A Preliminary Study On The Circulation Of Jade In The Western Zhou Dynasty

The Western Zhou Dynasty is the peak of jade culture in China,and it is also an important stage of the development of jade ceremony.In the Analects of Confucius,Confucius once sighed:"The etiquette system of the Zhou Dynasty borrowed from the Xia and Shang Dynasties is so rich and colorful,I follow the system of the Zhou Dynasty."Jade appeared in the social activities of the Western Zhou Dynasty,such as reward,sacrifice,court appointment,funeral,trade and so on.It became an indispensable part of the aristocratic life of the Western Zhou Dynasty.Based on the unearthed documents and handed down documents,combined with the unearthed jade materials of the Western Zhou Dynasty,this paper discusses the use and circulation of jade in the Western Zhou Dynasty from the aspects of jade reward,gift in meeting ceremony,trade and plunder.The first chapter of this paper summarizes the jade for awarding activities in the Western Zhou Dynasty.,including Nobility-conferring and appointment,feast ceremony and Military achievements.Through sorting out the unearthed and handed down documents such as inscriptions on bronze,bamboo and silk,this paper discusses the name of Zan and the relationship between Zan and Guizan,Zhangzan According to the description of "Zan" and "guizan" in handed down literature,the glyph structure of "Zan",the distinction between "Zan" and "Guan",and Handled-shaped jades unearthed in the tombs which located in Luoyang BeiYao,Qianzhangda in Tengzhou and the Zhangzikou tomb in Luyi,this paper concluded that "Zan" in the inscriptions on bronze were the Handled-shaped jades which called as Bingxingqi in archaeological materials.The handled-shaped jades are a kind of jade for Guan-retual Based on "Zan " were the name of the handled-shaped jades,this paper discusses the relationship between "Zan" and "guizan".Starting from the phenomenon of alternation between "Zan" and "guizan" in the inscriptions on bronze,this paper holds that it is related to the ritual reform which took place in the middle and late Western Zhou Dynasty.Although ritual reform can not be confirmed from the records of the late Zhou Dynasty,however,the existence of the reform can be confirmed by the changes of thandled-shaped jades(Zan)after the middle and late Western Zhou Dynasty.In the middle and late Western Zhou Dynasty,the Zhou people began to form their own sacrificial system,and Guizan appeared.On the other hand,the re-examination of the bronze inscriptions which are believed to have the characters of "zhangzan" and "huangzan" in the current academic circles shows that there is no clear "zhangzan" in these inscriptions.In the whole Western Zhou Dynasty,only "Zan" and "guizan" appeared on the inscriptions on bronze.In the Western Zhou Dynasty,jade was not the general reward for military achievements.After the ritual reform occured in the middle and late Western Zhou Dynasty,the king of Zhou granted Guizan to the generals with outstanding military achievements,and the high-level nobles could also give Guizan to their subordinates.Guizan is different from Minggui recorded in the literature.Guizan is a sacrificial instrument called Guan-ritual,while Minggui is a jade given by the king of Zhou with the function of faith.The ritual reform also changed the gifts in the feast and guest ceremony.In the early Western Zhou Dynasty,shellfish and gold were mostly used,but after the middle and late Western Zhou Dynasty,jade and horses were mainly used.The replacement of shellfish and gold with jade as rewards and gifts may have something to do with the deterioration of the relationship between the Zhou royal family and the southern barbarians in the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty,but the root lies in the way that the king of Zhou used "favor for loyalty" to the nobles.The number of jades presented in the feast ceremony has not been determined the specific number,though it has shown grade differences.The reward for the elderly is rich,which reflects the meaning of respecting the elderly.Chapter 2 discusses the use of jade in the meeting ceremony and betrothal gifts when the nobles met in the Western Zhou Dynasty.According to the inscriptions,the types of jade gifts and the verbs used for object gifts will also change with different objects.According to the inscriptions of Babo Yu,Babo gave abundant jades to the emperor's emissary.In the third chapter,through the research on the types and ways of jade trading in two jade trading cases in inscriptions on bronze,we can know that jade trading can be done privately in the whole Western Zhou Dynasty,but jade trading is not a common behavior,and the purpose of trading is more out of the needs of etiquette activities.The way of jade trade does not stay in the stage of barter,however,land began to become the main object in the middle and late Western Zhou Dynasty.The plunder of jade only occured at the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty.In the fourth chapter,through the observation of the shape and decoration of the jade,this paper collected 260 pieces of jade from prehistoric period,Erlitou culture period and Shang Dynasty.Through the investigation of the unearthed background of these jades,it can be seen that most of them came from the high-grade noble tombs of Surname Ji in the early and late Western Zhou Dynasty.The location of some jade relics also shows that in some tombs,the master of the tomb has consciously distinguished the jade relics from the jade of the time.Most of the jades came from the spoils in the early Zhou Dynasty,but many previous generation jades also handed down from the local natives or consciously collected by the master of the tombs.Based on the analysis of the identities of the two tomb masters,Guo cemetery M2009 and Rui cemetery M26,and combined with the relevant records in Zuozhuan,the author infers and proves that the jade Qi with inscriptions "Xiaochen Xi" in Rui cemetery should be given by Guo State.