Zeng Archaeological Research On The Culture Of History

Through comprehensive analysis on inherited documents, oracle,inscriptions on ancient bronze objects and archaeological material, this thesis applies interdisciplinary research method to undertake a complete survey and thorough study on relative issues of Zeng Kingdom in the early Western Zhou Dynasty, the period from late Western Zhou Dynasty to early Spring and Autumn Period, and Mid Spring and Autumn Period. On the basis of existing research results, this paper makes following explorations divided into three parts.Firstly, this essay makes profound research on the family, ancestry, identity and the first monarch of Zeng Marquis family in Yejiashan(Ye Family Mountain), taking “Riming” bronze that belonged to Zeng Marquis family in Zeng Kingdom graveyard in Yejiashan as a breakthrough, which draws a conclusion that the first monarch should be Lord Nan. Besides, Nangong Shi, Dan Jizai, Lord Nan and Boshi should be referred to one same person. I discovered in the bronze inscription unearthed in Zeng Kingdom graveyard that people used Riming bronze as ritual supply to worship Lord Nan and King Wu of Zhou who were named as Father X and Father II in the inscription. When I was sorting out the identity of each Zeng Marquis, I found out that they were brothers. Zeng Marquis in Yejiashan once adopted the “brother-heir” principle in its hereditary system. I summarize the ancestry of Nangong Family and Zeng Marquis family in the early of Western Zhou Dynasty. According to the historical event recorded in bronze inscription of two families, I affirmed that Nangong Family’s status was higher than Zeng Marquis’ s. One was a large clan while the other was small but both were Zhou people named Ji.Secondly, I made research on officials of Zeng Kingdom in three phases. I reorganized the material of Zeng Kingdom’s officials in each period to analyze the historical background and reason of official system change, and further explore the social and historical problems reflected by bureaucracy of Zeng Kingdom. There are three main features of bureaucracy of Zeng Kingdom. The first one is it went through two changes from the early of Western Zhou Dynasty to middle Warring States period when states were destroyed. The first change took place in the late of Western Zhou Dynasty when respective official system appeared in Zeng Kingdom. The second change happened in middle of Spring and Autumn Period when the official system of Zeng Kingdom was changed from Zhou official system to Chu official system. The time of both changes was consistent with the evolution time of bronze features. The second feature of bureaucracy of Zeng Kingdom is that it did not only adopt the official system of Zhou Dynasty, but also the one of Chu State. The third feature is that the official system of Zeng Kingdom was influenced in politics by master country. When the master country changed, Zeng Kingdom changed too. The official system of Zeng Kingdom was born in the late of Zhou Dynasty and improved after middle of Spring and Autumn Period. There were two kinds of people who became officials of Zeng Kingdom. One was royal clan who had blood relationship with the king of Zeng Kingdom. Usually they were senior officials. The other kind was noble of different surname, for example Huang people who usually were inner court officials with low status.Thirdly, I studied the historical evolution of Zeng Kingdom on the basis of previous results. Zeng Kingdom went through five stages, i.e. the period of being ennobled as a kingdom, the period of being deprived as a kingdom, the period of being ennobled as a kingdom again, the period of being conquered as subjection by Chu State and the period of being destroyed. In the early of Western Zhou Dynasty, Zeng Kingdom was ennobled in Yejiashan of Suizhou(now Suixian) in Hubei province. During this period, there were two Zeng Marquises in Zeng Kingdom. During the period when Zhao was the king, King Zhou failed in the South War and Zhou Dynasty lost the control over the south. The court didn’t have any power to rule the south, which directly caused the military force of Zeng Marquis might be destroyed completely. Zeng Marquis couldn’t resist the attack from south states and tribes and lost his land. Therefore Nangong clan and Zeng Marquis clan were depressed for a long time and didn’t become active until the late of Western Zhou Dynasty. After late of Western Zhou Dynasty, E State was destroyed by Zhou Dynasty. Chu State and other south states were afraid of Zhou Dynasty and they submitted to the rule of Zhou Dynasty one after the other. Court Zhou took control over the south again. It needed someone to guard the south, therefore Zeng Kingdom was ennobled again which gradually developed itself as a powerful kingdom. Till middle of Spring and Autumn Period, several wars broke out early or late between Zeng Kingdom and Chu State. Chu State eventually won and made complete reform to Zeng Kingdom. The bronze shape, text style and official system of Zeng Kingdom were totally localized by Chu State. Zeng Kingdom even provided shelter for King Chu when Chu State was defeated during the war between Wu State and Chu State, which enabled Chu State to stage a comeback, as a result of which, Zeng Kingdom could continue to the middle of Warring States Period.