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Xu Guangqi: Treatise on Agriculture

🏷  Chinese interlinear · text   —   by Gerry · Sep 2021 · 1974 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

Feign to be a peasant

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
神農氏 shen nong shi
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
炎帝 yan di
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
萬人 wan ren
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
神農氏 shen nong shi
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
《白虎通 bai hu tong
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
古之 gu zhi
: old; zhī: him, it
Of old

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

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

brutal beasts
禽獸 qínshòu: beast (brutal person)
禽獸 qin shou
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
至於 zhi yu
至於 zhìyú: as for, as to
[But] as for

the multitudes of peasants,
shēn: multitude; nóng: peasant
神農 shen nong
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
耒耜 lei si
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
使 shi
使 shǐ: make, cause
let

the people
mín: people
min
mín: people
the people

be suppressed,
抑制 yìzhì: suppress, keep down
宜之 yi zhi
: 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
神農 shen nong
神農 shénnóng: Farmer God
god of agriculture.

On Agriculture 1.2.b

🏷  Chinese interlinear · text