YAO PEOPLE.

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Calligraphic scroll describing a Yao origin story. A manuscript version of the Pinghuang quandie ("Charter of Emperor Ping"), a central part of Yao history and folklore. According to the tradition, the Yao are "the descendants of the dragon-dog Panhu, who they revere as their primogenitor, and on whom their claims of autonomy from the state are based. Because of the great merit he achieved in the service of a mythical emperor, Ping, in the hundun (chaos) reign period - that is, prior to the emergence of the dynastic system - they were issued an imperial charter, which granted them exemption from taxation, and allowed them to settle on all of the mountains under Heaven" (Alberts). The charter is said by the Yao to have been issued by the Song emperor Lizong in 1260 - this year is mentioned at the beginning of this manuscript - but this history remains a point of scholarly debate, and other dates from earlier dynasties also appear in the manuscript record. It is possible that the charter and its granting are an internal Yao creation.Provenance: Sam Fogg, London Bookseller, Catalogue 19 (1998), Number 68 - Martin Schøyen (b. 1940), the Norwegian collector of rare books and manuscripts, with his white annotated sticker and black ink pressmark (MS 2473/2) on the verso of the final sheet.

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