A Study Of The Value Of The Historical Data Of Mu Tian Zi Zhuan

A Study of the Value of the Historical Data of Mu Tian Zi ZhuanLiu - RongAbstract About the value of the historical data of Mu Tian Zi ZHuan, there are mainly two complete different viewpoints in the academic circle. One considers that Mu Tian Zi Zhuan came out in War Period or after that , thus it has no value of the historical data at all. The other considers that it was written down by the Shi Guan (5feW) of Western Zhou Dynasty, so it is extraordidnarily valuable. I hold in this artical that it is not positive to only discuss true or false of historical literature. We should both analyze and generalize the literature to see whether it has showed the situation of social culture, thought culture or the culture of custom in some periods. We can not believe the whole literature because there is one point in it is true, and We can not deny the whole literature because there is one point in it is unbelievable either.Based on this idea, this artical is divided into three chapters. The first chapter discusses mostly the issue that Mu Tian Zi Zhuan is unreal literature or is real one and points out that those who think this book is unworthy of belief are not objective. There are maybe some points in it questionable, but most parts of it must be literature of Western Zhou.The second chapter discusses the value of the historical data of Mu Tian Zi Zhuan. It is divided into two sections. In first section, I quote some traditional literature to show that the western expedition of Mu Tian Zi was just historical event. In second section, I use some materials of Chinese Bronzes to prove further that Mu Tian Zi Zhuan has real historical data.The third chapter studies Western Zhou society by using materials in Mu Tian Zi Zhuan. It is divided into three sections. The first section discusses the relation between Tian Zi (^-?) and the deity of king power. I hold that the fact Tian Zi was popularly used during the Zhou King Mu period showed that the power of King was strong and stable. The second section studies the development of names of Zhou people and concludes that giving another name to people after his death did not begin at early Zhou period, it experienced a long development. The third section discussessome customs in Western Zhou society through the names of Jue ( fj ) ., the polite manners and poems which are found in Mu Tian Zi Zhuan and intends to help us know the Society of Western Zhou more well.