View source for "Five stars rising in the East" armband

[[File:"Five stars rising in the East" armband.jpg|thumb|right|The brocade armband with the phrase "Simultaneous appearance of five stars in the eastern sky is a propitious sign for the 'Middle Kingdom'", displayed at the Xinjiang Institute of Archeology.]]
The '''"Five stars rising in the East" armband''' ({{lang-zh|t=「五星出東方利中國」護膊}}) is an [[Eastern Han]] (25–220 AD) to [[Western Jin]] (265–316 AD) era [[Sichuan embroidery|Sichuan brocade]] [[armband]] embroidered with the phrase "{{lang|zh-hant|𠄡星出東方利中國}}" (''Wǔ xīng chū dōngfāng lì Zhōngguó''), meaning "simultaneous appearance of five stars in the eastern sky is a propitious sign for the '[[Names of China#Middle Kingdom|Middle Kingdom]]'",<ref name="He">{{cite journal |last=He |first=Yimin |translator-last=Wu |translator-first=Lingwei |date=2017 |title=Ancient Chengdu and the Silk Road |url=https://css.researchcommons.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1082&context=journal |journal=Contemporary Social Sciences |issue=5 |page=72 |issn=2096-0212 |access-date=9 December 2022}}</ref> or "Five stars rising in the East, being a propitious sign for the Middle Kingdom".<ref name="Sina1">Sina.com. "[http://book.sina.com.cn/longbook/1099469365_niyatanmi/26.shtml Sina.com]." ''五星出東方利中國.'' Retrieved on 2010-06-04.</ref><ref name="Big5ch">Big5.china.com.cn. "[http://big5.china.com.cn/zhuanti2005/txt/2005-07/03/content_5902151.htm Big5.china.com.cn]." ''尼雅“五星出東方利中國”錦是蜀錦.'' Retrieved on 2010-06-01.</ref>  Another cloth of the same pattern was found later and has the words "put down South [[Qiang (historical people)|Qiang]]" (討南羌 ''Tǎo Nán Qiāng'').<ref name="Sina1" /> In 2002, they were designated one of the [[List of Chinese cultural relics forbidden to be exhibited abroad|cultural relics forbidden to be exhibited abroad]].<ref name="Wenbao">Wenbao.net. "[http://www.wenbao.net/html/whyichan/64th/1wuxingchudongfang.htm Chinese cultural heritage protection official web list]." ''五星出东方.'' Retrieved on 2010-06-01.</ref>
==Discovery==
The pieces were unearthed in October 1995 at the [[Niya ruins]] in [[Xinjiang]] by an archaeological team made up of Chinese and Japanese scholars.<ref name="He" /><ref name="Big5ch" /> It was found near the [[elbow]]/[[waist]] area of a corpse in a rich tomb.<ref name="Sina1" />
==Interpretation==
The phrase "Five stars rising in the East, being a propitious sign for the Middle Kingdom" ({{lang|zh-hant|五星出東方利中國}}) resembles a similar phrase found in the ''[[Records of the Grand Historian]]'''s [[s:zh:史記/卷027|scroll 27]] ({{lang|zh-hant|五星分天之中，積於東方，中國利}}). In the ancient times the "five stars" (the [[classical planets]]) were represented as Chenxing ({{lang|zh-hant|辰星}}), Taibai ({{lang|zh-hant|太白}}), Yinghuo ({{lang|zh-hant|熒惑}}), Suixing ({{lang|zh-hant|歲星}}) and Zhenxing ({{lang|zh-hant|鎭星}}). In modern times these are [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]], [[Venus]], [[Mars]], [[Jupiter]], [[Saturn]], respectively. These are also represented by "[[Wuxing (Chinese philosophy)|Five Elements]]" with water, metal, earth, fire, wood.<ref name="Sina1" />  Researchers from the Japanese observatory said the next alignment of the five stars to the east will not be until March 21, 2022.<ref name="Sina1" />
The phrase "put down South Qiang" ({{lang|zh-hant|討南羌}}) refers to the area that was first mentioned in a sentence in the ''Western Han Essentials'''s ({{lang|zh-hant|西漢會要}}) [[s:zh:卷046|scroll 46]] in relation to the four ancient [[Commandery (China)|commandery]].  The four are located in today's [[Dunhuang]], [[Jiuquan]], [[Zhangye]] and [[Wuwei, Gansu|Wuwei]], in the northwestern province of [[Gansu]], respectively.<ref name="Sina1" />
When the two pieces are combined, it forms the phrase "Five stars rising in the East, being a propitious sign for the Middle Kingdom to put down South Qiang" (五星出東方利中國討南羌), though the meaning is up for debate.
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Five stars rise in the East arm protector}}
[[Category:Archaeological artifacts of China]]
[[Category:1995 archaeological discoveries]]
[[Category:Hotan]]
[[Category:History of Xinjiang]]
[[Category:Culture in Sichuan]]
[[Category:Articles with quotation marks in the title]]