Ancient Chinese marriage and statecraft in a Zhou vassal state: Elite female burials of the Jin state

In the Zhou period of China covered in this dissertation (11th to 5th c. BCE), marriage and statecraft were intimately connected, and men and women were treated differently in burial. This reflected a ranked system within the nobility across the Zhou confederacy that changed in relation to opportunities embedded in the political system. This study examines the changes in burial treatment from the beginning of the Zhou dynasty in all known cemeteries of nobles with secure gendered distinctions in the state of Jin. They all show temporary and regional distinctions.; Systematic analysis of burial data has benefited from careful reporting of these cemeteries by Chinese archaeologists so that patterns of distinctions in burial across time are apparent. As a result, eight periods that differentiate burial practices could be discerned. That periodization has been charted into an eight phase system in the dissertation. Analysis of the burial data and the patterns revealed are correlated with inscriptional evidence and discussions in historical texts in an effort to explain why such changes occurred.; The principal results of this analysis are that during the formative period of the state of Jin, when Jin nobles were marrying non-Jin women, the status of women in burial was equivalent to that of their husbands. This seems to have been advantageous politically. In the middle period, a fuller acceptance of the Zhou ritual system and zongfa system can be noted and was expressed through a decreased elaboration of the wives' tombs. Compliance with the central Zhou sumptuary regulations was probably desirable for economic and political reasons. During the final stage in this development, the power of the central Zhou court diminished. The independence of the vassal states, including the Jin, rose to a peak. During this time, a less rigid application of the Zhou ritual system was observed by the Jin, and women's positions seem to have varied depending on affiliations with their natal states and foreign affairs in general.; Marriage and statecraft were intimately connected throughout the period and were reflected in burial practice. This study shows that the Zhou ritual and zongfa systems were treated as guidelines and not applied strictly as laws. This may well have been the case in other vassal states as well.