Part Two: Bronze Age China Table of Contents | Start Section
| More about | Excavations at the Tomb of Fu Hao, The Finds at Sanxingdui, Bronze Vessels, The Western Zhou |
More about The Western Zhou
Traditional histories speak of the Zhou conquering the Shang and proclaiming a mandate of heaven. The Zhou justified their conquest by citing the moral depravity and excesses of the last Shang king. They set up a network of kin relationships (zongfai) in various regions, which formed the basis of a new unified state. The Western Zhou mandate was seen as a model for future generations to emulate.
In reality, the formation of the Zhou state was a much more difficult undertaking. The defeat of the Shang by King Wu of Zhou around 1045 B.C. was actually the second of two campaigns into Shang territory. King Wu died two years later, and a power struggle erupted into a brief civil war. This conflict extended Zhou rule into the northern and eastern regions, where relatives were dispatched to strategic points to defend the Zhou heartland along the Wei River valley. Two capitals were built, a western capital at Zongzhou, and an eastern capital at Chengzhou (present-day Luoyang).
The archaeological record suggests that the Zhou were cultural opportunists. They were quick to adopt the material culture of the Shang, perhaps as a way to establish their legitimacy. Zhou art also borrowed heavily from the Shang, and the Zhou practice of casting inscriptions in bronze vessels, as well as the design of the vessels themselves, suggests a direct Shang influence.
Part of the success of the Western Zhou may have rested with their ability to use ritual traditions to unite far-flung regions. These customs underwent a significant change in direction around the early ninth century B.C. Wine vessels were used less than sets of ding and food basins called gui. Changes also began to take place in divination, shifting from the use of oracle bones to the observation of change in nature, codified in the Zhou yi (better known in the West as the Yijing or I Ching). A century had already passed since the start of the dynasty and it is possible that the Zhou wished to set new standards of ritual practice as a way of exercising control over a changing political landscape.
These changes coincided with a time of military instability, and inscriptions on ninth-century B.C. vessels sometimes mention conflicts in the south and east. Having a core state surrounded by alliances may have contributed to a feeling among the Zhou that the outside world was filled with barbarians. Notions of what constituted "Chinese-ness" were beginning to develop, and are reflected in poetry of the time. Fear of barbarians with different customs became even more entrenched after 771 B.C., when the Zhou court fled to their eastern capital, under pressure from enemies to the west.
Rites
The Book of Rites (Li ji) and related texts were composed during the late Bronze Age by ritual specialists. The word li has a broader meaning than the English "rites," encompassing social conventions as well as ceremonies and practices:
"Of all things by which men live, li is the greatest. Without li, there would be no means of regulating the services paid to the spirits of heaven and earth; without li there would be no means of distinguishing the positions of ruler and subject, superior and inferior, old and young; without li there would be no means of maintaining the separate relations between men and women, father and son, elder and younger brothers....
Thus [in our sacrifices] the dark liquor is offered in the inner chamber [of the temple]; the vessels containing it are placed near the entrance; the reddish liquor is offered in the main hall; and the clear, in a place below. Animal victims are displayed, and the tripods and stands are prepared. The lutes and citherns are arranged in rows, with the flutes, sonorous stones, bells and drums. The prayers and benedictions are framed. All of these aim to bring down the Lord on High, as well as ancestral deities from above.
The relation between the ruler and ministers is then rectified; generous feeling between father and son is maintained; elder and younger brothers are harmonized; the high and low find their own positions; and the proper relationships between husband and wife are established. This is what is called securing the blessings of Heaven." [from The Book of Rites, trans. Legge, 1967] Passages from texts dating as far back as the Zhou dynasty refer to the importance of building the ancestral temple (zongmiao) (above) as the first step in the establishment of a city, and the ancestral temples that the Zhou constructed set a pattern that was followed in subsequent periods. The temple housed ancestral tablets that linked past and present generations. The tablets would be organized with the founding ancestor in the rear and more recent ancestors in front, encapsulating the Zhou conception of the past as the foundation on which the present stands. |
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