Changes.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Hetuluoshu legend is a collective folk transmission, and within it two great lineages are distinguished, the Hetu legend and the Luoshu legend.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
It reflects the ancient Chinese ideas of the divine right of kings and the interaction between Heaven and mankind; it circulated extremely widely, and its expounders and students, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, have been very numerous.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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