Why there must be chaos in the year of Gengzi?

2020 is the year of Gengzi in the lunar calendar. In the past six months, people have experienced the most serious global public health emergency since the end of World War II.

In addition to the COVID-19 epidemic, we also witnessed the locust plague in Africa, the fire in Australia, the postponement of the Olympic Games, the four-time fuse of US stocks, and the serious recession of the world economy in the shadow of the epidemic.

All these have impacted the public psychology to a certain extent, aggravated social anxiety, and aroused people's memories related to the year of boxer in history.

For example, the Opium War in Guanggengzi Year (1840) in Qing Dynasty, the Gengzi Incident in Guangxu Gengzi Year (1900) in Qing Dynasty and the "three-year difficult period" in 1950s and 1960s, namely 1960. So the remarks about "the disaster of the boxer" were widely circulated on the Internet.

However, is the boxer year in history really so miserable?

If we go back two years from 1840, that is, 1780 (forty-five years of Qing Qianlong) and 1720 (fifty-nine years of Qing Kangxi), it was in the "prosperous period of Kangxi" and there was no "great disaster" or "great epidemic".

Looking back, 1660 was the seventeenth year of Qing Shunzhi, and 1600 was the twenty-eighth year of Ming Wanli, and there was no national disaster.

So, how did the prediction of "the disaster of the boxer" come into being?

This requires understanding the ancient chronology of our country first. Before the introduction of modern calendar in A.D., the ancients in China used to take the trunk calendar as a cycle, and the Gengzi calendar ranked 37th among them, in which Geng was one of the ten heavenly stems and Zi was one of the twelve earthly branches.

In addition, the concept of "stem and branch" is also combined with the five elements to predict good or bad luck and predict the future. At that time, the concept of "Ganzhi" was different on different occasions and in different months, but it had no meaning of good or ill luck. It was similar to the "Yellow Calendar" that has been handed down to this day and was a part of the daily life of the ancients.

The method of dating branches began in the Western Han Dynasty. After the Eastern Han Dynasty, the chronology of cadres and branches was gradually accepted by people. Based on these theories, a number of folk books have been produced to predict the fate of cadres and cadres.

For example, according to legend, it was the TuiBei Map written by Yuan Tiangang and Li in the Tang Dynasty, which said that Gengzi had a prediction: "The Han River is vast and not unified; North and South are not divided, and they are different. " Song said, "If the water is clear and exhausted, it will be in August. There is no king in the sea, and it is half fierce and half lucky. " Showing the image of "half-fierce and half-lucky", Jin Shengtan commented here in the Ming and Qing Dynasties: "Although the Fuhrer appeared, it was not easy to cure for a while, but it was also a mess." It is pointed out that there may be ominous signs in the year of Gengzi.

In the Ming Dynasty, Wan Minying's "Three Deaths Meeting" said that "Geng Jin was born in the past and died in the child", pointing out that the development of Geng Jin to "Zi" tends to decline, that is, the so-called "gold sinks to the bottom".

The Book of Mother Earth was written in the Qing Dynasty. From the perspective of farming, it is bluntly said that "Gengzi" will have a great disaster, and its cloud says that "in the year of Gengzi, people suddenly died. Flooded in spring and summer, hungry in autumn and winter. " It depicts the tragic scene of farmers being abandoned and starving everywhere. All these have become some historical origin of the saying "Gengzi Dakan".

In addition to the above predictions, we can also see the saying that the Boxer Rebellion is disaster-free. Wu Yihui's Theory was published in Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty, which is considered as the embryonic form of China periodical publication. Among them is the article "Three-year affirmation of climate harmony and popularity" written by Tang. This paper holds that the epidemic disease "occurs in the year of Yang" (referring to the year when the trunk and branches are full of A, C, G and Zi Yin at noon), but Geng Zi, Geng Yin and Geng Xu

Whether it is "the Boxer Rebellion is full of troubles" or "the Boxer Rebellion is full of troubles", it actually reflects the understanding of the people in our traditional society. The predicted famine and military disaster were the scenes that people were most afraid of at that time, and the widespread spread of predictions reflected that people wanted to grasp the information of possible disasters in order to avoid survival in time. It is also a kind of vigilance and warning to the ancient rulers, which is intended to urge them to pay attention to people's livelihood in time and appease the people.

What collective memories does "Gengzi" contain?

1900 is the boxer movement year. Eight-Nation Alliance's capture of Beij led to an unprecedented disaster in China, which was carved up by foreign powers. The 980 million taels of silver "boxer indemnity" has caused great disasters to the people of China. "Gengzi" has become an iconic historical symbol in the minds of China people, and has influenced it to this day.

Comparatively speaking, 1840, which is also the year of boxer, is also extremely important. This year, the Qing government was defeated in the Opium War and signed the first unequal treaty "treaty of nanking" in the history of China. Because Lin Zexu's "Eliminating Opium in Humen" is the fuse of this war, most people choose to use expressions such as "Opium War", "Opium War" and "Opium Trouble" to emphasize the inducement of the war, without any special association with the current situation.

1960 gengzi year is even more so. In New China, the calendar year was implemented, and the calendar year of cadres and branches completely withdrew from the official discourse system. Therefore, when referring to 1960 in the "three-year difficult period", the expression "Boxer Rebellion" was not used.

In various forms of historical narration in modern times, "Gengzi" became the general name of a series of events around 1900, and was also called together with such nouns as "national disaster" and "reparations".

Especially in the history education and teaching of contemporary middle schools and universities in China, Eight-Nation Alliance's invasion of China, the signing of the "Xin Chou Treaty" and other major events that profoundly affected the historical process of China and caused great disasters to the people of China occurred around the year of Gengzi 1900, which undoubtedly strengthened the painful historical memory related to "Gengzi".

All these have prompted China people to form a symbolic association with "Gengzi", and also shaped the collective memory of "Gengzi Year" of China people from generation to generation. In the year of Gengzi in 2020, the epidemic situation in COVID-19 and the flood disaster in the south struck, and the "Gengzi" and "disaster" met again, which naturally evoked people's painful memories of the year of Gengzi.

Tracing back to the source, the historical memories of 1840, 1900 and 1960 have been excavated again, and the theory of "the disaster of the boxer rebellion" has been put forward again, which is actually a concentrated reflection of some anxiety and uneasiness.

Then how should we rationally understand the "boxer prophecy"?

"Gengzi", as one of the dry years, has been endowed with various related folk customs and customs with the development of history.

Contemporary China people have a double impression of "Gengzi" and "Gengzi Year". On the one hand, according to China's traditional theory of five elements, the people infer the theory of "Gengzi Dakan"; On the other hand, it is a historical memory humiliated by modern history education. In addition, "Zi" is the head of the twelve branches of the earth, and "Zi Mouse" is the head of the well-known zodiac, symbolizing the beginning of a new round of replacement, so the events that happened this year seem to attract more attention.

The discussion of "the disaster of the Boxer Rebellion" even originated from the occurrence of major natural disasters such as the snowstorm in the south in 2008 (the year of Wuzi) and the Wenchuan earthquake, which deepened people's mental anxiety, anxiety and confusion to some extent.

Objectively speaking, a series of discussions triggered by "Gengzi" have their special historical background and cultural implications, and we should hold a rational understanding of this.

As far as the "boxer prophecy" in traditional society is concerned, it embodies the sense of hardship of the Chinese nation to a certain extent, and this sense of hardship urges people to stay awake and rational, be brave, self-reliant and brave. The existence, development and regression of various natural disasters are also the reflection of some objective laws. In the face of these difficulties and hardships, all we can do is to face them bravely, respond positively, take effective precautions and work hard.