The Epic of China’s Agrarian Civilization — A Thematic Analysis of The Classic of Poetry · The Seventh Month

In earlier sessions, we have focused on translating the poems and the literal meanings of The Seventh Month. In this session, we will discuss the ideological content of The Seventh Month.

First, its theme. Scholars have traditionally regarded The Seventh Month as a slave poem that reflects the harsh labor of slaves and exposes the cruel exploitation of slave owners. This interpretation is a residue of a “philosophy of conflict”. Many Chinese have become accustomed to reading everything through the lens of class oppression. Moreover, because ancient China never developed a fully classical slave-society model but rather a clan- or lineage-based social model, it is wrong for scholars to import the Greek and Roman social templates wholesale to explain China. Classes always exist, but they are not necessarily defined by antagonistic struggle. Leaders and subordinates are different classes; Liu Bei and Guan Yu are also of different classes, but there is no inevitable struggle between them. Rather, the relationship can be cooperative, like the relationship between the head and the hands and feet.

Under the influence of the conflict philosophy, Chinese interpreters habitually use conflict-driven thinking to explain every poem: either it is about arduous struggle or about painful lamentation. Therefore, many of our published scholarly books adopt this interpretive stance. For example, Zhu Dongrun’s Selections of Chinese Literary Works through the Dynasties (《中國歷代文學作品選》) comments on The Seventh Month as:

“Reflecting the production relations and the hard life of the people.”

Here, “production relations” is an economic term and “the people” is a political category; unconsciously using such terms to explain literature will never yield a clear understanding and will only mislead readers.

Preface to the Book of Songs (《毛诗序》) sees the poem’s theme as:

“Because the founder Hou Ji’s old customs had not yet been fully instilled, they caused the hardship of achieving royal enterprise.”

The Book of Han — Geography (《汉书・地理志》) says:

“Those people retained the customs of their ancient kings, loved farming and sericulture, and attended diligently to the fundamental occupations; therefore, the Bin odes treat agriculture and silkworms — the foundation of clothing and food — very thoroughly.”

These passages come close to the true intent of The Seventh Month. The poem does not primarily express anger or complaints; rather, it emphasizes that agriculture and sericulture are the foundation for establishing households and states, sets forth the rites and rules for farming and sericulture, and underscores the importance of agricultural work.

On this thematic basis, The Seventh Month generates additional meanings that can be summarized as follows:

1. The epic significance of The Seventh Month.

The Seventh Month possesses the qualities of an epic and functions as one. An epic requires abundant historical substance. Although the narrative in The Seventh Month is concise, it is historically rich and profound; there is almost no personal lyrical outpouring by the poet, and the material is presented almost entirely as historical fact. An epic must have a historical vantage point. In The Seventh Month, we can see that the author’s clear intention is to transmit the rules and life principles of former generations; the poet looks at matters from a historical perspective rather than expressing his present emotions. This lends the poem a historical hauteur. An epic also requires a complete poetic form. The Seventh Month employs the perfected form of ancient narrative verse, with regular syntax and strict rhyme — thereby leaving a canonical model for future epics. Thus, calling The Seventh Month an epic is well deserved.

2. The Seventh Month preserves the authentic condition of ancient agrarian society.

Agrarian societies have distinctive features. The time portrayed is some three thousand years ago, and the place is the Guanzhong region of China. The poem gives detailed accounts from spring plowing, mulberry-picking and weaving, and hunting, through autumn harvest and winter storage, to spring rituals and year-end sacrifices. The value of this account lies in its preservation of an unadulterated way of life, unmarred by the poet’s subjective emotion, so that posterity can learn how our ancestors labored and lived. Its historical and literary value cannot be easily replaced by ordinary historical works. Such firsthand everyday detail is absent from Records of the Grand Historian (《史記》) and the Book of Han (《漢書》), and even parts of the Book of Documents (《尚書》) and Book of Rites (《禮記》) do not provide the same kind of vivid, grounded picture.

3. The Seventh Month transmits norms of life for later generations.

One function of epic is to leave behind the social norms of life. The eight stanzas of The Seventh Month are almost a concentration of the rules of social life: clothing, food, shelter, and transport; farming and sericulture; hunting and ritual; hierarchical relationships; and the calendar. Notably, the poem often quotes ancient proverbs, which increases its value. Proverbs predate the composition of The Seventh Month. By tracing the age of such sayings, one can push the poem’s cultural roots even further back than three thousand years. Positive proverbs are, for the most part, rules of life. Studying and inheriting them is therefore of great value. After reading The Seventh Month and understanding its content, one should summarize the social rules embedded in the poem, organize them, and pass them on. This is part of the national culture and the inner spirit of the Chinese people. Read slowly and reflect repeatedly!