Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today we are doing
something a little different. Usually, you know,
when we talk about history, we look at the big
picture, the rise of empires, the fall of dynasties,
sweeping maps. But today I want to start really
small. Like microscopic almost. Right. I want
to zoom in on a single piece of fabric. Just
imagine you're out in the Tacoma Crown Desert.
It's October 1995. You're standing in the ruins
of Nia, which is this incredibly desolate...
windswept archaeological site out in Xinjiang.
It's a place that has basically been swallowed
by the sands, totally frozen in time. Exactly.
And you're digging into a tomb, but not just
an ordinary tomb. It's a really wealthy one.
And right on the arm of a corpse that has been
lying there for nearly 2000 years, you find a
brocade armband. It's bright, it's colorful,
peacock blue, red, yellow, white, and it has
a message woven right into the silk. And that
message, it isn't just a fashion statement. It's
actually a piece of political propaganda, a prayer,
and a military order all rolled into one. It
links the movement of the planets directly to
a bloody conflict on the Chinese border. Yeah.
So we are talking about the five stars rising
in the East Armband. For anyone who follows archaeology,
this artifact is massive. It dates back to the
Eastern Han or maybe the Western Jin era. So
we are looking at roughly 25 to 316 A .D. Which
is a huge span of time, but a very specific political
climate. Right. And the reason we're doing a
deep dive into this today is because this one
object basically synthesizes everything about
that era. We're talking astronomy, war, superstition
and just the sheer logistical nightmare of maintaining
the Silk Road. We're going to decode exactly
what this fabric says, why it involves the planets
and how it connects military strategy to the
stars. It really is a perfect microcosm. You
have the cosmos above and the gritty reality
of desert warfare below. And they were literally
woven together in this one piece of cloth. Yeah.
And it's cultural weight. Today is just astronomical,
pun intended. It's actually forbidden to leave
its home country, which said you a lot. That's
fascinating. So let's set the scene properly
for everyone listening. This was found at the
Naya Ruins in 95 by a joint team of Chinese and
Japanese scholars. You mentioned it's frozen
in time. I've heard it described as the Pompeii
of the East. Yeah, that's an apt comparison.
Naya was once this thriving oasis city. It was
a crucial stop on the Silk Road. If you were
a merchant moving silk or bringing glass back
to China, you stopped there. But then, quite
suddenly, it was abandoned. The desert took over.
And because the climate is so incredibly dry,
organic materials that usually rot away like
wood and crucially, fabric were preserved in
pristine condition. Which explains why this armband
looks like it could have been made yesterday.
Exactly. So the archaeological team finds this
tomb, designated M8. Inside, they find a double
coffin. Clearly, this wasn't a peasant's grave.
Definitely not. The grave goods included pottery,
wood, iron, extensive textiles. This was a person
of real status, maybe a local lord or a military
official. And the placement is what really gets
me. It wasn't folded up in a beautiful box at
the foot of the bed or something. It was on the
body, specifically right near the elbow and waist
area. Which suggests it had a function. It wasn't
just a decorative sash. It was likely an archer's
arm guard, or at least worn in a way that mimicked
one. It was intimate. This person wore this message
right on their body. Believing it offered protection,
probably. Yeah, protection or power. Okay, let's
get into the message itself. What does the armband
actually say? Right, so the text is woven right
in between these beautiful clouds and animals
and celestial bodies. The Chinese phrase is Jing
Shu Zhong Fang Li Zhong Gu. The Sheng Shu Zhong
Fang Li Zhong Gu. And that translates to? It
translates to simultaneous appearance of five
stars in the eastern sky is a propitious sign
for the Middle Kingdom. Or, more simply, five
stars rising in the east being a propitious sign
for the Middle Kingdom. On the surface, that
just sounds like a standard patriotic slogan.
But we need to unpack the astronomy here because
five stars isn't just a random number. We're
talking about actual planets, right? Yes, we
are. In ancient times, the five stars were the
classical planets visible to the naked eye. But
they didn't use the names we use today. Right.
They had their own system. Exactly. They had
names that described their nature. So you have
Changsing, which is Mercury, Tai Bai, which is
Venus, Yinguo, which is Mars, Susing, which is
Jupiter, and Zengxing, which is Saturn. And this
connects deeply to the five elements theory.
It does. And that's the absolute core of their
worldview. You can't understand the politics
of this era without understanding the cosmology.
The five planets were directly linked to the
five elements. Water, metal, earth, fire, and
wood. So Mercury is water, Venus is metal, Mars
is fire, Saturn is earth, and Jupiter is wood.
Spot on. And here is where it intersects with
the idea of auspicious omens. Everything in this
system is interconnected. The east represents
the element of wood. Oh, I see. Yeah, so if you
have Jupiter, the wood star, appearing in the
east, the wood direction. That's a massive resonance.
But the armband mentions all five stars rising
in the east. A planetary alignment. Yes. A conjunction.
It means Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter
are all visible in the eastern sky at dawn simultaneously.
For the state, this was the ultimate cosmic green
light. If all five elemental forces are gathering
in the east, it meant heaven itself was validating
the empire. It was a sign of immense good fortune.
Wow. So if you're the emperor and your astronomers
tell you this is happening, you feel invincible.
The universe is literally organizing itself to
support your reign. Exactly. It wasn't just superstition.
It was statecraft. But here's where the story
takes a really fascinating turn. For a long time,
people just focused on that first phrase, the
general blessing. But there was another piece
of cloth found later, wasn't there? Yes, there
was. And this is the twist that changes everything.
They found a smaller fragment with the exact
same pattern, but different words. And what did
that one say? It read Teonan King. Which means
put down South King. Right. Defeat the South
King. So when you synthesize these two findings,
when you combine them, the full message is totally
different. Five stars rising in the east being
a propitious sign for the Middle Kingdom to put
down South King. Exactly. It changes the tone
completely. It goes from a general vague blessing
of good fortune to a highly specific military
objective. The planetary alignment was viewed
as cosmic backing for a very real, very bloody
military campaign. That's incredible. It transforms
the armband into a literal talisman for war.
The person wearing this was involved in a specific
campaign against the South King. Yes. And this
wasn't just a random slogan someone made up on
the spot. The historical roots are very deep.
The phrase closely resembles text found in the
records of the Grand Historian, specifically
Scroll 27. Wait, Sima Qin's work? The very same.
The text there reads, five stars align in the
center of the sky, gathering in the east, benefiting
China. So they were basically quoting classical
history on their clothing? Exactly. And the South
King reference connects to another major text,
the Western Han essentials, Scroll Fummy 6. So
let's talk about the geopolitics of that. Who
were the South King and why did they need to
be put down? To understand that, you have to
look at the geography of the northwestern province
of Gansu. The Han Empire established what are
known as the Four Ancient Commanderies in that
region. These were military strongholds, right?
Yes. Specifically, Dunhuang, Jiuquan, Zanye,
and Wuwei. These locations were the throat of
the Silk Road. If you controlled them, you controlled
the trade and the flow of information. And Dunhuang
is famous today for the Moga Caves. Right. But
back then, these were hard frontier garrison
towns. The Qing were a confederation of nomadic
and semi -nomadic tribes living on the fringes
of the empire. And they were constantly threatening
the Han control of this vital corridor. So this
war was a massive, multi -generational struggle.
And this armband served as a piece of propaganda
linking the movement of the stars to the Empire's
right to control these specific territories.
It perfectly captures the mindset. The weaver
of this armband saw no distinction between the
movement of Jupiter and the military strategy
in the commanderies of Gansu. It makes you think
about the soldier wearing it. He's out there
in the desert facing fierce nomadic warriors,
and he looks down at his arm and sees a promise
that the cosmos itself wants him to win. It's
powerful psychological warfare. I have to ask
about the astronomy part of this. We talked about
how rare this alignment is. Did it actually happen?
Like, did the five stars actually rise in the
east during this period? That is where modern
science steps in, and it's fascinating. Researchers
from a Japanese observatory actually ran the
calculations to see when this specific alignment
would occur. No way! They fact -checked the ancient
armband. They did. And planetary cycles are like
clockwork, so you can trace them backward and
forward in time. They confirmed that these alignments
do happen, separated by long intervals. But the
really wild part is the specific date they provided
for the next five stars to the east alignment.
When is it? Or when was it? March 21, 2022. 2022.
You're kidding. So we literally just lived through
the exact cosmic event that this 2000 year old
piece of silk was talking about. Yes, we did.
Yeah. The ancient astronomers didn't have computers,
but they had centuries of observational data.
They knew how to track these synodic periods.
That blows my mind. The sheer mathematical capability
of the ancient astronomers. Woven into a piece
of fabric. And that profound historical and scientific
value is exactly why the artifact is treated
the way it is today. Right. It's considered a
national treasure. It's beyond just a treasure.
In 2002, it was officially designated as one
of the cultural relics that are absolutely forbidden
to be exhibited abroad. That's a very exclusive
list. It is. And this restriction underscores
its immense significance to the national heritage.
It's a physical document that ties together the
history, the science, and the political struggles
of the era. It proves the deep historical continuity,
the presence of the Central Plains culture in
the western regions. It's an anchor to the past.
Precisely. So just to recap the journey we've
been on today. We started with a beautifully
preserved piece of brocade found on a corpse
in a desert tomb at the Naya Ruins, and we discovered
that it represents a 2 ,000 -year -old belief
system where the movements of Mercury, Venus,
Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn weren't just pretty
lights in the sky. They were the ultimate geopolitical
indicator. They signaled victory for the Middle
Kingdom over the South Kang. It really makes
you reflect on the human desire to find meaning
in the stars. We always want to feel like the
universe is validating our actions, especially
in times of conflict. Yeah, we look for signs
that we're on the right track. But I want to
leave everyone listening with a final thought
to mull over. When we look at that second phrase,
put down South Kang, it raises a huge question.
How much of history is actually written in the
stars and how much is just written on the sleeves
of the people fighting the battles? That's the
real debate, isn't it? It is. The exact meaning
and the intent behind combining those two phrases
is still open to interpretation. Was it a badge
of triumph for a war they knew they were going
to win? Or was it a desperate prayer worn by
a man marching into a brutal conflict, hoping
the fabric would save him? What do you think
was the intent of the person who wore it? It's
something we might never fully know, but it's
incredible to think about. It really is. Thank
you for taking this journey into the sands with
us today. Keep looking up, and we'll see you
on the next Deep Dive.