What is the Empty Classic? Is it the historical text that, together with the Classic of Mountains and Seas, forms part of the ancient “sea, land, and sky” series of classics? Long Yi attends the Zhuang Singing Festival for the Zhuang Third Day of the Third Month in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. By chance, he opens a Zhuang bronze drum and discovers the Empty Classic. It tells how, after years of war, the powerful Silver People surrendered, and the Golden People finally ended several star cycles of interstellar war and unified the star system, which became known as the “Golden River System.” The Silver People then set a trap and stole the Golden People’s rule over the system, renaming it the “Milky Way” and using the name “Yellow People” to seal away the descendants of the Golden People… The Golden Needle, embodiment of Chinese medicine’s spirit of acupuncture, was replaced by the Silver Needle; the celebratory gold of Chinese weddings was replaced by the silver of funerals; and birthday wishes were extinguished along with silver candles… Long Yi recites the Book of Changes in the Zhuang language, and the Golden People awaken…
