Shang And Zhou Specified Service System Research

Designated Service is based on the super-economic power, which has detailed division of labor and fixed group of people, who did the same service passing on from generation to generation without change as time goes. It characterized as unity, stability, enforceability, diversity and complexity, which can be found in pre-Qin period. Before Shang Dynasty, it has appeared, no matter the officers in Legends of The Era or diverse Zheng or Yi's tribute and forced labor in Xia Dynasty. In Shang Dynasty, Nei Fu and Wai Fu means serving inside or outside of Shang, which in one aspect imply the exact area and in the other aspect show the distance of the blood lineage and the force of control. Wai Fu in the form of Hou, Dian, Nan, Wei, Quan and Mu and Nei Fu in the form of Ya, She, Shu, Ma, Baigong and Ning, etc., all of them evolved from the specific labor. As an independent political and economic entity, they have their own area, therefore belongs to the Designated Service in their early time. Bronze clan emblem as a symbol to distinguish families and their belongings has a close connection with Designated Service system. In Western Zhou period the phenomenon of Designated Service exists too, which can be found no matter in the labor which the state assign to Leud States, or the agricultural labor, handcraft labor, military labor, cultural and religious labor or other forms among the state or the Leud States, or the service relationship between the Guo and Ye by alliance, conquest or submission. In Spring and Autumn Period, Designated Service broke up gradually in the state and the Leud States, owing to their decline and the powerful states'merger and exploitation, however, it still existed in the Leud States and powerful states. And previous labor fell into disuse because of the appearance of extermination, escape, rich and poor families of the state and the Leud States. However, Designated Service did not disappear during the whole Spring and Autumn period because the governor was weakening big families and adopting protectionism. It still existed in Guo and Ye for the inner organization was complete and some areas are untapped although the wave of invasion reduced members of labor in Ye. The society changed greatly during Spring and Autumn period that the land from hundred mile to thousand mile, the formation of geographical relations and household registration system, the unprecedented development of commodity economy and the appearance of the giving land system by the countries. All these changes sped up the disappearance of Designated Service, thus naturally the predetermination elements of its existence and its characters such as unity, stability and enforceability collapsed too. During the same period, the formation of exploitation of taxation which tends to the same standard in content, object and degree makes the characteristics of diversity and complexity of Designated Service also displaced gradually. Thus the labor got freedom to some extent. This paper aims at demonstrating the point that Designated Service is the main form of exploitation in pre-Qin period by analyzing its forms and the reasons of its breakup during pre-Shang, Shang, Western Zhou and Spring and Autumn period. At the same time, it is the special product in the early state and its existence also decides the early stage of country. The process of replacing by taxation goes coherent with the maturity of the early state. Therefore, the study of Designated Service provides a new way of studying the origin of the country in the perspective of the appearance and development of exploitation. In addition, it is significant to discuss the nature of society in pre-Qin period.