Asian 212 Lecture 10: Han Myths & Quiz
Until the Han, there aren’t depictions of earlier things–such as Yu the Great–so we turn to this period for imagery of earlier times. Somehow, China is held together in the Qin and other periods even in spite of the different people and languages. In particular, a story of the failed assassination of the first Emperor fascinates Chinese because if the assassination had occurred, Chinese unity may not have come about.
The Han tell stories about the Qin, including that they do not have the mandate to rule, because they lose the 9 cauldrons of Yu to the Yellow River. The story explains why the Han don’t have the mythical 9 cauldrons, as well, because the 9 cauldrons probably don’t actually exist.
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One Response to “Asian 212 Lecture 10: Han Myths & Quiz”
Just add to what you said. In historical texts written by Han people, some of the nine cauldrons was found. I seemed to remember that Han Wu Di had one in this palace. But this could be just a historical myth as no one really know what exactly happened.