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Abstract The south-pointing cart is a mechanical device that employes gears to indicate orientation. It is also an imperial guard in ancient China. In the traditional Chinese political concept, the south-pointing cart exists in two forms: the legend of the south-pointing cart and the physical object of the south-pointing cart. The legend of the south-pointing cart dates back to ancient times and is believed to have been originally built by the Huang Di or the Zhou Gong. According to the existing historical records, the actual form of the earliest south-pointing cart was made by Ma Jun during the Three Kingdoms period. Later during the Period of Wei-Jin, the south-pointing cart transformed from a practical object to a ceremonial object, and was therefore elevated to become a significant political symbol to strengthen the authority of the monarch and the legitimacy of the dynasty, and it also served as an imperial travel ritual guard of honor in the “Dajia Lubu” list, for future generations to follow. Moreover, it was in the Period of Wei-Jin that the concept of the south-pointing cart as a symbol of imperial power entered the conception of common people at that time.
After the collapse of the Western Jin Dynasty, the south-pointing cart manufacturing technology of the Eastern Jin Dynasty was interrupted for a period of time. During the later historical periods including the Sixteen Kingdoms Period, Later Zhao, Former Yan, Later Qin, Southern Yan, this technology was inherited and further developed in Northern China, so as to strengthen the politically symbolic significance of the south-pointing cart. As a political symbol of imperial power, the south-pointing cart has certain particularity: it appeared relatively recently and was regarded as a symbol of the legitimacy of the Western Jin Dynasty. In addition, it had a high technical level and was easy to display, which made it excellent for declaring imperial authority and emphasizing political legitimacy. Therefore, the restoration of the south-pointing cart provided important physical evidence for the monarchs of the Sixteen Kingdoms Period who had experienced issues in the legitimacy of legal rule, and gave them the political confidence to compete for legitimacy with the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Dynasty. To conclude, the restoration of the south-pointing cart technology of Hu regime in the Sixteen Kingdoms Period reflects the inheritance and development of the traditional Chinese political concept and ceremonial system, which reflected the transition to Huaxia in a way.
For a long time, the academic research related to the south-pointing cart is mainly from the perspective of technology history, mechanics history and other perspectives, focusing on its mechanical structure and working principle, trying to restore the south-pointing cart on the basis of modern technology. There is also research on the origin of the south-pointing cart, while pointing out correctly that the south-pointing cart appeared in the Three Kingdoms and Wei-Jin period. This kind of research also fails to further investigate the relationship between the popularity of the south-pointing cart legend and the enhancement of political symbolism in this period. In general, the academic community has paid little attention to the political symbolism of the south-pointing cart, and ignored the important position of the Sixteen Kingdoms period in the change of the south-pointing cart conception. In fact, as a ceremonial object, the south-pointing cart was more politically important than technically and practically. This thesis focuses on the political symbolism of the south-pointing cart, exploring how the regime of the Sixteen Kingdoms Period took advantage of this process to strengthen their own authority and political legitimacy by sorting out the historical context of the restoration of the south-pointing cart in the Sixteen Kingdoms Period. In addition, it has been argued in the thesis that the way the political symbolism of the south-pointing cart continued to be strengthened in this process, and eventually became an important part of the traditional Chinese political concept and ceremonial system.
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Published: 09 September 2024
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