Astral Codex Ten

Zichan

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Zichan

Article

Zichan is a recurring person in the Astral Codex Ten archive, appearing 2 times across 2 issues between September 01, 2023 and September 15, 2023. The archive places it in contexts such as “Zichan would not permit it, saying”; “a minister of a neighboring state wrote a lengthy protest to his friend Zichan (the dragon-ignorer), then the chief minister of Zheng”; ""Zichan wrote back:"". It most often appears alongside ACX, Zuozhuan, 536 BC.

Metadata

  • Category: People
  • Mention count: 2
  • Issue count: 2
  • First seen: September 01, 2023
  • Last seen: September 15, 2023

Appears In

Source Context

Recovered passages from the original issue text. When the raw archive preserved outbound links inside the source passage, they are listed directly under the quote.

Your Book Review: Zuozhuan
September 01, 2023 · Original source
The Zuozhuan can’t provide satisfying answers. But it can provide a sense of perspective, and recognition. I can conclude with one further anecdote from the Zuozhuan, for the commentators to the commentary on the commentary to weigh as they see fit. In 536 BC, toward the end of the Spring and Autumn period, the state of Zheng cast a penal code in bronze. By the standards of the time, this was absolutely shocking, an upending of the existing order—to not only have a written law code, but to prepare it for public display so everyone could read it. A minister of a neighboring state wrote a lengthy protest to his friend Zichan (the dragon-ignorer), then the chief minister of Zheng:
There was a great flood in Zheng, and dragons fought in the Wei pool outside the southern gate of the capital. The inhabitants of the capital asked permission to perform an expiatory sacrifice to them. Zichan would not permit it, saying, “When we fight, dragons take no notice of us, so why should we for our part take notice when dragons fight? You might exorcise them, but then the water is their home. We have nothing to ask of dragons, and dragons likewise have nothing to ask of us.” They therefore gave up the idea.
“When there was disorder in the Xia government, they created the ‘Punishments of Yu.’ When there was disorder in the Shang government, they created the ‘Punishments of Tang.’ When there was disorder in the Zhou government, they composed the ‘Nine Punishments.’ These three penal codes in each case arose in the dynasty’s waning era. Now as chief minister in the domain of Zheng you, Zichan, have created fields and ditches, established an administration that is widely reviled, fixed the three statutes, and cast the penal code. Will it not be difficult to calm the people by such means? As it says in the Odes,
Book Review Contest 2023 Winners
September 15, 2023 · Original source
Some extra praise: Man's Search For Meaning placed 4th; I thought it was a good review of an important book by someone who's clearly thought about these issues a lot. I loved Public Citizen; I had a vague sense that a lot of government happens by lawsuit now and it hadn't always been this way, but I wouldn't have even known where to start in figuring out why and how this happened, and I had always thought of Nader as "that car guy who everyone mysteriously thought was important who then lost the 2000 election", so I'm glad to get more clarity there. Zuozhuan was oddly haunting and I will remember the part about Zichan and the law code for a long time. Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes was a discussion of the Piraha (the weird tribe that doesn't seem to have supposedly universal features of language and culture) which gave a great sense of how it might feel to be a primitive rainforest tribe.