On the Function of Cowries in Shang and Western Zhou China

2003 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Yung-Ti
Keyword(s):  
Western Zhou

Late Western Zhou Taste

1999 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lothar Falkenhausen
Keyword(s):  
Western Zhou

Yu(于/於) in the Western Zhou and Chunqiu Zhanguo Period

2017 ◽  
Vol 83 ◽  
pp. 471-484
Author(s):  
Wei He ◽  
Taewon Jang
Keyword(s):  
Western Zhou

Scribes, Cooks, and Artisans: Breaking Zhou Tradition

Early China ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 241-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Constance A. Cook
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Control ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Bronze Vessels ◽  
Western Zhou ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Bronze Inscriptions ◽  
Eastern Zhou

Bronze Inscriptions of the Western Zhou period show how ritualists were once dedicated to maintaining the ritual apparatus supporting the divine authority of the royal Zhou lineage. Bronze and bamboo texts of the Eastern Zhou period reveal, on the other hand, that ritualists able to manipulate local rulers reliant on their knowledge subsequently subverted power into their own hands. Ritualists such as scribes, cooks, and artisans were involved in the transmission of Zhou “power” through the creation and use of inscribed bronze vessels during feasts. The expansion and bureaucratization of their roles in the Chu state provided economic and ultimately political control of the state. This was particularly the case as the Chu, like the Zhou before them, fled east to escape western invaders.

Astronomical Evidence for the Bamboo Annals' Chronicle of Early Xia

Early China ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 87-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
David S. Nivison ◽  
Kevin D. Pang
Keyword(s):  
Chinese History ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Early China ◽  
Western Zhou ◽  
Zuo Zhuan

Tradition says that Yu, first ruler of the Xia Dynasty, was chosen by the “sage emperor” Shun as Shun's successor. The “Modern Text” Bamboo Annals (Jinben Zhushu jinian) dates this act of choice to the fourteenth year of Shun. (With E. L. Shaughnessy, “On the Authenticity of the Bamboo Annals,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 46 (1986), we accept this text as at least in part the text found in a royal tomb of Wei in A.D. 281.) Following D. Pankenier's argument (“Mozi and the Dates of Xia, Shang and Zhou,” Early China 9–10 [1983–85]), we date this event to 1953 B.C., the year of a dramatic five-planet conjunction. (K. Pang independently dated this conjunction to Yu's reign in his article “Extraordinary Floods in Early Chinese History and their Absolute Dates,” Journal of Hydrology 96 [1987].)We next use K. Pang's discovery (“Extraordinary Floods”) that there was an eclipse of the sun on 16 October 1876 B.C., that exactly satisfies descriptions in the Zuo zhuan (Zhao 17) and in the Bamboo Annals for Xia, Zhong Kang fifth year, of an eclipse associated with the (post-Han Shang shu) “Punitive Expedition of Yin” (except for the day-cycle in the Annals, which we assume to be a later calculation); i.e., it occurred on the first of the ninth lunar month (Xia calendar), the sun's location at the time (188å) was in lunar lodge Fang, and the eclipse was visible in the probable Xia capital area. No other eclipse within many centuries satisfies these criteria.Extending D. Nivison's theory (“The Dates of Western Chou,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 43 (1983)) that Western Zhou royal calendars began only after completion of mourning, i.e., two years after accession, we then assume that there were similar two-year mourning breaks between Xia royal calendars (possibly reflected in the irregular interregnums in the present Annals). For a demonstration of this chronology, see the chart on page 94.

On the origin and formation of the early Qin Culture

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 136-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yun Liang
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Group ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Early Spring ◽  
Shang Dynasty ◽  
Musical Culture ◽  
Autumn Period ◽  
Zhou Dynasty ◽  
Spring And Autumn Period ◽  
Western Zhou ◽  
Western Zhou Dynasty

Abstract The early Qin Culture refers to the Qin Culture from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the early Spring-and-Autumn Period. Considering its cultural composition, we will realize that it has three main sources, namely the Shang, Zhou, and Western Rong (Western Barbarian) Cultures. The elements derived from the Shang Culture comprised the furniture of waist pits and the custom of dog burial in graves, the use of human sacrifice, the interment of chariots and horses, the Shang-style pottery wares and the tradition of constructing huge-scale mausoleums. These elements reflect that the Qin people initially came from the east and had strong ties with the Shang Dynasty and were deeply influenced by the Shang Culture, and belonged to the Yin people (after the fall of the Shang Dynasty) in the broader sense. The elements absorbed from the Zhou Culture comprised the architectural types of ancestral temples and palaces, the adoption of the ritual vessels, the suspended musical instruments, the Zhou style pottery wares and the writing system. These elements indicate that the Qin people adopted the ritual and musical culture of the Western Zhou Dynasty, which had a great political significance at the early stage of Qin’s history. The factors derived from the cultures of the Western Rong ethnic group or the northern steppes included the flexed burial position, the golden body ornaments and chariots and horses, iron wares, animal motifs on utensils, recesses on the walls of the burial pits and the ditches around the graves, the use of bronze cauldrons and swords (daggers). Such elements reflect that during the development process in the Longyou region, the Qin people absorbed the cultures of the adjacent Western Rong ethnic group, the Eurasian steppes and farther beyond. The first kind of elements continued to predominate the Qin Culture down to the middle Western Zhou, then the second and the third ones arose from the late Western Zhou to the early Spring-and-Autumn Period, and simultaneously, the first were only present in the aristocratic burial activities. Based on the remnants of the Shang Culture, the early Qin Culture came into being by widely absorbing elements of the Zhou and Western Rong Cultures.

scholarly journals Symbolism of decorative design of ancient Chinese bronzes

2021 ◽  
pp. 215-223
Author(s):  
Светлана Николаевна Шаповалова
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Art ◽  
Semiotic Analysis ◽  
Religious Worldview ◽  
Art Objects ◽  
Bronze Vessels ◽  
Western Zhou ◽  
Decorative Design

Статья является продолжением семиотического анализа декоративно - орнаментальных элементов, украшающих древнекитайские предметы искусства. Личина Тао-те (Tao-tie (饕餮) и входящие в ее состав фигуры дракона Куй до сих пор не имеет научного определения, так как ни в одном письменном источнике нет упоминания об изображенном иконостилистическом персонаже. Исследование опирается на анализ пиктографических изображений (иероглифических надписей) на бронзовых сосудах эпохи Шан, раскрывающих семантику некоторых специально подчеркнутых деталей узора. В результате исследования объясняется значение изображенных элементов: символа гуй (возвращение) и знака «уха» (эр) , подтверждающих принадлежность образа Тао-те к описанию божественного первопредка и способствующих в осмыслении религиозного мировоззрения государств Ся (2017 -1765 г. до н.э.), Шан-Инь (1554 - 1046 г. до н.э.) и Западное Чжоу (1045 - 770 г. до н.э.). The paper is a continuation of the semiotic analysis of ornamental elements decorating ancient Chinese art objects. The mask of Tao-tie (饕餮), including the figures of the dragon Kui making it up, still has no scientific definition, since there is no mention of the depicted, iconostylistic character in any written source. The study is based on the analysis of pictographic images (hieroglyphic inscriptions) on bronze vessels of the Shang Era, revealing the semantics of some specially emphasized details of the pattern. As a result of the study, the significance of the depicted elements is explained: the hui symbol (return) and the "ear" sign (er), confirming the belonging of the image of Tao-tie to the description of the divine primacy and contributing to the understanding of the religious worldview of the dynasties of Xia (2017 -1765 BC), Shang-Yin (1554 - 1046 BC) and Western Zhou (1045 - 770 BC).

scholarly journals THE INFLUENCE OF THE POLITICAL SYSTEM OF CHINA ON THE FORMATION OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL TERMINOLOGY

2021 ◽  
Vol 02 (04) ◽  
pp. 10-17
Author(s):  
Saodat Abdullaevna Nasirova ◽  
◽  
Sabohat Abdullaevna Hashimova ◽  
Gulchehra Shavkatovna Rikhsieva ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ancient China ◽  
Chronological Order ◽  
Administrative Management ◽  
Administrative Division ◽  
Modern System ◽  
Western Zhou

This article examines the influence of the political system of ancient China on the formation of socio-political terminology within the framework of administrative management. The analysis is carried out on the basis of lexicographic material in the chronological order of replenishment of the terminology of administrative division from the period of the slave dynasties of Xia, Shang and Western Zhou to the modern system of government in China.

Western Zhou History

1999 ◽  
pp. 292-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward L. Shaughnessy
Keyword(s):  
Western Zhou
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