Discovered in a village in east China's Anhui province, a jade tortoise is overlapped by a carved jade piece. Scientists determined the pieces to be five thousand and three hundred years old, saying that they resemble the basic pattern of the Book of Changes, namely the "Yellow River Map".
The Book of Changes is one of China's most important philosophical canons, exerting profound influence on China's mathematics, agriculture, astronomy, Feng-shui and politics. This renowned work has spread to numerous countries in the world, influencing in the past centuries western philosophies and physics to a great or less extent. Some experts argue the binary system of computers may derive from the Book of Changes also.
Archeologists say that the jade tortoise consists of a back shell and a belly shell, connected by holes and a hidden shaft.
The rectangular jade piece bears two concentric circles. The smaller circle has an inscribed square surrounded by octagonal stars, while the bigger one is connected with a pattern simulating the Chinese character "gui" (a primitive image of the Eight Diagrams) to each of the four corners of the jade piece. Space between the two circles is divided into eight equal parts, each containing a pattern "gui". These coincide with the legendary "Yellow River Map".
The "Shang Shu", a document and record of history prior to the Warring States period (BC 476-- BC 256) is among the earliest books delineating the ancient map. It is said that one day, an ancient king of China, Fuxi, was meditating beside the Yellow River, when he saw a tortoise with Tri-grams on its back rising from the river. The Tri-grams were believed to be a blessing oracle and later became one of the major sources of the “Book of Changes”.
Anhui Archeological Research Institute expert, Zhang Jingguo, said, "Da Wenkou relics and many other places have seen tortoise shells, but it is the first time we have discovered the shells with a carved piece lumping on one another. They must have significant connections," he said.
Zhang said, "The rectangular shape of the jade piece and its inscribed circles strongly indicate an ancient universal outlook, i.e., the Earth is square and the universe is round, with the Earth in the mist of the ball of universe."
"The octagonal stars inside the minor circle may represent the Sun, while the distributions of the character 'gui' North, East, West and South, further indicate its relationship to the seasons."
"These closely resemble the concepts in the Book of Changes, such as the Eight Diagrams and Ying-and-Yang. It seems the ancient legend may have some solid facts."
At a national meeting on archeology held in Beijing last week, experts expressed no disagreement on Zhang's conjecture. Moreover, they added the find didn't necessarily mean there existed such a tortoise and map, but Chinese ancestors' wisdom and insight were beyond doubt.
(People’s Daily 08/09/2001)
