The Study Of "Ming" And "Zi" In Western ZhouDynasty And Spring And Autumn Period

Da Fu (a senior official in feudal China) Shen Xu from State Lu specified five rules and six taboos when people named themselves or other people during Western Zhou Dynasty and the early Spring and Autumn Period. The five rules were "Xin, Yi, Xiang, Jia, Lei". The six taboos were naming after the countries, official positions, disease, animals, sacrificial vessels or giftes. However, with the change and development of the society, Shen Xu’s summary could not fully comply with the naming characteristics in the Spring and Autumn Period anymore. The types of name in Spring and Autumn Period could be categorized in to names related to religion, commemorative names, and names related to birth. Besides, the procedure to obtain a "Zi" was one important step in Guanli (similar to bar mitzvah) for a male aristocracy, which symbolized that this man entered the adult world. In Western Zhou Dynasty, the standard way to call the "Zi" of a male nobility was "Bo (Zhong, Shu, Ji) X Fu"."Bo (Zhong, Shu, Ji)" meant for his rankings among brothers."X" was his "Zi"."Fu" was a complimentary way to refer to a person. Till Spring and Autumn Period,"Bo X fu" was gradually replaced by the mode "Zi X". The first "Zi" here was a respectful form of address for a male."X" still stood for the "Zi" given to him on Guanli. But sometimes people used the short version of "Zi X" to call a male aristocracy. And out of respect for the older nobility, people only called their rankings. For example,"Bo" could be the respecfult form to address the Eldest Son of the Lineal Descents, and also to address an older nobility. In Spring and Autumn Period, some people’s names were constituted by two Chinese characters, and they were mainly consisted by verb-object-phrases. This was not completely coincide with the five rules and six taboos mentioned by Shen Xu, which reflected the changes in ancient people’s names.In a conversational situation, there were certain rules about when to mention name and "Zi". But these rules had some difference from the record in "the Three Rituals". When Da Fu were in a conversation with the monarch ("Jun", which include the Emperor and the kings), if they wanted to refer to themselves or someone except the monarch ("Jun"), they should use names. When a person who died was mentioned in a conversation, according to the principle that "People in Western Zhou Dynasty served God in ways of avoiding taboos", people should use their "Shi"(one word that summarized someone’s whole life) or "Zi". But in the Three Rituals, whether names should be avoid and how to avoid were not explained clearly. According to inscriptions on ancient bronze objects, when Da Fu of Western Zhou Dynasty mentioned their own dead father or grandfather to the monarch ("Jun"), they avoid saying their names. It was nowhere to know whether they avoid names when they mentioned other Da Fu’s dead forefathers. According to "Zuo Zhuan"(a commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals), in a conversation between Da Fu and Emperor during Spring and Autumn Period, there was no longer rules about avoiding names. If a foreign Minister (Da Fu) who had great fame was referred to in the conversation, his "Zi" should be used for respect even he was still alive. There is no document material for us to know whether two Ministers of Spring and Autumn Period would avoid mentioning names of their forefathers in a conversation. But one who had higher status could call the name of someone who was lower than him. For example, father could call his son’s name, and older brother could call his younger brother’s name, and teacher could call his student’s name, etc. It was considered impolite to call the name of someone who had the same social status with the speaker. When Ministers talked about other Minister of their own country, they seldom mentioned names in general. And it was more rare to mention the name of a foreign Minister, unless the speaker had hostile emotions against him. When Ministers from different countries were engaged in a conversation, they occasionally mention "Zi" to foreign Ministers and name to Ministers of their own country, so as to show their respect to foreign Ministers.