The thousands of ritual bronze vessels discovered by China's archaeologists serve as the major documentary source for the Western Zhou dynasty (1045-771 B.C.). These vessels contain long inscriptions full of detail on subjects as diverse as the military history of the period, the bureaucratic structure of the royal court, and lawsuits among the gentry. Moreover, being cast in bronze, the inscriptions preserve exactly the contemporary script and language. Shaughnessy has written a meticulous and detailed work on the historiography and interpretation of these objects. By demonstrating how the inscriptions are read and interpreted, Shaughnessy makes accessible in English some of the most important evidence about life in ancient China. Edward L. Shaughnessy is Assistant Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago. Sources of Western Zhou History: Inscribed Bronze Vessels By Edward L. Shaughnessy University of California Press Copyright © 1992 Edward L. Shaughnessy All right reserved. ISBN: 0520070283 Introduction On December 15, 1975, farmers clearing a field near Mount Qi in Fufeng county, Shaanxi province, accidentally unearthed an ancient bronze vessel. This was by no means a rare occurrence in this county, which three thousand years earlier had been the homeland of the rulers of the Western Zhou dynasty (1045-771 B.C. ), and local archeologists were sent to excavate the site. Even these archeologists, accustomed as they had become in recent years to discoveries of Western Zhou bronze vessels, must have been astounded when, upon opening a pit about two meters long, one meter wide, and one meter deep, they found another 102 vessels neatly arranged and packed in a layer of protective ash.1 These 103 vessels, 74 of which are inscribed, were cast by members of at least five different generations of a family named Wei . The patriarch of the family was originally an inhabitant of eastern China, perhaps a nobleman of the preceding Shang dynasty. After the Zhou conquest of Shang in 1045 B.C. , he went (or was brought) to the Zhou capital and then resettled in the Zhou homeland at the base of Mount Qi. Thereafter, his descendants served hereditarily as scribes at the Zhou court. Judging from the great number of bronze vessels that they had cast, their roles at court provided the members of the Wei family with considerable wealth and access to royal power, and most of the inscriptions commemorate specific awards from their royal patrons. But one inscription is different. In what appears to have been an unusual moment of reflectiveness, a fifth-generation member of the family named Qiang saw fit to cast one vessel, a pan or water basin, with an inscription recounting the history of the family, diplomatically providing as well a similar history of the Zhou royal family (and naturally giving it priority). Composed shortly before 900 B.C. , this inscription on the "Shi Qiang pan " (fig. 1) is probably the first conscious attempt in China to write history.2 For the formal report of this discovery, see Shaanxi Zhouyuan kaogudui 1978; and for an English translation, see Dien, Riegel, and Price 1985, 512-529. References to studies of this inscription and textual notes supporting the translation offered here are given in Appendix 1. It might be noted that inscribed bronze vessels are conventionally referred to by a combination of the name (and title, if available) of the individual identified in the inscription as the caster of the vessel (which is to say, the person who commissioned the casting) and type of vessel. Thus, the name "Shi Qiang pan " indicates a pan basin cast by the scribe (shi ) Qiang . I will follow this convention throughout this book, providing characters for the title and name of a vessel at its first occurrence in each chapter. I will also provide a reference to Shirakawa Shizuka 's comprehensive survey of Western Zhou bronze inscriptions, Kinbun tsushaku (or to its supplement, Kinbun hoshaku ), indicating the fascicle number, entry number, and the first page of the entry. For the "Shi Qiang pan ," which is found in fascicle 50, entry 15, of the Kinbun hoshaku (which I abbreviate as Ho ), beginning on p. 335, the reference is given as Sh 50.Ho l5:335. Since Shirakawa provides a full bibliography for this and other inscriptions, I will not repeat studies cited by him; only studies published after his or otherwise not included there will be cited in the notes. Fig.1 Inscription on the "Shi Qiang pan." Shi Qiang pan Accordant with antiquity was King Wen! (He) first brought harmony to government. The Lord on High sent down fine virtue and great security. Extending to the high and low, he joined the ten thousand states. Capturing and controlling was King Wu! (He) proceeded and campaigned through the four quarters, piercing Yin and governing its people. Eternally unfearful of the Di (Distant Ones), oh, he attacked the Yi minions.