ANST-701 Lessons

As the students take their seats in the Ancient Studies classroom, they notice a second witch lingering at the back of the class. Petite, with short, dark hair, she smiles kindly at the students. Curious as to who she is and why she is here, the students turn their attention to the front of the room as the professor begins to speak.

Welcome, I would like to introduce to you a dear colleague of mine, Dr. Anne Min. Doctor Min and I worked together for several years in the Hanging Gardens, and I invited her here not only to catch up for tea, as is our usual habit, but also to show you a particularly fascinating piece of magic: her Patronus.

At this, Dr. Min steps forward. She waves her wand and a silvery light emerges from the tip. The image forms and the students are amazed to see an enormous and seemingly fierce lion. After they get over the shock, the students look more closely and notice that not only does the lion have horns, but also a pair of magnificent wings. 

Dr. Min releases the magic and the not-lion bounds away into mist. “Enjoy your studies, students!” the doctor states. Then, with a quick smile at the professor, she flits through the door, out into the corridor.

Yes, Dr. Min is a bit shy around large groups, but wasn’t her patronus absolutely incredible? For those of you who are immediately deducing that the creature was a chimaera, you are not entirely wrong, but you are not completely correct either. You see, the creature is called a pixiu (more specifically a bixie, which is the word for a female pixiu). More confusingly, the male is called a “tian lu” and has only one horn, as opposed to the two-horned female. Why did I liken it to chimaera earlier? Well, while not a chimaera specifically, it is considered an offshoot of the species.

It is quite common to find sculptures of pixiu in the homes of both wizards and Muggles in China, as it is a very famous beast. In mythology, a tian lu brings wealth to its owner and the female counterpart, the bixie, wards against evil. In magical homes, you may actually find the real creatures! While rather large, they are not hostile towards humans and act more like loyal followers. I would hesitate to compare them to a dog, however, as they are much more intelligent and, sadly, less cuddly.

The actual creatures have similar behaviours to their mythological counterparts. An actual tian lu has quite an eye for sparkly, valuable items, such as gold and jewels. Similar to a Niffler or magpie, they are known to snatch sparkly items and bring them back to their home. In this way, they do attract wealth, although perhaps not in the most legal of ways.

The bixie, on the other hand, is a great protector. She will not only protect the wealth of the family, regardless of how it was acquired, but will also protect the family from evil. You see, over the ages, bixies seem to have developed the ability to detect malicious intent in a creature or person. While no one is entirely certain how this ability works, it is absolutely true. If you ever happen to find yourself in the presence of a bixie and they are growling or pacing, it’s best to get out your wand. Someone or something close by is evil and has a malicious intent.

Given the inherent abilities of the pixiu, it may not surprise you to discover that the creatures are sometimes used by curse-breakers when clearing temples, pyramids, and other dangerous locations across the globe. In fact, you’d be forgiven for thinking every team would have these loyal creatures as an asset. To be fair,  I’m sure most teams would very much like that. However it is not nearly as common as they would like for two reasons. First, and probably most significantly, there are not a lot of pixiu in the world. Overhunting during earlier dynasties led to very low populations (though they are protected now, and numbers are on the rise). This is of course exacerbated by the fact that mated pairs breed very infrequently, and that their litters are quite small - one or two offspring at most.

The second reason that they are not as widely used as one would think is that it takes a long time to gain the loyalty of the pixiu. Their lifespan is quite long and often you will find pixiu that have been with a specific family for several generations. The truth is that it probably took decades for the original owners to gain the trust of these creatures and have them become part of the family. As such, a “family” of curse-breakers simply does not have the time to gain the loyalty of these creatures. The pixiu that do assist curse-breakers are actually loyal to one specific member of the team, as they have probably been loyal to that curse-breakers’ family for a long time. They will help the other curse-breakers on the team simply because they are part of the pack to which their master belongs.

Now, I am sure some of you are wondering what all of this has to do with ancient China? Other than the obvious fact that pixiu are native to China, references to these creatures are found throughout history. Most frequently, the creatures were found in royal palaces as the emperors most certainly saw the value in investing the time to gain the creatures’ loyalty. Pixiu were also found more predominantly in magical families, and both of the famous wizards we will be discussing for the remainder of this class had them as companions.

Yu the Great

During our last class we discussed Yu the Great. He both saved his people from the continuous flooding of the major rivers of China, and also founded the dynastic period of Chinese rule. He was most certainly a wizard of great skill and was equal parts brilliant and compassionate.

At his heart, Yu was a scholar. While magical study in the western world had not progressed very far by the early 2100s BCE, a fair amount of progress had been made in the east. Yu learned every scrap of magical knowledge he could find, and went so far as to try his own new spells for levitation. Aside from magic, Yu also spent a great deal of time studying the natural world. He was particularly obsessed with the movement of water, the changes of the seasons, and agriculture.

You see, Yu was not the first person dispatched to stop the flooding that had plagued central China for decades. His father, Gun, was given this task first, when Yu was a small boy. Gun attempted to stop the flooding by building dams and dikes - all of which failed miserably. His failures not only resulted in massive loss of life when the dams collapsed, but ultimately led to his banishment from the kingdom. Yu was charged with this task after his father left, and scholars believe that the years he spent observing his father’s failures actually made it possible for him to succeed.

Yu realised that the waters could not be stopped entirely - there was too much water flowing too quickly. The rivers needed to be widened and redirected, not blocked. Changing their course to more easily lead to the ocean was the only way to prevent them from continuously flooding the plains.

Yu knew that it would take at least ten years to complete this work - and that was with the assistance of magic. Nevertheless, he was committed to the task and did much of the work himself. Beginning with the Yellow River, he dug side-by-side with his workforce (tens of thousands of men) to create a new path for the water. Along the way, he set up irrigation systems to supply the agricultural areas with the water they needed. At the mountain passes, Yu widened the openings, allowing the water to drain out at a faster rate, and connected the floodwaters to the ocean.

At that point, Yu turned his attention to the Yangtze River. This particular river posed quite a problem for Yu, as it travelled through a small pass in a mountain before turning to the sea. It was this choke point that allowed the flood waters to pool. Legend tells us that Yu went into the mountain alone and, in one day, widened the opening, all but destroying the mountains, by turning into a dragon.

In reality, Yu did not turn into a dragon. However, due to his studies and experimentation over the years, he did have some control over a dragon, as well as the bixie belonging to his family. He also had a newly perfected a spell that was quite adept at causing things to explode. Not wanting to cause either great alarm or unfounded reverence for his abilities (he was a rather modest person, after all), he did go into the mountains without his workers and clear the obstacles, allowing the Yangtze to fall into an area called the three gorges and reach the sea much more efficiently.

You may hear of scholars - both Muggle and magical - that say that Yu was a fictional character, as were the floods. I say they are fools. There is geological evidence of great flooding happening leading up to and during the early part of Yu’s life. Additionally, geological studies confirm that the angle in which Yangtze River cuts across the gorges suggests that there must have been mountains there at some point in time.  

Of course, Yu eventually became the ruler of the Xie dynasty. It was, however, his great efforts to move the water - not block it - that won him the hearts of the people and his place in history.

Sun Tzu

While not famous for heroic deeds per se, Sun Tzu is renowned for both his prowess in battle as well as his unmatched wisdom in warfare. Author of the book The Art of War, Sun Tzu’s methods are not only utilized in battle today, but are taught in military outfits, such as the American Marine corps, worldwide. I have even heard of a number of aurors who have studied this work in great detail.

The Art of War was written in the 5th century BCE during a time called the Spring and Autumn period by historians. At that time, Sun Tzu, a general and military strategist for king Helu of Wu, had been victorious in many battles and was inspired to write down what he had learned. 

So how is it that this text - thousands of years old - is still applicable to modern warfare? And moreover, how is it also applicable to political leaders, businessmen, and lawyers? Quite simply, because it’s magic. 

Well, no, the book itself isn’t magic, but the book was based on magical theory, specifically arithmancy. The pages are not filled with numbers and calculations, but the tactics that Tzu employed on the field during his battles were all made using arithmancy, in which Tzu was a complete master. Knowing that not all generals would be able to practice arithmancy, as they were not all wizards like Tzu, he tried to write down the meaning of the numbers, instead of the numbers themselves. For example, one of the most famous tactics from the book states something along the lines of use your strengths against your opponent’s weaknesses. Arithmancy would allow you to apply this concept by determining which soldiers to deploy where. It would direct your strength towards the weakness of your opponent, thereby allowing a more swift victory. 

You may have even heard this idea before, but it was Tzu that put the idea into words for the first time. Before then, it was just following the numbers - Tzu turned those numbers into ideas.

One other of Sun Tzu’s most famous quotations is “Every battle is won before it is fought,” which is applicable both in war and in class. Not certain? Think of it this way: your midterm will occur at the end of our next class - if you prepare for the exams before they happen, you are certain to succeed. If you do nothing, you will most certainly fail. To help you with your preparation, we will end our studies on China now. Today you will have a quiz and your first research essay to complete.

Have a lovely day!

Image credits here, here, here, and here
Original lesson written by Professor Liria Morgan