Hu Han (1307-1381) was a Neo-Confucian philosopher whose literary skills attracted notice among officials at the Yuan court. He declined invitations to serve in government but, after the founding of the Ming dynasty in 1368, participated in the writing of the Yuanshi (History of the Yuan Dynasty) before retiring to a reclusive life. This essay probably dates from the early years of the Ming, as some of its arguments would have been dangerously impolitic under Mongol rule. In it, Hu Han expounds on the principles or “boundaries” upon which he believes cosmic order depends. These include the Mandate of Heaven; physical separation between Chinese and barbarians; and political, social, and familial hierarchies. Hu faults the first two Tang emperors, Gaozu and Taizong, for failing to honor the first and second of these boundaries; in the latter case, he focuses on condemning Taizong’s expansionism and attempt at integrating the Turkic peoples into the Tang empire. But Hu also argues that the third boundary is the most fundamental and that its collapse always lies at the root of violations of the other two.

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So vast is the world and so large its population that it can only be sustained by maintaining certain boundaries (ji 紀). Which boundaries are these? I say: Heaven’s boundary, Earth’s boundary, and the boundaries of human relations. A ruler cannot rule legitimately if Heaven’s boundary is broken; a state cannot survive if Earth’s boundary is broken; and the world cannot survive if the boundaries of human relations are broken.

What is Heaven’s boundary? It is the fact that the Son of Heaven receives his mandate from Heaven alone. Hence it is perfectly just for the rulers of other countries to receive their mandate from the Son of Heaven, while the Son of Heaven receives his mandate from Heaven itself…. Shun, the Xia dynasty, the Shang dynasty, and the Zhou dynasty all came to power by different means, but in each case, they submitted to Heaven’s will with utmost sincerity. When, in later ages, some sought to gain power through deceit and force, they began throwing the world’s moral principles into disarray.

What is Earth’s boundary? It is the distinction between the Central Lands, which are inside, and the barbarians (Yi-Di), who are outside. It is a perfectly reasonable thing for [a man of] the Central Lands to rule the Central Lands and for a barbarian to rule barbarians. There is a northern boundary, the Hu Gate, that starts from the Sanwei¹ and Jishi mountains, runs along the northern edge of the Zhongnan Mountains, passes to the north of Mount Hua, crosses the Great (Yellow) River, reaches the west of Mount Heng, and then follows the course of the [Han] border wall to end at the Hui and Mo (Ye and Maek) and Chaoxian (Joseon)². There is a southern boundary, the Yue Gate, that starts from the Min Mountains and Mount Bozhong, runs along the southern edge of the Shang Mountains³ to Shangluo, crosses the Jiang (Yangzi) and Han rivers and reaches the Jing Mountains and Mount Heng, then runs to the south of the Nanling Mountains and ends at the Hundred Yue.⁴ Between these two boundaries are the [nine] regions of Ji, Yan, Qing, Xu, Jing, Yang, Yu, Liang, and Yong⁵…. Beyond them live the barbarians (Yi) of the four quarters. Their environment (“winds and qi”) is different from ours, thus their customs also differ. Under Shun, the Three Miao rebelled, and the Zhou was threatened by the Kunyi.⁶ Even sages could not cause them to become like us; it is thus acceptable to treat them as other peoples (zulei 族類). But rulers [in later ages] pursued frontier expansion and desired to govern [the barbarians] by putting caps and sashes on (i.e., “civilizing”) them. This is how they began losing control over the subcelestial realm, and it did not happen overnight.

Since the Han dynasty ended, none have equaled Cao Cao in violating Heaven’s boundary.⁷ Since the [Western] Jin dynasty ended, none have equaled Liu Yuan in violating Earth’s boundary.⁸ The events of the [Cao-]Wei and Jin took place in an age of decline. But even when the Tang emperors Gaozu and Taizong reigned, they could not return the world to its proper state. Why? Gaozu began his revolt in Jinyang, captured Xihe and Linfen commanderies, and marched right into Chang’an to the beat of drums.⁹ He abolished the oppressive laws of the Sui and introduced a simple set of twelve laws. The people embraced his moral authority and his reputation resounded throughout the empire. This was no different from the founding of the Han! The King of Han (Liu Bang) assumed the imperial title on the banks of the Si River, the King of Xiao (Liu Xiu) assumed the imperial title to the south of Hao (modern Gaoyi, Hebei), and a noble man would approve of both.¹⁰ Yet he would not approve of the Tang receiving the throne via abdication by the Sui. This is not because the Tang did wrong [by replacing the Sui]. Yang Guang (Sui Emperor Yang) assassinated his father-ruler and was the vilest man in the world.¹¹ To execute him on Heaven’s behalf would have been an act of justice. But [Gaozu] did not do this and instead engaged in sophistry and artifice.¹² This was like covering one’s ears while stealing a bell. He knew this was unacceptable and did it anyway. In so doing, he behaved just like the Wei and Jin.¹³

Taizong reigned after the Wude era (618-627) [of Gaozu] and used an army seasoned by a hundred battles, commanded by Li Jing and other generals, to capture Illig [Khagan].¹⁴ He annexed Yiwu¹⁵, pacified the Tanguts¹⁶, and made contact with the Tibetans and Uyghurs in the west and with Xie Yuanshen in the south.¹⁷ He depopulated the country [of the Eastern Türks] and took their people captive, arrogantly believing himself superior to the First Emperor of Qin and Han Emperor Wu. Wei Zheng counseled against it, but Taizong did not listen. Yan Shigu and Li Baiyao also spoke up, and he still did not listen. In his love for momentary fame, he forgot about future dangers. Thus, he followed Wen Yanbo’s advice and emptied out the frontier south of the [Gobi] Desert, resettling the [Eastern Türk] tribes in our interior and keeping their chiefs at court to serve as imperial guards.¹⁸ As emperor, he assumed the additional title of Heavenly Khagan and had it inscribed on his seal.¹⁹ In so doing, he behaved as if he were a barbarian. One who behaves like a barbarian [in violating Earth’s boundary] should be regarded as a barbarian. One who behaves like the Wei and Jin [in violating Heaven’s boundary] should be regarded as the Wei and Jin. This is the principle of the Annals²⁰ and was presumably meant to rectify the boundaries of Heaven and Earth….

When the boundaries of Heaven and Earth go awry, then how can the boundaries of human relations continue to stand—the proper relations between rulers and ministers, between fathers and sons, between husbands and wives, between friends, and between old and young? Yet the boundaries of human relations can never be wiped out completely from the world…. Therefore, there is nothing in the world more vital than the boundaries of human relations, nothing stricter than Earth’s boundary, and nothing more exalted than Heaven’s boundary. Violate one, and the other two are imperiled; violate two, and all three are gone. If the Han had not descended into disorder, Cao Cao would have remained a Han general, and if the [Western] Jin had not engaged in self-destruction, Liu Yuan would have remained a Jin commandant. When the boundaries of Heaven and Earth go awry, it is because the boundaries of human relations have first become disordered.

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1. The Sanwei Mountains are mentioned in various classical texts as a remote place in the west to which Shun banished the rebellious Three Miao (see source 1.7, note 5). The location has been variously identified. ↩︎
2. The text reads 胡鮮 rather than 朝鮮, clearly a transcription error. ↩︎
3. The Shang Mountains ran through the area of Shangluo. ↩︎
4. Hu Han’s northern and southern boundaries are based on a geographical theory attributed to the Tang scholar-monk Yixing and described in the astrological treatise of the Xin Tangshu. Yixing purportedly argued that the northern boundary separated the Chinese from the Rong and Di, while the southern boundary separated them from the Man and Yi. In fact, the peoples labeled as “Yi” by the Tang Chinese were in Korea and Japan, which are separated from the Chinese homeland by the sea. For a discussion of Yixing’s theory, see Nicolas Tackett, The Origins of the Chinese Nation: Song China and the Forging of an East Asian World Order (Cambridge University Press, 2017), 152-154. ↩︎
5. This is one of the lists of the Nine Regions found in classical texts (see source 2.2). ↩︎
6. The Kunyi were western adversaries of the Western Zhou whom modern scholars have variously identified with the Xianyun and the Rong. On the Three Miao, see note 1 above. ↩︎
7. Hu Han holds the warlord-turned-chancellor Cao Cao (155-220) responsible for his son’s usurpation of the Han imperial throne and founding of the Cao-Wei dynasty in 220. ↩︎
8. Liu Yuan (d. 310) was a Xiongnu noble whose rebellion against the Western Jin dynasty brought about its collapse and led to nearly three centuries of “barbarian” rule in north China. ↩︎
9. Jinyang corresponds to modern Taiyuan, Shanxi. Tang Gaozu was serving the Sui as a governor at Jinyang when he decided to rebel and seize control of the capital Chang’an. Xihe and Linfen were commanderies in Shanxi that lay on Gaozu’s route to Chang’an. ↩︎
10. Liu Bang founded the Western Han dynasty, and Liu Xiu founded the Eastern Han. Both began their careers as rebels, Liu Bang rebelling against the Qin and Liu Xiu rebelling against Wang Mang. ↩︎
11. Some Tang and Song historical sources allege that Emperor Yang arranged the murder of his ailing father, Emperor Wen (r. 581-604), after Emperor Wen decided to strip him of his position as Heir Apparent. See the discussion here. ↩︎
12. Hu Han refers to Gaozu’s strategy of installing a grandson of Emperor Yang as a puppet emperor, recognizing Emperor Yang (who had moved his court to Jiangdu/Yangzhou in south China) as a Retired Emperor, and mourning for Emperor Yang after his assassination in 618—only to seize the imperial throne two months later. ↩︎
13. Hu Han means that by seizing power under the guise of loyal service to the Sui dynasty, rather than via open rebellion against Emperor Yang, Gaozu was no different from the ministers who founded the Cao-Wei and Western Jin via palace coups. ↩︎
14. See source 2.11 . ↩︎
15. The Sogdian ruler of Yiwu (Hami) was originally a vassal of the Eastern Türks but surrendered to the Tang after Illig Khagan’s defeat in 630. Taizong annexed his state as the prefecture of Yizhou. ↩︎
16. This refers to various Tangut groups that pledged allegiance to the Tang as vassals in 632, reportedly numbering 300,000 people in total. ↩︎
17. Xie Yuanshen was a Man chieftain in modern Guizhou who presented tribute to Taizong in 629 and was appointed prefect of a “bridled” (jimi) prefecture. ↩︎
18. For Wen Yanbo’s and Wei Zheng’s arguments regarding the resettlement of the Eastern Türks, see source 6.4. Some sources also quote arguments made by the ministers Yan Shigu (581-645) and Li Baiyao (564-647), who essentially supported Wei Zheng’s position. ↩︎
19. See source 2.11. ↩︎
20. An allusion to the principle of demotion in the Annals commentaries: see source 1.5. ↩︎