Abstract
AbstractThis article explores how the memory of the conquest of Shang and the rise of the first Zhou kings was transmitted during the early centuries of the Zhou dynasty, specifically as it was reflected in inscriptions on excavated bronze vessels and bells from the Western Zhou period (ca. mid-eleventh to early eighth century b.c.e.). Approaching these inscribed objects and their texts from the perspective of the theories of social memory and cultural memory reveals that commemorating the foundational past of the dynasty became part of an intentional policy of the Zhou royal house as early as the first half of the tenth century b.c.e. It demonstrates that by the mid-tenth century b.c.e., a stable narrative emphasizing Kings Wen 文 and Wu 武 as the founding fathers of the Zhou dynasty was established at the expense of King Cheng 成, whose role was gradually downplayed following the general logic of lineage organization, according to which the commemoration of the earliest common ancestors serves as the foundation of corporate integrity in a network of patrilineally related families. It shows that most of the men who included such commemorations in inscriptions indeed belonged to the royal patrilineal network, wherein they occupied the highest positions. It further exemplifies that the royal house cultivated the memory of the first kings using various media, including rituals, utensils, royal speeches, and inscriptions. From the analysis of such inscriptions, we can infer that that the foundational memory of the Zhou dynasty was usually reactivated in the context of political negotiations, some of which included addressing lineage outsiders. Finally, it shows that both the royal house and other metropolitan lineages modified the foundational narrative according to their current needs. This article thus contributes both to tracing the roots of the early Chinese historiographic tradition and to understanding memory production in a society as an ongoing process of negotiations and adaptations.
Highlights
This article explores how the memory of the conquest of Shang and the rise of the first Zhou kings was transmitted during the early centuries of the Zhou dynasty, as it was reflected in inscriptions on excavated bronze vessels and bells from the Western Zhou period
This work has been a part of my research project Kinship, Marriage and Politics in the Light of Ritual Bronze Inscriptions from 11–8 c
Bronze inscriptions show that the conquest of Shang became established as an important reference point in the collective memory of Ji-surnamed lineages
Summary
Bronze inscriptions show that the conquest of Shang became established as an important reference point in the collective memory of Ji-surnamed lineages. It is evident that the Zhou kings addressed their speeches with references to the foundational past at the top elites, especially lineage heads They did not routinely pronounce such speeches during appointment ceremonies for officials, who were recruited from lower-ranked members of Ji- and non-Ji-surnamed lineages.[164] the cultural memory of the conquest and of the First Kings was tightly related to the present major political needs of the Zhou royal house, but it was not yet instrumentalized in the field of routine fostering of morality among the emerging bureaucracy. See Chen Minzhen and Yuri Pines, “Where is King Ping? The History and Historiography of the Zhou Dynasty’s Eastward Relocation,” Asia Major 31 (2018), 1–27
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