Water sprites and ancestor spirits: reading the architecture of Jinci

Shu Yu and the Jin State

Before examining the relation between the form of the building complex and divinity identity, I shall give a history of the two deities of Jin and their relation to the site of Jinci. Shu Yu of Tang's prominent role in the canonical history of the Zhou dynasty made his shrine significant for those educated in the Chinese classics. Shu Yu was the younger brother of King Cheng, the third king of the Western Zhou dynasty, who is thought to have ruled during the late eleventh century B.C.E. One of the primary sources for Zhou dynasty history, the Spring and Autumn Annals, Commentary of Zuo (Chunqiu Zuozhuan), records Shu Yu's history in conjunction with the origin of the Jin State. Here the educated elite since at least the Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.-220 C.E.) would have read that while pregnant with him, Shu Yu's mother, Yi Jiang, dreamed of the Thearch (di) who declared that her future child would be named Yu, would be enfeoffed in Tang (the fief that would become the core of the Jin State), and would have many sons and grandsons. The child was subsequently born with the character yu on his hand and was named accordingly. (20) Shu Yu's enfeoffment took place when he was playing with his older brother, the young King Cheng. As part of a game, King Cheng gave Yu a paulownia leaf and declared him enfeoffed. The Duke of Zhou heard of King Cheng's action and insisted that, as a king, Cheng should be true to his word. (21) Yu, called Shu Yu because he was the younger brother of the king, (22) was therefore given the newly conquered territory of Tang and was thenceforth known as Shu Yu of Tang. The name of Tang was later changed to Jin, thus making Shu Yu the earliest Zhou lord of the famous Warring States period (445-221 B.C.E.) Jin State. Regardless of its historical accuracy, (23) the traditional version of the story of enfeoffment gave this northern borderland a legitimate relation with the heart-land of the Zhou dynasty. (24) And from the second century C.E., geographic texts reiterated this relation by stating that the Jin River was the eponym of the early Jin State. A shrine to Shu Yu was likely placed at this location because he was the founder of the Jin State, just as the spring was the origin of the Jin River. (25)

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Our first accounts of Jinci are found in independent geographic texts and in the standard histories from the Northern and Southern Dynasties period (386-581 C.E.). Taiyuan (located at Jinyang) was an area of significant strategic importance during this time, (26) and it is difficult to determine whether Shu Yu's took prominence because of his perceived power in helping local warlords or because of the bias of the sources toward historical figures. The spring was fundamental, but no clear mention of a riverine goddess is present in these texts; instead, they correlate the physical features of the site, including waterways and man-made structures, with historical accounts of the place.

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