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Chapter 77 of 110
柳庄神相
Section 76 of Liuzhuang Divine Physiognomy records the "Seventy-Two Base Traits of Women," a set of categorical judgments in ancient physiognomy concerning women's demeanor, behavior, and bodily characteristics. The core logic is: by observing a woman's expression, posture, speech, movements, and other external signs, one may infer the deviations in her inner character and virtue.
The original text states its premise outright: "Should she be found guilty of even one, there must be private licentiousness." This means that of these seventy-two traits, being found to possess even a single one is considered evidence of a tendency toward clandestine lust and debauchery. This system of judgment is built upon the traditional belief that "the countenance reflects the mind," holding that one's external form and behavioral details are all outward manifestations of inner nature. 🚶♀️ For instance, gait, the shifting of the gaze, and the manner of speech were all believed in ancient times to reveal the authenticity of one's temperament and the depth of one's desires.
However, it must be pointed out that this set of "Seventy-Two Base Traits" judgment criteria is deeply rooted in the ritual constraints of Ming dynasty society and its patriarchal ideology. A great many of its entries merely describe women's natural physiological features (such as the color of the breasts, the shape of pubic hair, skin texture) or ordinary behavioral habits (such as being fond of laughing, talking to oneself, sitting improperly), none of which hold any necessary moral connection. Categorizing all of these uniformly under "base character" reflects the stringent moral scrutiny and bodily discipline imposed on women by that era's society.
When modern readers study this passage, they should transcend the framework of "judging virtue by appearance" and instead regard it as a significant document in ancient cultural history and the history of bodily concepts—it reveals how that era, in the name of physiognomy, placed the female body entirely under the microscope of moral judgment. 🔍
| No. | Original Text | Vernacular Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Two eyes with floating light | Restless gaze, wandering look |
| 2 | Face of peach blossoms | Face carrying a seductive air, regarded by ancient people as an alluring sign |
| 6 | Eye corners drooping low | Eye corners sagging downward, viewed as indicative of yin-natured gentleness |
| 10 | Eyes revealing white light | The sclera (white of the eye) clearly showing, called "white-eyed" |
| 13 | Glancing sidelong in stealthy watch | Not looking directly at people, stealing sidelong glances |
| 27 | Covering face upon seeing others | Covering the face when meeting others, seen by the ancients as feigned coyness |
| 35 | Smiling before speaking | Smiling before even opening one's mouth, viewed as frivolous |
| 48 | Long face with round eyes | Long face shape with round eyes, considered inharmonious |
| 49 | Turning head for frequent glances | Frequently turning the head to look back, viewed as inattentive |
| 57 | Eyes closed with formidable brows | Eyes closed yet a fierce air in gaze and brows |
| 68 | Startling oneself over nothing | Frightening oneself for no reason; the heart finds no rest |
| 70 | Crying while in sleep dreams | Weeping during sleep, viewed as an unsettled mind |
| No. | Original Text | Vernacular Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Flesh soft as wadding | Skin and flesh flaccid and lacking elasticity |
| 8 | Both cheekbones sunken | Cheekbones hollowed on both sides |
| 9 | Facial flesh puffy and layered | Facial muscles swollen and piled up |
| 15 | Slender waist, frail shoulders | A thin waist, thin shoulders, seen as a "weak constitution" by the ancients |
| 18 | Large face, small nose | Wide face but small nose—disproportionate |
| 28 | Body like willow in wind | Body swaying unsteadily like a willow branch in the wind |
| 29 | Head of a musk deer, ears of a rat | Head small like a deer and ears like a rat, describing an unseemly shape of the head |
| 30 | Shrinking the head, sticking out the tongue | Ducking the head while extending the tongue, viewed as flippant |
| 36 | Piglet-petite with a high chest | A waist slender as a piglet's but the chest thrusting high |
| 37 | Face entirely hollow in the two regions | Both sides of the face deeply sunken across |
| 38 | Navel protruding and positioned low | Navel prominent and positioned lower than usual |
| 39 | Pointed forehead, restless feet | Tapering forehead, with feet constantly moving to and fro |
| 40 | Petite as a piglet but no jaw prominence | Waist slender but the cheeks lacking fullness |
| 45 | Crane shanks and an ox-like waist | Legs thin as a crane's yet a thick waist |
| 47 | Forcibly puffing breath and stretching the waist | Deliberately emphasising one's breath and elongating the waist, in an affected posturing |
| 58 | Long of stature with short neck | Body tall but neck short |
| 59 | Fingers short, waist crooked | Fingers stubby, waist without straight uprightness |
| 61 | Head lopsided, forehead narrow | Head contour slanting, forehead confined |
| 63 | Sunken back with scant belly | Back concave, somewhat sunken, and the abdomen slight |
| 64 | Nose turned up to the sky | Nose upturned as though aimed at heaven |
| 66 | Slender nape with desolate brows | Neck finedrawn and brows meagre and sparse |
| No. | Original Text | Vernacular Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Blood not suffusing the complexion | Paleness with countenance lacking a healthy verve of blush or gloss |
| 5 | Face with many speckles | Face with much dark freckling and mottling |
| 17 | Skin film-thin as gauze | Skin delicate and wafer-like as transparent gauze—treated by earlier lore as symptomatic of a "fortune-pressed cut," foreshadowing insufficiency. |
| 20 | Lips pale and lank | Undergoing discolored with wan coloring and unpaunched not full depth of tone elsewhere evenly against pale instead of fat lines over scant lift for natural rise: pallid case matched with thin edges |
| 31 | Ashen base likened against unspecified floating palor accent to powder-envised filter in silk textures slaking pign'ent piction). Viewed plainly it lists mostly self-pigment veiling at face finish (“powder-pallid caucasics custom of heightened pall perhaps marked show dustless tone whited mise into flushless bleachers glossier lay), viewed through older social sensibilities aligning some extremes—abs it sets likely established mid-coordinate paper in plain skin porcelain* unrefunded which one accepts there as unnatural hue borrowed— but for provenance another exact (原文-prime code notes)：译感守- likely**"complex cream pallor like dashen pale coating."**(可追走 front overlay interpreti上转行规则 p只道转换底 back列把译更条列另) |
| 33 | Slick glossy as oil | The dermis that seems it acquired a too sleek louver und dewey liquid sheen having visc pol without oils it oddly smooth. (原旧校常 note in leg-编如油: See planc in注解 downstream) Exact moderns translator margin this has no surgical anchor meaning beyond standing on pre-Rev ence table: N/A might catch at slipe still gloss for lye caust — though then margin do write see下段 in 正文原本或同一 chart keeps re: 据录办以为错等而即最下.
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| 41 | Lips azured blotched of brassy dye-blue dye. Another phrase standing back transm. fine simple: cyan-daff upon kin. Lips palette dim lit lit lit lower chord toward: modern point rests blunt — "blue indigo tinge." Original Chinese——It actually states "like the deep blue indigo plant dye" against lip etc, no great variance rest* provided comment code appears* for no misgiven when judge.
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| 69 | Standing askew in wane-crooked demean | Posture of an oblique standing — obliquely keeling disalignment from line toward of gravity —.
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| Concept | Relationship Description |
|---|---|
| The Countenance Reflects the Mind | The overarching theoretical framework of Chinese physiognomy, maintaining that external appearance is the embodiment of inner character |
| Five Mountains and Four Rivers | Core concepts in facial reading, where the forehead, nose, chin, cheekbones, and other features correspond to mountains and waterways |
| Sufficiency of Spirit vs. Insufficiency of Spirit | The central metric for judging nobility or vulgarity in Mayi Physiognomy; the "seventy-two vulgar types" mostly pertain to insufficiency of spirit |
| The Seventy-Four Physiognomies of Women | In Liuzhuang Spirit Physiognomy, counterparts to the "seventy-two vulgar types" — namely the "seventy-four noble types" or other chapters on female physiognomic classifications |
| The Three Obediences and Four Virtues | The social foundation of Ming-dynasty female moral norms, which are highly isomorphic with the physiognomic criteria for "vulgar types" |