A Study Of The Clans In The State Of Chu During The Eastern Zhou Period

More and more excavated documents about Chu's clans have been published in recent decades, not only providing an opportunity for re-examining outstanding issues of Chu's clans, but also expanding new fields of thought and research.This dissertation is divided into four chapters. The first two chapters discuss nine aspects of the Chu Kings' clan:1) The Yuan family may descend from Yuan Zhong, the second son of Ji Lian recorded in the Chu Ju. The family's fief, called Yuan, is in the southwest of Xichuan County, Henan Province, which was bestowed to descendants of Yuan Zhong. The Yuan, divided into at least three lineages, including the main lineage, that can be distinguished in bronze inscriptions by their different ways of writing the character of the lineage name "Yuan". Received texts and Chu bamboo slips show that the three small families developed separately, but their burial grounds were together at Xiasi, Heshangling, Xujialing in the west of Longcheng near Xichuan. County, Henan Province. The owner of tomb M1 at Heshangling should be Yuan Zixin (namely Ke Huang), not Dou Kehuang. Tomb M9 occupies the highest point in Xujialing cemetery, the surrounding area of which is planned so that the ages of graves in low places are later than graves in high places.2) The Ruo-ao family includes the Dou family and the Cheng family. The Cheng family was the lineal descendant of Chu king Ruo-ao, not Dou's subsidiary family. The surname of the Dou family is due to their fief, which may have been located in the White River Valley of the eastern Nanyang Basin. Cheng was enfeoffed in the earlier half of the 7th century BC, and its fief may have been near Dou's. From the Qing dynasty until now there have been three opinions on the location of the Battle of Gaohu in 605 BC, a well-known incident in the history of the Chu State. We find that the the first uprising of the Ruoao Family occurred to the north of Huyang Town, Tanghe Country, Henan Province. The battle took place at the foot of Hangao Hill on the south bank of Han River near Xiangfan City. The destruction of the Ruoao family had a significant impact on the politics of Chu, and some new forces began to rise, such as the sons of Chu kings, the Yuan(蒍)family and the Shenyin family.3) The Qu family may descend from Quxun as recorded in the Chu Ju. The family's fief Qu was located in Yunxian Country, Hubei Province, which was bestowed on the descendants of Quxun. The fact that the leader of the Qu family took the Moao hereditary position in charge of his owner military forces was an important reason for the continued power of the family.4) The Shenyin family may have descended from Chu king Mu, achieving their family name around the first half of 6th century BC. Shenyin as a official title referred to a clergymen whose duty was to engage in sacrifice and divination. Because Shenyin Zi jing acted as Shenyin, his descendants took it as a hereditary position, so the family was named Shenyin.5) The Yang family and the Nang families got their names from the courtesy names of their ancestor. The Yang family that was written (?) in Chu bamboo slips descended from the son (named Yang) of Chu King Mu while The Yang family that was writed as (?) came from Yang State of the Ji Clan. The Nang family descended from the son (named Zhen, courtesy name Zinang)of Chu king Zhuang.6) The Jing family descended from Chu king Jing and was named by the posthumous title of Chu king Jing. Jing Zhiding in the Chongyuan bronzes and the Jiuqinrong bronze bell was the grandson (named Ning) of Chu king Jing, who was one of the first noblemen of the Jing family. Since Chu king Wei, the leader of the Jing family, had continuously held the post of Zhuguo during the reigns of kings Wei, Huai and Xiang, playing an important role in the military activities of Chu.7) The Zhao family descended from Chu king Zhao and was named by the posthumous title of Chu king Zhao. This dissertation tries to reconstitute the early genealogy of the family. We consider that the Zhao family appeared at the time of the son (courtesy name Ziliang) of Chu king Zhao and later became divided into several genealogies, most of which occupied the middle and upper ranks of Chu society.8) The Dao family descended from Chu king Dao and was named by the posthumous title of Chu king Dao. The dissertation tries to reconstitute the genealogy of the family. We argue that Dao Gu belonged to a subsidiary genealogy, and his status was lower than Qiling Jun, lower than the leader of the family.9) "Chuzimou" in bronze inscriptions may be read as "Chu + Zimou", referring to the lower nobility or to the common people without surnames, but may instead refer to close descendants of Chu Kings without surnames.The third chapter is a study of exotic clans of Chu, including the Peng family, the Pan family, the Shen (Shu) family and the Wu family. The Peng family descended from Peng Zhongshuang who was formerly a bastard of Peng State. Five groups of eight graves were found at:Peng's burial ground in the west of Nanyang City. According to the sequence from north to south, these graves were buried from-early to late. It includes approximately eight generations of the Peng family. The earliest tomb is Peng Yu's from early middle Spring and Autumn period while the latest tomb is Peng Qi's in the early Warring States Period.The Pan family descended from a younger son of the Pan state of the Ji clan. The family had a high status during the time of Chu kings Mu, Zhuang and Gong. Pan Sheng, the owner of Tianxingguan tomb 1, is probably the descendant of the Pan family in the Spring and Autumn Period, whose fief named Diyang was located in Laohekou City, Hubei Province.The Shen (Shu) family came from the Shen state of the Jiang clan. The families that took office in Chu included the Shen family and the Shen Shu family; the former may have connections with Shen king Wen. The fief of the Shen (Shu) family may have been near the old Shen State, and Shen Wuyu's fief (named Fan) may have been located between Xichuan Country and Dengzhou City, Henan Province. The Wu family did not descend from Chu kings, but may have descended from of the son (named Tuo) of Chen king Wen. The Wu family was also called the Shen family while Wu Zixu was also called Shen xu. Both may have had some relationship with the fief Shen, where their fief or living place was located. Wei Zhao was incorrect to believe that Wu Zixu was called as Shen xu because he was enfeoffed in Shen in the state of Wu.The fourth chapter is a comprehensive study of Chu's clans. The first section discusses the relationship between client states and exotic clans of Chu and argues that the Chu state imitated the Western Zhou fief system after conquering small countries around by force. On the one hand, Chu re-enfeoffed these conquered countries; on the other hand, Chu arranged younger sons of the client states as kings, standing up to Zhou kings as equals. At the beginning this policy helped win over client states and consolidate conquests, but in the long run it delayed the process of national integration in the Chu state and was not conducive to the promotion of the county system and the central control of local administrative units.The second section discusses the structure and policy of Chu's clan, which is divided into six periods. This dissertation argues that Chu kings Zhuang, Ling, Ping and Dao adjusted the Chu's clan policy in order to enhance or limit clan power for the benefit of the main royal lineage and the Chu state, but they did not change the tradition of emphasizing family status, and the control of political power by the aristocratic families until Chu's decline.The third section analyzes the fief system of the Chu State, including the enfeoffing of client states and domestic families, and the geographical structure of Chu's clans. "Xiongqu grants three sons as kings" was different with the fief system of Zhou in that the principal wife's eldest son succeeded to the throne and other sons were enfeoffed. So it should not be thought as a representative enfeoffing. Some characteristics of Chu fiefs were their underdeveloped internal organization, their frontier locations and the importance of centrally controlled counties to the Chu state, which meant that fiefs comprised a relatively small portion of the Chu territory. The underdeveloped fief system of Chu led to the later appearance of a large number of Fengjun.