The Research On The Awarding System Of The Spring And Autumn And The Warring States Periods

During the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States Periods, awarding is a very important political activity. There lacks a thorough study of it in academia. This article focuses on the awarding system of the Zhou Royal court, the states of Qi, Jin, Chu, Qin and other states. Then it studies the awarding ideas of the same period. And this article can be divided into seven chapters.Chapter One focuses on the awarding system of the Zhou Royal court. During the Spring and Autumn Period the main contents of awarding of Zhou Royal court were land, and other things, including weapons, vehicles, clothing, and so on. The kings of the states were mainly the people to be awarded. The kings of the states sharing the same family name were more awarded while the states with different family names were less awarded. The Emperor awarded the states not only for their military exploit but also for their permanent protection of the Royal court. Huge land awarding resulted in poverty of the Emperor and prosperity of the states.Chapter Two focuses on the awarding system in the State of Jin. The state of Jin reached its peak in awarding during the Spring and Autumn Period. With land as the main awarding material and the noble as the main object, it contributed to the quick growth of power both in economy and in politics, which eventually led to the tragic fall of Jin. Meanwhile, the state of Jin also attached importance to award the ordinary nobles, common people, and people in other states. And which achieved good results.Chapter Three focuses on the awarding system of the state of Qi. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the State of Qi was very rich in awarding materials, including land, clothing, vehicles, building materials, etc. And the land could be hereditary. The objects to be awarded in Qi were of wide-range, including people with military exploit, common people, females, etc. The ministers from other states had priority. Duke Huan of Qi awarded almost every other state, and Duke Jing of Qi even awarded ministers with no achievements. During the Warring States period, Qi followed its own wide-range awarding practice; however, it's unusual in Qi State that people with military exploit were ignored in awarding while literary men and scholars were emphasized.Chapter four focuses on the awarding system in the state of Chu. The state of Chu was strict with its awarding during the Spring and Autumn Period. The awarding materials were meager and awarding objects were sternly restricted to nobles sharing the same surname with the King and people with great contribution. Thus, the Royal court firmly controlled the State's economy. In contrast to the knight of people with military exploit, Chu awarding system is special for its feudal lord system. During the Warring States period, Chu, being the first state to carry out the feudal lord system, had the largest number of princes bestowed with lands largest in size, and their lands were hereditary. Owing to this reason, many princes became more power even than King of Chu State.Chapter Five focuses on the awarding system in the state of Qin. The entry into the Warring States period witnessed the realization of large-scale awarding and the formation of mature awarding system in the Qin State, especially after reforms carried out by Shang Yang. First, Qin formulated strict system of knighting people with military exploit, and which tremendously stimulated the generals and the soldiers'enthusiasm in combat. Secondly, Qin entitled a lot of princes, including nobles of the king's clan, ministers, officials as well as persuasive talkers and so on. Finally, the king of Qin often awarded people with gold, houses, gardens, vehicles, clothes, jewels, etc, in order to encourage them.Chapter six focuses on the awarding system in the other small states. The State of Zheng formulated mature awarding system in early stage of the Spring and Autumn period. The awarding system was in conformity with the adoration and maintenance of Li (manners) in the Lu State. The Song State, as the descendants of Yin, laid the same importance to awarding system. The awarding system was rich and symbolic in the Wei State. During the Warring States period, the Zhao State awarded the noble, and people with military and civil achievements with rewards no less than powerful states as Qin or Chu. The Yan State was generous in awarding although it was weak and poor.Chapter Seven focuses on the awarding ideas. The Art of War put forward ideas of flexible conversion within the law or outside the law when awarding, judging enemy's situation according to awarding, balancing between rich awarding and poor awarding, and rich awarding for spies. The thought about awarding in Guan Zi is rooted in the awarding activities of the State of Qi in the Spring and Autumn period; in the meanwhile, based on the reality of the Warring States, and influenced by thoughts of the Legalist School of the late Warring States period, Guan Zi was obviously progressive. The Book of Lord Shang carries profound awarding thoughts, including complete awarding system of entitling people with military exploit, the relationship between heavy awarding and light awarding, and the relation between awarding and punishment, etc. And the book can be said to be the most mature one among the School of Legalists.Xun Zi though embodying thoughts of both Confucianism and the Legalist, obviously, its legalist thoughts of awarding were not complete. In Han Fei Zi, there were abundant thoughts about awarding, and within which the law, the power, the skill were combined perfectly.