Political Settlements In Western Zhou Period

According to the inscriptions on bronze,the common people of the Western Zhou Dynasty worked under the leadership of the heads of families and neighbors to support the nobles at all levels.The units where the common people gathered were called small settlements(Yi).As a grass-roots unit,small settlements are the most terminal of economic production and government decrees.The structure of small settlements is the bottom structure of Western Zhou Dynasty society,which embodies the interaction between feudal system and bureaucracy.In terms of administration,the small settlements of the Western Zhou Dynasty can be divided into the small settlements of Wang Ji's nobles and the small settlements of the state,with different administrative orders.Wang Youxiaoyi is widely distributed in the area of Wang Ji.Its residents are mainly farmers,collectively referred to as Midianites.They carry out agricultural activities under the leadership of the residents and report to their superiors regularly so that the dynasty can master the relevant information.At least from the middle of the Western Zhou Dynasty,Wang Youxiaoyi began to develop in succession and began to appear such small groups as Dongbi Wuyi and Zhibi.Noble fiefdoms have only two levels,the Zongyi and the Xiaoyi,which are generally managed by the Zongfu.The size and living standards of the Xiaoyi vary greatly.Noble lands were widely exchanged in the middle and late Western Zhou Dynasty,and many remote-owned small settlements separated from Zongyi emerged.In order to facilitate farming,these small settlements often built "residences" of Midianites on the spot.Through regular reporting and exploration of soil fields,the butler gradually became a bridge between Zongyi and small settlements.Due to the limitation of the inscriptions on bronze,taking Wu,Luo and Lu as examples,it can be seen that the small settlements in the state belong to the direct management of the state monarch,and the local people can communicate directly with the state monarch without the intermediary of Zaichen.Due to thedifferent history,location and scale of different countries,the small cities under their jurisdiction show different characteristics.Basically,the area of small settlements in the Western Zhou Dynasty ranged from several thousand square meters to 30,000 square meters,with a per capita utilization area ranging from 20 square meters to 50 square meters.The number of people in each town ranged from 10 to 50.Small settlements are characterized by loose organization,relative isolation,and various functions.There is no small town specializing in military affairs,nor is there a small town specializing in production and sacrifice.The ancient people were also soldiers and farmers.The residents of small settlements took the five-year rule as the criterion and the unit was the five-year system.The population census took " husbands"(the main male family members)as the object,and the results were relatively extensive.Due to the use of bamboo slips and documents,Wang Ting was able to register and file personnel and materials.Zhou Wang indirectly controlled the movement of small settlements through official records and other appraisal methods.In economic activities,the Western Zhou Dynasty had a large number of remote-controlled small settlements.Some private land was not adjacent to public land(the land of Zongyi).Naturally,there was no well-field system in which public land must be centered.At that time,there was no money rent.Private land was all owned by Shu Ren and did not need to be paid.As for public land,the assistance method is the farming method,and the thorough method is the tax payment method,which is applicable to many small cities.In addition to taxes,residents of small settlements also have to bear hard labor and military service.Hard labor is mainly for building city walls and repairing water conservancy projects.The construction period is uncertain.The common people responded to the call at any time and marched in all directions from the Lord of Zongyi.On the whole,the corvee in the Western Zhou Dynasty was very heavy,and the economy of the small settlements showed a situationin which planting,forestry,animal husbandry,fishery,handicraft and commerce had different emphasis on each other and were used alternately.Yi is the most basic political unit and social organization in Western Zhou Dynasty.From "setting up a settlement in a proper place" to "governing the country in a proper way",the feudal small settlements were woven into the administrative network along with the bureaucracy,reflecting the role of political power.The evolution pattern of small settlement is the bottom logic of the Western Zhou Dynasty's state governance.