Xu Guangqi: Treatise on Agriculture

🏷  Chinese interlinear · text   —   by Gerry · Sep 2021 · 2053 words

Xu Guangqi’s “treatise on agriculture” is an example of late Chinese pun-encryption, of which I managed to decrypt a tiny part. On the surface, it deals with the Chinese myth about how the god of farming taught the ancient people how to use plows. For imperial governance, that’d be completely useless. Why did such a powerful & spooky statesman write such a lengthy mythical text? As usual, it’s really a pun-encrypted treatise on spookery, i.e. about why & how the rulers feign to be “little people”.

Introduction

In Ancient China, the imperial examinations for government officials inexplicably involved writing poetry. The explanation is likely that all these exams were really testing the applicants’ encryption skills.

One late example of Chinese encryption may be Xu Guangqi’s 農政全書 nóngzhèng quánshū “treatise on agriculture”. It starts with the myth about how the Chinese god of agriculture taught the people how to plough, but makes no real point about it. Under the hood, it seems to be yet another treatise about spookery, with the 神農氏 shénnóngshì “god of agriculture” being misused as a spooky pun-encryption for the 甡農事 shēn nóngshì “multitudes of peasants” who are being deceived.

This treatise doesn’t come from a nobody: As a reader pointed out, Xu Guangxi later held the post of Deputy Senior Grand Secretary, explained as “effectively a deputy premier for the imperial cabinet”. Wikipedia says about Xu’s connections that “Guangqi’s branch of the Xus were not related to those who had passed the imperial examinations”. But the Grand Secretariat is described as the “de facto the highest institution in the imperial government of the Chinese Ming dynasty”. A secretary position in this office was an extremely high rank, surely unattainable without family connections. So as usual, Xu Guangxi’s rags-to-riches biography is likely a fairytale, and he actually was related to those Xus who held imperial posts. They were probably spook-aristocrats in their own right. I don’t know if it means anything, but the name Xu Guangxi even puns with 侐關係 xù guānxì “silent relations”.

Xu Guangqi lived in the 16th century, when he was collaborating with the Jesuits, likely to prepare China for joint looting with European spook families. He is thus a late example of Chinese pun-encryption and not proof for early Chinese spookery. He does cite many older works though, and such texts like the Xue Er by Confucius are already pun-encrypted. That’s why I do not think that the Jesuits brought the concept of spookery to China, or the Phoenicians, or “ze Jews”. Rather, the ruling elites of all great civilizations had each developed their own version of spookery or proto-spookery. Whenever they then encountered each other, the spooky tendrils would likely connect seamlessly, to form the global mesh we have today. I therefore predict that we will also find homonym-encryption in more ancient Chinese texts. They will be harder to de-pun though, as the pronunciation may have changed considerably, and with it the homonymity.

One last note: Chinese language consists of very few phonemes, so it’s full of natural homonyms. My decryption is therefore also not watertight, as there are so many possibilities. It is merely a starting point and proof of concept that pun-encryption existed in many ancient cultures.

How to read this

The multitudes are governed through lying & confusion.

On Agriculture 1.1.a

Encrypted: The multitudes of peasants are managed & governed [by] hiding & bending the truth, [and] through confusion the people are controlled.

Official: The god of agriculture told [the] flame emperor, [to have] through fire nominate government officials.

The multitudes of peasants
shēn: multitude; 農事 nóngshì: farming task
shen nong shi   神農氏
神農氏 shénnóngshì: Farmer God
The god of agriculture

are managed & governed
: manage, govern; : control
yue  
yuē: say
told

[by] hiding & bending the truth,
yǎn: hide, repress, bend; : truth
yan di   炎帝
炎帝 yándì: Flame Emperors
[the] flame emperor,

[and] through
: by means of
yi  
: by means of
[to have] through

confusion
huò: confuse, puzzled
huo  
huǒ: fire
fire

the people
mín: people; míng: stupid
ming  
míng: name
nominate

are controlled.
guǎn: control, manage
guan  
guān: government official
government officials.

On Agriculture 1.1.a

Wear a mask resembling the slaves.

On Agriculture 1.1.b

Encrypted: Wear a curtain [veil] as the self, the resembling curtain [veil] becomes a semblance, [for] resembling the imbeciles / slaves it can be used, by pretending [to be] an everyman.

Official: Chopped wood became a plowshare, crushed [??] wood became a plow, the plow for hoeing it could be used, by teaching [this] to thousands of people.

Wear
zhuó: wear (clothes), use, apply
zhuo  
zhuó: chop, hack
Chopped

a curtain [veil]
: curtain, screen
mu  
: wood
wood

as
wéi: as, by, become
wei  
wéi: as, by, become
became

the self,
: personal; : seem, appear, resemble
si  
: plow, plowshare
a plowshare,

the resembling
róu: flexible; ruò: seem, like, as, if
rou  
róu: knead, rub
crushed [??]

curtain [veil]
: curtain, screen
mu  
: wood
wood

becomes
wéi: as, by, become
wei  
wéi: as, by, become
became

a semblance,
lèi: similar, like, resemble
lei  
lěi: plow
a plow,

[for] resembling
lèi: similar, like, resemble
lei  
lěi: plow
the plow

the imbeciles / slaves
nuò: imbecile; : slave
nou  
nòu: hoe, weed
for hoeing

it
zhī: him, it
zhi  
zhī: him, it
it

can be used,
yòng: use, employ
yong  
yòng: use, employ
could be used,

by
: by means of
yi  
: by means of
by

pretending [to be]
jiǎo: pretend, feign
jiao  
jiāo: teach
teaching [this]

an everyman.
萬人 wànrén: everyman
wan ren   萬人
萬人 wànrén: ten thousand people
to thousands of people.

On Agriculture 1.1.b

Pretend to be honest.

On Agriculture 1.1.c

Encrypted: One begins by pretending to be honest, because this is desired [by] the multitudes of peasants.

Official: It began by teaching to plow, because it was the symbol [?] of the god of agriculture.

One begins
shǐ: begin, start
shi  
shǐ: begin, start
It began

by pretending
jiǎo: pretend, feign
jiao  
jiāo: teach
by teaching

to be honest,
gěng: honest, upright
geng  
gēng: plow, till
to plow,

because
: reason, cause
gu  
: reason, cause
because

this is desired
hào: desire; hǎo: good
hao  
hào: mark, sign
it was the symbol [?]

[by] the multitudes of peasants.
shēn: multitude; 農事 nóngshì: farming task
shen nong shi   神農氏
神農氏 shénnóngshì: Farmer God
of the god of agriculture.

On Agriculture 1.1.c

The people are stubborn & brutal, so feign to be one of them.

On Agriculture 1.2.a

Encrypted: The “Discussions of Secrecy” [?] say: Stubborn [are] the people, known [to be] brutal beasts in semblance. If you meet the multitudes of peasants, use of sweetness an appearance, separate [from] the true power, make [yourself] similar, feign [to be] a person of the countryside to do it.

Official: The “White Tiger Discussions” say: Of old the people, all ate bird and animal flesh. [But] as for of the god of agriculture, he [then] used of the heavens the times [seasons?], to separate of the ground the profits [harvests?], [he] made the plow, [and] taught the people of the countryside [how] to do it.

The “Discussions of Secrecy” [?]
背後 bèihòu: behind sb's back; tōng: communicate
bai hu tong   《白虎通
bái: white; : tiger; tōng: communicate
The “White Tiger Discussions”

say:
yún: (classical) to say
yun  
yún: (classical) to say
say:

Stubborn [are]
固執 gùzhí: obstinate, stubborn
gu zhi   古之
: old; zhī: him, it
Of old

the people,
人民 rénmín: people
renmin   人民
人民 rénmín: people
the people,

known [to be]
結識 jiéshí: to get to know sb
jie shi   皆食
jiē: all; shí: food, eat
all ate

brutal beasts
禽獸 qínshòu: beast (brutal person)
qin shou   禽獸
禽獸 qínshòu: birds and animals
bird and animal

in semblance.
ruò: to seem, like, as, if
rou  
ròu: meat, flesh
flesh.

If you meet
值遇 zhíyù: to meet with, to bump into
zhi yu   至於
至於 zhìyú: as for, as to
[But] as for

the multitudes of peasants,
shēn: multitude; nóng: peasant
shen nong   神農
神農 shénnóng: Farmer God
of the god of agriculture,

use
yòng: use
yong  
yòng: use
he [then] used

of sweetness
tián: sweet
tian  
tiān: sky, heaven
of the heavens

 
zhī: him, it
zhi  
zhī: him, it
 

an appearance,
shì: influence, outward appearance
shi  
shí: time
the times [seasons?],

separate
fēn: divide, separate
fen  
fēn: divide, separate
to separate

[from] the true
: truth
di  
: earth, ground, field
of the ground

 
zhī: him, it
zhi  
zhī: him, it
 

power,
: power, force
li  
: advantage, benefit, profit
the profits [harvests?],

make [yourself]
zhì: make
zhi  
zhì: make
[he] made

similar,
類似 lèisì: similar
lei si   耒耜
耒耜 lěisì: plow
the plow,

feign [to be]
jiǎo: pretend, feign
jiao  
jiāo: teach
[and] taught

a person
mín: people
min  
mín: people
the people

of the countryside
nóng: peasant, agriculture
nong  
nóng: peasant, agriculture
of the countryside

to do it.
zuò: do
zuo  
zuò: do
[how] to do it.

On Agriculture 1.2.a

Feign to be of the multitudes to suppress them.

On Agriculture 1.2.b

Encrypted: [Your] spirit thus changes into it [?] [to] let the people be suppressed, that is why [one] fakes [to be] of the multitudes of peasants.

Official: The god but changed into it [?], let the people properly [use] it, therefore [was] named he god of agriculture.

[Your] spirit
shén: God, deity, spirit
shen  
shén: God, deity, spirit
The god

thus
ér: and, but, and so
er  
ér: and, but, and so
but

changes
huà: change into
hua  
huà: change into
changed

into it [?]
zhī: him, it
zhi  
zhī: him, it
into it [?],

[to] let
使 shǐ: make, cause
shi   使
使 shǐ: make, cause
let

the people
mín: people
min  
mín: people
the people

be suppressed,
抑制 yìzhì: suppress, keep down
yi zhi   宜之
: proper; zhī: him, it
properly [use] it,

that is why
: reason, cause, therefore
gu  
: reason, cause, therefore
therefore

[one] fakes
wéi: curtain, screen; wěi: false, fake
wei  
wèi: speak, say, name
[was] named

[to be] of
zhī: him, it
zhi  
zhī: him, it
he

the multitudes of peasants.
shēn: multitude; nóng: peasant
shen nong   神農
神農 shénnóng: Farmer God
god of agriculture.

On Agriculture 1.2.b

🏷  Chinese interlinear · text