Rhys Mumford, Author at Seven Worthies

4 Evils of Government

Confucius was asked by Zizhang, one of his younger disciples, what a man must be like to be suitable for a government post. It’s a good question with an appropriately Confucian emphasis: getting yourself right before attempting to rule others. Somewhat gnomically, Confucius replies that that the key is to respect the five ‘beautiful traits’ and to avoid the four ‘abhorrent ones’ (or the ‘four evils’). After a discussion of the beautiful traits, Zizhang asks for the bad ones.

4 Evils of GovernmentRhys Mumford2026-02-20T02:29:37+00:00

Warring States Mnemonic

Though I've tried with flashcards, I just find the names of the Warring States difficult to get into my head. I therefore present a little mnemonic song, to be sung in the style of a 1920s jazz number. I did think of firing up the old Garageband and having a go, but lacking the time or musical talent, I here present the lyrics alone.

Warring States MnemonicRhys Mumford2025-10-17T07:36:02+00:00

4 Symbols & the 28 Mansions

The four symbols, which could be translated 'signs', are the traditional way of dividing the night sky. Each quadrant then gets subdivided further into seven 'mansions' (宿), which is something like a resting place or a temporary lodging, making a total of 28. They are linked to the movement of the moon, so that each mansion is crossed in turn as the moon orbits the earth.

4 Symbols & the 28 MansionsRhys Mumford2025-10-15T14:21:35+00:00

How to Train your Charioteer

I had never given too much thought to chariots in Ancient China until I came across a list in the Book of Zhou (周禮, 2nd century BCE) of the five essential skills of the charioteer. As I started to explore this intriguing resume, I realised that my mental image of the chariot had been totally wrong. I had been imagining a very nimble thing for a solitary rider, or perhaps a pair: essentially, I suppose, a Spartan chariot or something out of Ben Hur. In reality, these things were much more like tanks - large, armoured, packed with gear, and frequently accompanied by large numbers of protecting troops.

How to Train your CharioteerRhys Mumford2025-09-13T11:02:13+00:00

5 Essential Skills of the Charioteer

The Han Empire is dying, beset by insurrection from marauding Yellow Turbans. Three noble men meet by chance and find common purpose in resisting the threat of tyranny and ruin. Amidst peach trees, the men swear an oath to unite unto death in the service of the downtrodden. So begins the celebrated Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and the fictionalised account of the real life founder and generals of the Shu Kingdom.

5 Essential Skills of the CharioteerRhys Mumford2025-09-13T04:43:02+00:00

How to Choose a Bow in Ancient China

My latest list is Shen Kuo's 'Six Advantages of a Bow', which I came across while trawling Joseph Needham's magisterial Science and Civilisation in China in search of information about chariots for another forthcoming list. He introduces this list almost as something which presents the relative advantages of the good old bow and arrow (perhaps against swords or more heavier weaponry). On a closer look at the list, though, that is a misleading translation: the point is not that the bow and arrow is superior to other weaponry (not least because that would make nonsense of one of the items that the "sound of the bowstring is clear and sharp"); it is more like a list of the qualities or hallmarks of a good quality bow . In other words, an influencer buyer's guide circa 1000 CE.

How to Choose a Bow in Ancient ChinaRhys Mumford2025-08-08T08:18:23+00:00

6 Hallmarks of a Good Bow

In the tumultuous Three Kingdoms period, the dangerous world of politics led seven friends to meet together in a bamboo forest, writing poetry, discoursing on philosophy, and enjoying the natural world. Some of the seven retained official roles, while others turned their backs on politics entirely. The seven as a whole became important icons in a long tradition of abandoning the stifling world of hypocritical politics for a life of the mind.

6 Hallmarks of a Good BowRhys Mumford2025-08-10T19:52:13+00:00

7 Feelings of Cheng Yi

feelings of Cheng Yi 7 Feelings are problem for the Neo-Confucian, Cheng Yi. In his view, these seven feelings have the power to corrupt people’s original purity if allowed free rein. Even though human nature starts off pure, the social world that we inhabit corrupts it. The task we all face, therefore, is the endless struggle of protecting this tender shoot of goodness from the onslaught of life at large. This list of seven feelings is an interesting departure from notions more familiar to the Western reader, such as the Seven Deadly [...]

7 Feelings of Cheng YiRhys Mumford2025-05-02T03:08:06+00:00

8 Trigrams of the Yijing

A divination tool originally developed from casting yarrow stems, the eight trigrams (八卦) represent every configuration possible from combining two types of line - broken and unbroken - in sets of three.

8 Trigrams of the YijingRhys Mumford2025-02-11T09:56:14+00:00

6 Schools of Sima Tan

Sima Tan (司馬談) 165-110 BC was a grand historiographer and astrologer of the Western Han dynasty, who classified the philosophy of his time into six main traditions. Of the six, Sima Tan favoured Daoism as the one school among them with the breadth of thought to encompass the others.

6 Schools of Sima TanRhys Mumford2025-02-12T10:36:57+00:00

About Rhys Mumford