Ceremony, Norm And Order

Oath of alliance is a prominent historical phenomenon in Spring and Autumn Period, which is extremely rare, because it had been put into effect commonly and frequently at any historical period in China. The oath of alliance of states in the Spring and Autumn Period was the inevitable result by the subjective and objective historical conditions of social development, with the dual political and religious characteristics. In Spring and Autumn Period, chaos were caused by wars and disputes. To solve conflicts and disputes, every leud country in the turbulent society resorted to oath of alliance in order to improve their situation and to achieve to harmonize with each other.ath of alliance as a means of adjustment of diplomatic relations indeed maintained the security of some leud countries so that they had a brief respite and development. Beacause the better way not come into being at that time, oath of alliance was the ideal way after all to settle wars and disputes and regulated the conduct of every leud country. Although, the better social order had not happened oweing to it in the Spring and Autumn Period, oath of alliance of states still played the unique role in its own way. It was not denied the effectiveness of oath of alliance,which maintained social order and realized social control in the Spring and Autumn. This paper is divided into three parts to expound the oath of alliance of states in the Spring and Autumn Period.In the first part, I will explain the reason that choosing this proposition on oath of alliance of states in the Spring and Autumn.Then I will discuss from two main lines,which are indivisibility of the peculiar character and the function of the oath of alliance and its significance of order, by introducing the situation of reseachment at academic circles's on its relevant problems and exponding the writing thought of this paper.In the second part, I will explore the characteristics of the oath of alliance in Spring and Autumn Period, through tracing back to its origin and inspecting its spciefic process thoroughly in Qi and Lu states. The oath of alliance in Spring of states and in Spring and Autumn Period was evolved from the system of jointy at the early of Zhou dynasty, and sourced in the bloody sacrifice of the ancient customs with the special political and social situation in the Spring and Autumn Period.Therefore it made the oath of alliance of states in Spring and Autumn Period be a dual character. And the oath of alliance of states in Spring and Autumn Period is not a form of national law in the modern sense, but with the political authority of modern legal significance.The oath of alliance of states in Spring and Autumn Period is not a religious form of pure meaning, but with traditional religious beliefs of religious significance. The oath of alliance of states in Spring and Autumn Period has not only political nature, but also has religious nature, and it is the collection of political authority and religious beliefs.In the third part, I will describe the function of social control of the oath of alliance of states in Spring and Autumn Period from the ceremony of oath of alliance and the book of alliance, by analysing the ceremony of the oath of alliance thoroughly and deeply. On the one hand, the ceremony of oath of alliance as a practice and religious rituals, could achieve its social function through the establishing social authority, resolveing the conflict and controlling the behavior; on the other hand, through the maintenance of faith and emotional communication, it could realize their religious function, while through studying the most critical part of the ceremony of oath of alliance, which is called the book of alliance, I will illustrate the legal function of the the book of alliance.