| Chapter 1: | The Transnational Travels of the Yijing 易經 or Classic of Changes |
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Thus, for reasons that I have tried to indicate, we should not use “China” as our frame of reference in addressing issues of cultural borrowing and cultural change. In the first place, intellectuals in Japan, Korea, and Vietnam felt perfectly free to modify elements of Chinese culture to fit their own particular needs. Moreover, at times at least some of them felt that in one way or another, for one reason or another, they were culturally equal, if not superior, to the Chinese.75
The following story illustrates this point. When the Nguyễn-dynasty scholar-official Lý Văn Phức 李文馥 (1785–1849) journeyed to Fujian Province on a diplomatic mission in the 1820s, he found that the building in which he was scheduled to reside had a sign posted outside that read “Hostel for the An Nam Barbarians” (An Nam Di Quán). Outraged, Lý gave vent to his feelings in a poetic memoir that defended his homeland in the following terms:
As for the laws governing [my] kingdom, they are based on those of the Two Emperors [Yao 堯 and Shun 舜] and the Three Monarchs [The Great Yu 大禹, King Tang 湯王, and King Wen/King Wu 文王/武王]. With regard to the transmission of the Way, it takes as its root the Six Classics and the Four Books, the teachings of Confucius and Mencius, and those of Zhu Xi and Cheng Yi. As for learning, it springs forth from the Zuo Commentary and the “Odes of the States,” and can be traced back to Ban Zhao and Sima Qian. As for writing, poetry and rhapsodies, there is the Collected Writings of the Zhaoming [Reign], and reliance on Li Bo and Du Fu. For calligraphy, it is the six scripts in the Rites of Zhou, with Zhong You and Wang Xizhi taken as models. In employing worthies and selecting scholars, the Han-Tang exam system is employed, while sashes and caps follow the garments of the Song-Ming. How numerous are the examples. If all of this is called Barbaric [in this case, 狄; more often the generic 夷], then I know not what it is that we call Florescent [華]!76
In this passage, Lý did not refer to “Vietnam” or even “our kingdom [我國].” Nor did he indicate that everyone and everything he mentioned originally came from China. There was, in his mind, no need to do so.