‚A Living Tradition‘: Tracing Chinese Character Divination from Imperial China to Contemporary Taiwan

Schmiedl, Anne Kathrin

Abstract

This article traces one method of divination, Chinese character divination, from imperial China to contemporary Taiwan. The article proves that many of the techniques used in character divination today originally stem from imperial Chinese sources. It thus shows the continued significance of this method as a living tradition in contemporary Chinese-speaking countries. The article first gives a concise overview of early sources of character divination. It then focuses on three important works from late imperial China, namely the Zichu (Realising a Character’s True Meaning), parts of the Gujin tushu jicheng (Complete Collection of Old and Contemporary Diagrams and Writings), and the Cezi midie (Secret Documents on Fathoming Chinese Characters). In these materials, the treatment of character divination gradually changed from a loose description in short narratives to rigidly defined rules and regulations. Finally, the article juxtaposes these findings with the reality of Chinese character divination in contemporary Taiwan by analysing the results of fieldwork carried out in 2014 and 2015. 本文追溯一種占卜方法——測字從古代中國到當代台灣的歷史。本文闡述當代測字的許多技術最初都源於古代的中國。因此，它表明這種方法在當代華語國家中作為活生生的傳統具有持續意義。首先，本文簡要概述測字的早期來源，然後重點介紹晚期帝國時代的三部重要著作，即《字觸》、《古今圖書集成》的部分内容和《測字秘牒》。從這些著作中可以看到測字的處理逐漸從簡短敘述中的鬆散描述變成了嚴格定義的規則和規定。最後，本文通過分析2014年和2015年進行的實地調查結果，將晚期帝國時代的測字與當代台灣測字進行了並列比較。