The Influence of Constellations on Battle Formations in the Song Dynasty

By Julia Sultana

The general glanced at the sky, confirming the visual alliance of his troop’s charted course with the grand scheme, above. His eyes adjusted to the night sky – now a softly lit dome revealing a heavenly theatre of deities glowing with their intangible beauty. To the north, a fleet of four distinctly bright stars pulled another three in tow. Then unexpectedly, the bright asterism dimmed and disappeared, as a massive dark cloud rolled overhead. A single drop of cold rain splashed into his eye, and he involuntarily blinked, startled, before commanding his gaze ahead into the indistinguishable horizon. The seven prongs of light were now obscured, as if a curtain had abruptly closed. A cool wind lifted and rustled the leaves on a nearby tree. A storm? It had not been predicted in the star charts. He dropped his shoulders slightly and uttered a silent incantation, in the hopes of appeasing the Divine Supreme. Around him, the soldiers slowly began to stir and awaken. They would move again, at dawn.

The Song general in the above narrative likely would have conferred with the emperor’s personal astronomers, before making major military strategic decisions. These plans would have included Zhentu (陣圖) or constellation battle arrays. In Chinese, Zhen means to show, or display. The term tu refers to pictures, charts, or diagrams (M. Butler (2007) Five constellations of war: Battle array schema (zhentu) as ritual, Cornell University.)

The Song Era was divided into two periods: the Northern Song (960-1127) and the Southern Song (1127-1279). The Song Dynasty, while heavily perforated by wars, flourished in philosophy, as well as mathematical and engineering innovations. Astronomical clocks, with their assembly of cogs and gears, calculated locations of the Sun and Moon, lunar phases, and eclipses.

Chinese constellation battle strategy was a blend of military practice, science, and swirling vestiges of spiritual forces, woven together like a fine vaporous tapestry. Within this mystical realm, astrological animals with strong personalities animated the heavens, colorfully drawn in exquisite detail by practiced human hands. An occasional dragon might even breach the heavens, its long, undulating body cresting and dipping within the dark folds of the universe like a swift and threadless needle, unifying a world divided, as One.

Song Dynasty military leaders knew changes in the skies could result in treacherous conditions on earth’s terrain. Searing winds often proceeded a storm, rising flood waters followed a typhon; and droughts left waterless wakes of cracked and barren earth, where farmland once prospered. This same terrain was crossed by soldiers in their battle marches, and ultimately impacted success on the battlefield. Above all, was a nearly imperceptible feeling that a mysterious supernatural entity looked down from the heavens and made judgements - granting auspicious blessings to some, and ill omens to others.

To understand the significance of zhentu in China’s military history, we must first consider how early Chinese astronomers studied the sky and constellations. Chinese constellations were clustered in groups which were smaller than Western constellations - and more numerous. By the end of the third century A.D., Chinese astronomers had identified 283 constellations in the heavens (Ridpath, I. (2018) Star Tales, Chapter 2, page 2.)

An emperor was considered “a Son of the Heavens” and therefore ruled by a mandate from Heaven. This mandate could be “revoked” if the emperor “ruled badly.” The signs – unpredictable celestial events such as comets, new stars, and eclipses – were often interpreted as strong indications of “imperial misconduct,” providing incentive for the emperor and his astronomers to accurately foretell such events. If they failed to predict an event such as an eclipse or a comet, then political rivals may take the opportunity to rebel - and the dynasty could fall.

One asterism commanded particular attention, called the Seven Stars. Also known as the Big Dipper (in the West), and to Chinese astronomers, “the Ladle,” this asterism symbolized the Throne of the Supreme Deity and was regarded as the Center of the Universe. Located within the Ursa Major constellation, the Ladle appeared to rotate around the North Star or Polaris, which was seen as fixed and unmoving. Sima Qian (司马迁 145 BC - 86 BC), China's most famous ancient historian, described the Ladle as the “Emperor's Chariot” which also symbolized control of the Four Cardinal Points by revolving around the center (North Star). The Ladle also was believed to separate the Yin and Yang, maintain balance of the Five Elements, and regulate the seasons (The Chinese Sky (2023) The International Dunhuang Project.)

The Seven Stars could easily be seen by the human eye, and its movements answered both the spiritual and practical needs of the times – the desire to appease unpredictable heavenly powers, and the need to be successful in warfare.

Astronomers designated twenty-eight divisions, or lunar mansions, in the sky. The Chinese view of the celestial sky was circumpolar, within the Northern Hemisphere. This region was divided into four quarters, each representing a cardinal point, a season, a color, and a symbolic animal or mythical being. Each quarter also contained seven of the twenty-eight lunar mansions. The four quadrants of the celestial sky are presented below:

Black Tortoise/Black Warrior, Xuan Wu (玄武); North, Winter

Blue Dragon, Qing Long (青龙); East, Spring

Red Bird/Vermillion, Zhu Que (朱雀) South, Summer

White Tiger, Bai Hu (白虎); West, Autumn

The four quadrants later evolved into a system of five Celestial Palaces, with a fifth region in the center designated as the Emperor’s Purple Palace. The Purple Palace is also included in the constellation Ursa Minor.

These divisions and designations proved a masterful way, for the Chinese astronomers and diviners to study the celestial sky in harmony. The organization of quadrants, palaces, and mansions helped zhentu flourish into an applicable method used by military generals. The earth’s terrain was thought to be organized according to a corresponding region of sky overhead. The configuration of foot soldiers on the battlefield was thus influenced by constellation star formations. It was believed that success in battle was ensured not only by timing (with seasonal, lunar, or by celestial events) but also by creating solid formations on the ground. Rows, columns, and squares were introduced as arrays to keep soldiers in order, according to the Military Classics. It was said that formations in “disarray,” would lead to defeat.

The idea of a sturdy, strong, square battle formation may have been inspired by the Luoshu Square, or Nine Halls Diagram, named after the Luo River. This “magic square” appeared in texts describing Emperor Yu, who was believed to have controlled a great flood by installing a system of irrigation canals, and by opening a blocked channel of the Yellow River.

It is said that Emperor Yu, though lame, developed a paced/stepping ritual. This ritual has been referred to by historians as “The Paces of Yu” – three steps and nine traces -in the shape of the Ladle. Emperor Yu also was said to have conducted breathing incantations while he matched his feet “with the stars” and was thought to have used finger gestures along with this ritual. One purpose of the ritual was to have the ability to fly over the Realm of the Immortals, and over the Seven Stars of The Ladle, to “exhibit might, power, and the supernatural ability to change ill luck, invoke thunder, mitigate disasters, control spirits, and avoid evils” (Pacing the Dipper (2009) The Daoist Encyclopedia.)

In examining the Seven Stars, one may imagine the asterism’s four cornerstone stars as the “bowl” of the Ladle (a sturdy formation, or square) resembling China’s Ideal City plan - a solid, secured, and walled pattern, made up of nine surrounding squares and a square in the center.

The “handle” of the Ladle suggests rotations moving in a predictable pattern throughout the year. This movement was charted and studied sympathetically, with the movement of planets such as Jupiter, to predict the most auspicious times to commence battles on earth. It has been said that “…the latter's use was like a celestial clock. There is evidence to suggest that the Dipper's use as a seasonal indicator goes back well into the Neolithic.” (Pankenier, D.W. (1999) Applied field-allocation astrology in Zhou China: Duke Wen of Jin and the battle of Chengpu, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 119, No. 2, pp. 261- 279.)

This study also suggests there was “a correlation of the four celestial quadrants, with the cardinal directions and perhaps even with the sequence of seasonal powers and their associated colors –[which] may already have been in place by the second millennium B.C.” (Pankenier, D.W. (1999) Applied field-allocation astrology in Zhou China: Duke Wen of Jin and the battle of Chengpu, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 119, No. 2, pp. 261- 279.)

The Chinese Five Army Divisions below, bare strikingly similarities to the Five Celestial Palaces:

Red Bird – Vanguard

Green Dragon – Left Wing

White Tiger – Right Wing

Black Tortoise – Rear Guard

Great Bear Constellation – Commander & Bodyguard

Cartwright, M. (2017) Ancient Chinese Warfare, World History Encyclopedia.

In the poetic passage below, the similarities between the Ladle to the Chinese Five Army Divisions are further described: “The Way of the Dipper is accomplished, the hard and soft (i.e., yang and yin) reach their full capacity. The ten thousand evil influences are exterminated, the hundred devils destroyed. Happiness and blessing are increased and passed on to following generations. I enter the region of obscurity and live forever.” (Zhou China: Duke Wen of Jin and the battle of Chengpu, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 119, No. 2.)

The practice of zhentu changed the terrestrial landscape of Chinese warfare during the Song Dynasty. Emperors and generals consulted the constellations of the night sky and particularly The Big Dipper, to illuminate military battle formation strategies. This extraordinary union of early astronomical science with spiritual divinity, reveals to us how deeply the heavenly Seven Stars are rooted, in earthly Chinese battle formations.

About author:

Julia Sultana is a practitioner of Chinese internal martial arts (Qigong, Taiji, Xingyi and Bagua). She has trained under Sifu Douglas Lawrence for the past 19 years. Julia enjoys writing, as well as teaching. She volunteers her time teaching Qigong and meditation classes in her community.

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