User talk:Shi Shuyang/sandbox

Carpentry remained as a long-lasting and influential career in Chinese and world history, particularly in the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) of China, since wood material was one of the major sources for buildings in China that time. Carpenters, particularly household carpenters, produced exquisite wooden pieces of buildings and decorations recorded in the surviving primary sources of the Ming times known as the San Cai Tu Hui(三才图会) and many other sources. Those images demonstrated the degree of sophistication of the carpentry in Ming China. By the Ming times, carpentry complicated and developed its unique traditions. By the beginning of the Ming dynasty, emperor Taizu (reigned 1368-1398) categorized people into different occupations. At this time, all the carpenters throughout the state were registered by the imperial court, and the occupation remained strictly hereditary, according to the notes from historian Klaas Ruitenbeek. In later times of the Ming dynasty, roughly 1560s, however, people broke such restrictions, and the path into the occupation in the case of the carpentry became less fixed. Although the restriction regarding the path into the occupation dissolved in later times of the Ming dynasty, approximately starting from the 1450s, female characters did not appear in the occupation of carpenter, as far as we know. However, in the Ming carpenter’s manual, the Lu Ban Jing(The Lu Ban’s Classic), there was a female carpenter. The Lu Ban Jing was named after the Chinese patriarch of carpenters, Lu Ban. Lu Ban lived in the Zhou dynasty, 2,500 years from modern day and nearly 2,000 years from the beginning of the Ming dynasty. Although the Lu Ban Jing was entitled as the classic of Lu Ban, it was compiled during the Ming dynasty. However, it contained a biography of master Lu Ban, who possess a sophisticated technique. His wife lady Yun(云氏), on the other hand, was “also blessed with heavenly skill”. Lady Yun helped Lu Ban to produce exquisite objects, and she could sometime overpower Lu Ban as her products were more beautiful. Unfortunately, the figure of Lady Yun vanished in the later part of the biography, and the last word about her was that she and Lu Ban enjoyed great fame because of their great products. After their happiness, Lu Ban soon turned to recluse and lady Yun subsequently disappeared from history. The presence of Lady Yun suggested that there may be female carpenters in Ming time, as the entire Lu Ban Jing was made up during the Ming dynasty. Yet the surviving historical records cannot allow people to draw such a conclusion. Being a carpenter requires a set of techniques, especially for the household carpenters. From the first to the last day of the construction, sometimes even long before the beginning of construction, carpenters must treat their work with a lot of care. With their meticulousness and perseverance, their products were so sophisticated that it appeals to the untrained peoples as impossible. Moreover, in Ming times, people believed that certain behaviors bring good or bad fortunes, and the carpenters were responsible for helping their customer to make decisions. Questions like when to build the house, and which direction should the house face toward were among some of the most frequently asked. As a result, the techniques were both practical and metaphysical, include accurate calculation, using proper tools, avoiding ominous actions, singing for good fortunes, and choosing the ideal location for houses. Calculations determine the success or failure of carpenters’ works. Carpenters’ works include a complex process of design and engineering. The wooden pieces must fit into each other to stabilize the entire structure. The structure is called “mortise and tenon connections(卯榫)”. Such wooden structure required no nails for creating the structure of woods. It solely relied on shaping the woods into different pieces of three-dimensional jigsaws, and fitting them to each other, as shown in figure 1. Furthermore, The carpenters’ manual of Lu Ban Jing provides a detailed diagram of how to fit differently shaped wooden pieces to each other to reach maximum stability, as shown in figure 2. Such structure was omnipresent in Chinese dwellings as Ronald Knapp also pointed out that in Xishuangbanna, the frontier region between China and Myanmar, such similar structures existed, as shown in figure 3. Carpenters designing wooden structures like those in figure 2 and 3 must clearly calculate the lengths, widths, and heights of all of the wooden pieces to fit into each other, particularly for the mortise and tenon joineries. The importance of calculation in the occupation of carpenters can be inferred from the scales provided in figure 2 and 3 as well. Besides, mastering the tools saws, axes, and the carpenter ink ruler is also necessary techniques in carpentry. Carpenters in Ming times were responsible for felling trees for building a house. They need to select excellent trees and cut them meticulously. After felling the trees, carpenters also need to re-shape the irregular logs. Such process was so complicated that there were verses with guidelines of reshaping logs circulating among the carpenters known as the Verse of the Eight Trigrams Line (八卦线口诀). The specific procedures of such verse are demonstrated in figure 5. The straight lines in figure 5 were created using the carpenter’s ink ruler known as the Modou(墨斗). It was a scroll of thread dyed with ink. When using the Modou, the carpenters need to place the scroll of thread on the wooden piece, and then whisk the thread quickly so that the scroll will roll in straight lines, carrying the inked thread and leaving straight, black marks on the wooden pieces as revealed in figure 5. Furthermore, the third necessary techniques for the carpenters in Ming times was to identify the propitious days and avoid the ominous days. According to the Lu Ban Jing, it was the responsibility of the carpenters to seek for propitious days to make actions like plastering a house, laying the floors, and paving the courtyard. Carpenters were required to complete different projects on different days because each day might constitute as a favorable day for one project, and an ominous day for another. For instance, the favorable days for felling trees need to collaborate with the stars of the Bright star(明星), the Yellow Path(黄道), the Virtue of Heaven(天德), and the Virtue of Moon(月德). The favorable days for starting working the wood, on the other hand, needs to cooperate with the stars of Yellow Path, Heavenly Success(天成), the Empty Moon(空月), the virtues of heaven and moon, and the God of Unity(合神). Different stars govern different days throughout the 360 days in the lunar calendar, and mixing with them could result in significantly negative karmic retributions. There were some commonalities between the two types of favorable days. However, the were certain differences as the star of Heavenly Success was not suitable for felling down trees. It was more suitable to help starting the building work. Therefore, carpenters in Ming China must clearly recognize the dates and determine their progress of works. Beyond choosing favorable days, carpenters in Ming time also sang prayer songs for good fortune. Different songs were prepared for different occasions. When the carpenters were shaping the roof and the ridgepole, they should sing: “The Phoenix does not light where there are no treasures. Today it perches at the end of the ridgepole. With one swing of my axe, the house will be solid forever. Ten thousand years solid, then thousand years prosperous, riches and position, a Number One family”.

Or the following:

“Good fortune with the raising of the ridgepole. The protector Jiang Taigong is here. The male and female phoenix are both here. Let the five good fortunes shine brightly. Let the purple polar star shine brightly. The morning sun rises from the east. Taigong is here, no harm will ever occur”.

Those songs reflected the pursuit of the good fortunes and receiving the blessings from many favorable start, from the phoenixes and from Jiang Taigong, an influential figurine early Zhou dynasty. Therefore the carpenters must be familiar with all the stars and the mythical animals so that they know what star or mythical animal represents what fate. Such knowledge could also be considered as part of the skills required for the carpenters. The carpenters also need to know how to choose ideal locations for their customers. People in the Ming time believed in the idea of Fengshui. Therefore the carpenters also need to know well about the geographies so that they could quickly locate ideal locations for their customers. For instance, the road in front of a person’s house could be vital to his or her success. Ruitenbeek explained that “if the character seven (七) is seen in front of the door, pointing it away, then it is a road which distinguishes gold for sure. The family will be rich and noble, with plenty of wealth”. Conversely, if there is a mound similar to the shape of a man blocking the road, “one will hang oneself and turn a deaf ear to good advice”. The two descriptions in the Lu Ban Jing provided insights to carpentry as they also need to know geography well in order to avoid bad Fengshui and pursue good Fengshui that will tremendously benefit their customers. Colleagues are another crucial aspects of understanding occupations. Colleague refers to people that the workers are working with. Colleagues may be working the similar or different occupations as the workers do. The presence of colleagues lead to hierarchy within the occupation, which is applied to the study of the sociology of the carpenters as well. It means the intrinsic ranking of the workers (carpenters) from the top to the bottom according to their skills, working times, and many other factors. Moreover, colleagues also stir up competitions within the occupation. For carpenters in Ming China, nevertheless, the notion of intrinsic hierarchy and competition were less visible. The carpenters in Ming China, and particularly the first century of Ming China, experienced the division of labor process. Ruitenbeek emphasizes that the carpenters were divided into two categories, the “resident artisans”(住坐工匠) and the “shift artisans”(轮班工匠). The resident artisans, according to Ruitenbeek, lived in the capital of Ming China (first Nanjing, then Beijing) because of the forced immigration launched by Ming Taizu. They were required to do ten days for each month in the imperial palace. According to the difference of their household register, these resident artisans were further categorized as military carpenters(军匠) and civil carpenters(民匠). The military carpenters belong to the division of defense(卫所) and were required to produce the military arm forces like bows and cannon supports. The civil carpenters belong to the Board of Work(工部). The shift artisans, on the other hand, did not need to reside in capital regions, but they were required to complete services on behalf of the Board of Work. The two types of carpenters shared differences in terms of their services, yet there was no significant evidence about hierarchal divisions. Meanwhile, carpenters in Ming China also avoided intrinsic competitions by establishing guilds. Guilds were long-lasting in premodern China, and by the late Ming times, it developed into institutions with complete regulations seek to minimize intrinsic competitions. Ruitenbeek provides a framework for the guilds of carpentry in Ming times: “There was a system of apprentice, journeyman, and master. Welfare was an important task of the guilds; it ensured, for example, a decent burial for its poorer members”. Despite Ruitenbeek argued that the guilds among carpenters reduce competition, he also pinpoints that guilds only exist in urban regions. Ruitenbeek neglects the rural areas of China as guilds were non-existent in those regions, and competition among carpenters may still exist. Unfortunately, there was no much primary sources or secondary sources that addressed carpenters’ competition in rural areas of China up until this point. Carpentry in Ming China shared a long history. In fact, by the Ming times, carpenters had access to a great multitude of manuals written or compiled by their predecessors. One of the representatives of them was Lu Ban Jing. As previously noted, it encompasses various records of choosing favorable days, creating blessing or cursing to clients, and many other religious elements which associate people’s view of Daoism and Buddhism in Ming times. The records in Lu Ban Jing formed the code for carpenters in the Ming time, and it also shaped people’s view of carpenters as an occupation. Speaking of the codes among the carpenters in the Ming dynasty, it includes a set of rituals or taboos generated by people within the occupation. In the case of carpenter, the Lu Ban Jing regulates carpenter’s behavior as it provides a thorough, “from-cradle-to-tomb-style” of guidelines for the carpenters. The Lu Ban Jing also set the rituals for the carpenters when they were given magical spells. Those magical spells, according to Lu Ban Jing, requires a complicated process of preparing the materials and praying for its effectiveness. For instance, carpenters can deliver a curse that forced people to die in river or in water wells. Such a curse needs a wooden boat, and the carpenters have to turn the boats upside down and bury the wooden boat at the northern corner of the house. The mythical traditions for carpenters to deliver blessings and curses are various, and such mysterious rituals negatively influenced people’s impression of carpenters in Ming times. People in Ming times view carpenters with fear. Historian Christine Moll-Murata points out that the clients were “beware of the wrath of carpenters”. The clients were afraid of carpenter’s magical power to bestow curses like the boat curse mentioned earlier. With the manual of Lu Ban Jing depicted the cursing, the culture of carpentry was covered in a veil of mystique that resulted in the fear and alienation of carpenters in the Ming times.