To Be A Virtuous Wife

Nine mountains quiet and green tears flower red is from a poem by Li He called Xiang Fei. Xiang Fei is the daughter of Emperor Yao, and actually the younger of two very famous sisters of Chinese mythology, E Huang and Nv Ying who both married the same Emperor Shun who succeeded their father. The poem refers to the death of Emperor Shun, after which the two sisters committed suicide in the river. Nine mountains is Jiu (nine) Yi Mountains, the burial place of Shun, quiet and green is the color of bamboo, and the tears flower red are the bloody tears of Xiang Fei.

Three geng fire five geng chicken is a Tang Dynasty poem called ”Encouraging Learning” (劝学). It is about a scholar working hard into the night (until 11) with the lantern fire and then sleeping until when the chicken/rooster cries (3 am) to wake up and start studying again.

Feng flies elegantly, the four seas beg huang is from the poem ”Feng Seeks Huang”. Itʼs a love poem about a man who saw a woman and is expressing his longing and love for her. Heʼs the feng seeking the huang around the world.

The basic meaning that Qu Qing Ju and He Heng saw here was the nine-five of the Emperor in the first phrase. And everything else is up for people to examine. The first phrase belongs more to He Heng and the second about Qu Qing Ju.

九五之尊: the numbers nine and five come from possibly the most influential Chinese Classics I Ching (Yi Jing). It is a book on divination taken in part from Zhou Jing (of Western Zhou Dynasty) which was based on oracle bones. The divination is done on a set of 64 hexagrams(each with six horizontal lines, unbroken ones are yang, broken lines are yin). The first and best hexagram is Qian (six unbroken lines) which is the most masculine and also represent Heaven or the Sky. The first two lines represent the earth, the second pair the people, the third pair heaven. The first, third, and fifth lines are yang (the position, unrelated to whether the line is broken or not). The second, fourth, and sixth lines occupy a yin position. Five is the most masculine and the best representation of heaven. The nine (jiu) isnʼt an actual number, itʼs a symbol that indicate (yin/yang) of the number. Hence, nine-five representing the Mandate of Heaven and the Emperor - creating the nine dragons on the emperorʼs robes with five feet, the construction of the Forbidden Palace and was one of the reasons the first Zhou Emperor (as king) marched on the last Shang Emperor when he interpreted an solar eclipse.

选女: women (girls) chosen for the draft into the palace. They will either end up as palace maids, or concubines.