CHAPTER THIRTEEN “THAT WHICH SOAKS AND DESCENDS BECOMES SALTY”: THE CONCEPT OF NATURE IN TRADITIONAL CHINESE SALT PRODUCTION Hans Ulrich Vogel Rhapsody of the Sea, by Zhang Rong Leaching the sands for dragging out the white, Boiling the waves for producing the pale; Heaped up snow in midst of spring, Flying frost on summer roads. 1 Oda a la sal, by Pablo Neruda Polvo del mar, la lengua de ti recibe un beso de la noche marina: el gusto funde en cada sazonado manjar tu oceanía y así la mínima, la minúscula ola del salero nos enseña no sólo su doméstica blancura, sino el sabor central del infinito. I. INTRODUCTION In western historical terminology, the word “nature” has a number of meanings. Basically, it can be: a) the nature of a thing, its peculiarity, inner principle, or constitution; b) the natural in contrast to the unnatural or artificial; c) the world of materiality, in contrast to the spiritual, the inner life or consciousness; d) the totality of the finite things, thus reality; e) the epitome for phenomena following law-like patterns, and thus an object accessible to empirical knowledge. 2 For the 1 Haifu !" Lu sha gou bai #$%& Ao bo chu su ’()* Ji xue zhong chun +,-. Fei shuang shu lu /012 Nanshi 32. 833; see also Nan Qi shu 41.725-726. These lines were written by Zhang Rong 3 4 of the Southern Qi 5 6 dynasty (479-501) after he had weathered a storm while sailing to his new post in Jiaozhou 7 8 to which he was sent by emperor Wu of Qi 6 9 : . 2 See Schipperges, “Natur,” p. 216.