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FUJIAN

New Perspectives on

Chu Culture

DURING THE EASTERN ZHOU PERIOD

New Perspectives on

Chu Culture

DURING THE EASTERN ZhOU PERIOD

Edited by Thomas Lawton

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Smithsonian Institution Washington, D.C.

Distributed by Princeton University Press

©1991 Smithsonian Institution. All rights reserved.

Distributed by Princeton University Press

41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540.

Cover: Set of six Chinese bronze ritual yongzhong bells.

Eastern Zhou dynasty, Spring and Autumn period, 6th century B.C.

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, S8 7.0004-0009.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data New perspectives on Chu culture during the Eastern Zhou period / edited by Thomas Lawton. p. cm.

Essays presented at a symposium held in April 1990 at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery.

Includes discussion and bibliographical reference. ISBN 0-691-04095-8 (Princeton Univ. Press) ISBN 0-691-00290-8 (Princeton Univ. Press: pbk.j

1. Art, Chinese — To 221 B.C. — Congresses. 2. China — Antiquities — Congresses. 3. China — Civilization — To 221 B.C. — Congresses. I. Lawton, Thomas, 1931- II. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery (Smithsonian Institution] N7343.22.N48 1991

700'.931— dc20 91-10185

CIP

Contents

Foreword

Milo C. Beach

Preface

Thomas Lawton

Contributors

Chu Bronzes and Chu Culture

Li Xueqin

The Double Coffin of Leigudun Tomb No. 1 : iconograpmc sources and related problems

Alain Thote

Chu Ritual Music

Lothar von Falkenhausen

Chu Bronze Work: a Unilinear Tradition or A Synthesis of Diverse Sources?

Cohn Mackenzie

Discussion

Selected Bibliography

The symposium on Chu culture was held in honor of Dr. Paul Singer on the occasion of his eighty-fifth birthday.

Foreword

The four papers and discussion in this volume are based on the program of a symposium, New Perspectives on Chu Culture During the Eastern Zhou Period, held at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery on April 27-28, 1990. The symposium was the third in an annual series of intemational meetings organized by the Gallery and made possible by the generosity of Mrs. Arthur M. Sackler.

The opening of the Sackler Gallery in 1987 was an historic moment in the Smithsonian Institution's increased awareness of Asia. Essential to our understand- ing of Asia, its history, its peoples, and its cultures, are intemational symposia of the type being held annually at the Sackler Gallery. It was especially appropriate that our symposium on Chu Culture should be held in honor of Dr. Paul Singer, an art collector whose personal interest in the art of Chu began more than forty years ago. It was appropriate, too, that a select number of objects from Dr. Singer's collec- tion should be displayed in the Sackler Gallery during the Chu symposium.

Recent archaeological finds in the People's Republic of China have yielded astonishing numbers of objects dating from every period of China's long history. Those archaeologically attested objects have enabled scholars to reexamine tradi- tional ideas by comparing ancient artifacts and inscriptions with related comments in early Chinese texts. It is no exaggeration to say that for scholars — in East and West — the past few decades have been particularly exciting. Moreover, there is every indication that archaeological finds in China will continue to enrich our awareness of Chinese history and culture indefinitely.

Perhaps no aspect of early Chinese history and culture has prompted more animated or controversial discussion than that associated with the ancient State of Chu. Beginning with a series of erratic and unscientific discoveries in Anhui prov- ince during the first decades of the twentieth century, the extraordinary richness of Chu artistic traditions attracted increasingly more attention. Then, following an initial focus on Chu sites in Hunan province in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, Chinese archaeologists expanded their activities to include the provinces of Hubei and Henan. The sheer number of finds associated with Chu that have come to light during

ix

FOREWORD

subsequent decades has astonished everyone. One fifth-century B.C. site in particu- lar— Tomb No. 1 at Leigudun — was a major point of discussion during the meeting at the Sackler Gallery.

It is indicative of the importance of the achievements of the State of Chu that Chu culture is one of the main themes at annual meetings of the Chinese Archaeo- logical Society. In addition, monographs about virtually every possible aspect of Chu culture appear regularly in the People's Republic of China. As is so often the case, we in the West are following in the footsteps of our Chinese colleagues.

Finally, I would like to express my appreciation to Mrs. Arthur M. Sackler for her generous support of this publication.

Milo C. Beach Director

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and Freer Gallery of Art

X

Preface

In describing the influence of Chu culture on the rest of China, Zhang Zhengming, a perceptive contemporary Chinese scholar, contrasts two of China's great rivers with the peoples whose lives were profoundly affected by these waterways. Both the Yellow and the Yangzi rivers flow thousands of miles to the sea, never meeting at any point throughout that long eastward joumey. By contrast, Zhang goes on to say, the peoples and the cultures that grew up along the two rivers did meet, and in that vital interchange the Chu people and their vibrant culture exerted a lasting influence on the future course of Chinese civilization.

It is clear that we are at the beginning of what promises to be a long and exciting search for answers to questions about Chu culture. Each issue of V^lenwn, Kaogu, Kaogu xuebao, Jianghan kaogu — as well as all of the other Chinese-language journals — poses questions and advances theories that must be reexamined in light of new information furnished by archaeological excavations. Not the least of the problems is the fact that no undisturbed royal Chu tomb has yet come to light.

There is no doubt that we need more symposia and opportunities to discuss different aspects of Chu culture. In this direction our Chinese colleagues have led the way, most recently having convened an international meeting in Wuhan, Hubei, in November 1988. Specialists who attended that meeting were well aware of its impor- tance. Equally great, I believe, is the need for exhibitions of newly excavated artifacts from the State of Chu, together with culturally related objects. Several exhibitions of this type are under consideration, and successful implementation of those efforts will benefit all of us.

When we at the Sackler Gallery made the decision to organize an international symposium on Chu culture, we were fully aware of the many problems attendant on such a project, particularly since research on Chu culture still was in the preliminary stages. Like everyone seriously interested in ancient China, we felt it would be worthwhile to have a group of scholars assemble at the Sackler Gallery and discuss some of the art historical questions relating to the State of Chu.

Under ideal circumstances the formal papers presented at the symposium should

xi

Preface

have been of broad scope. Since we are an art museum and since time was limited, however, we chose to narrow our focus to the art historical aspects of Chu culture. We did so in the hope that during the general discussion participants in the symposium would feel free to raise questions about any aspect of ancient Chu his- tory and culture. It was gratifying that we were able to invite such distinguished scholars to present papers, and equally outstanding scholars and specialists to par- ticipate in the discussions. One of the best ways to understand any historical or cultural problem is to examine it from different viewpoints and to listen to diverse opinions. Our major goal during the two-day meeting was to do just that. Response from the speakers and from other participants far exceeded our expectations. While we had initially intended to include only selected portions of the discussion in the published volume, the intensity and eloquence of the exchanges prompted us to transcribe the entire discussion session verbatim.

We are grateful to our many friends and colleagues who travelled to the Sackler Gallery to take part in the symposium. We owe a special debt of gratitude to those friends and colleagues from the People's Republic of China, who made the longest joumey and whose expertise carried special weight.

We were delighted when Professor Li Xueqin agreed to be our keynote speaker. The active participation of such a distinguished scholar from China lent our delibera- tions a relevance that would not otherwise have been possible.

To Dr. Lothar von Falkenhausen, whose Ph.D. dissertation on Chinese ritual music and subsequent publications display truly awesome erudition, I would like to express my thanks. While Dr. von Falkenhausen is prompt to mention that he was not trained as an art historian, his firm grasp of cultural data and sensitive stylistic analyses are the envy of art historians. Certainly his discussion of Chu ritual music opens the way for better understanding of a crucial aspect of ancient Chu culture in particular, and of ancient Chinese culture in general.

Dr. Alain Thote's Ph.D. dissertation on Tomb No. 1 at Leigudun also deserves the highest praise. 1 can only hope that it soon will be published in its entirety. Dr. Thote's paper is a persuasive guide in probing the significance of the imagery of the inner and outer sarcophagi of the Marquis of Yi.

Dr. Colin Mackenzie demonstrates how vital it is for us to relate every kind of artifact as we search for relationships between form, decoration, and function. That type of comprehensive analysis is especially significant when, as in the case of Chu, cultural interrelationships are a basic consideration. We in the West have not always pursued this avenue of investigation with appropriate zeal, and can all benefit from Dr. Mackenzie's direction.

We are grateful, too, to Professor Jao Tsung-i, of the Institute of Chinese Studies, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, for having travelled so many miles to be with us. Professor Jao's epigraphical studies provide special insights into the interpretation of the intriguing inscriptions on the Chu Silk Manuscript.

xii

Preface

Professor Li Ling of Beijing University, one of China's foremost scholars of East- em Zhou and Han epigraphy, was a Luce Fellow at the University of Washington, Seattle, in 1990. Professor Li also has done extensive research on the Chu Silk Manu- script and we are grateful for his participation in our symposium.

In 1967 the Chu Silk Manuscript was a major topic during a symposium arranged by the Department of Art History and Archaeology, Columbia University, in New York. That symposium was made possible by a grant from the Sackler Fund to Promote Asiatic Studies. Professor Jao Tsung-i took part in the 1967 symposium.

With special permission from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections, the Chu Silk Manuscript was displayed at the Sackler Gallery during the Chu symposium on April 27-28, 1990. We did not invite anyone to present a paper on the Chu Silk Manuscript, however, because it was clear that an entirely separate meeting would be necessary to do full justice to the importance of that ancient Chu document. During the course of the symposium Professor Jao Tsung-i and Professor Li Ling were generous in exchanging ideas about the significance of the enigmatic inscriptions and the illustrations on the Manuscript. It became apparent that we should take advantage of what was, after all, a unique opportunity. Consequently we asked Pro- fessors Jao and Li to prepare short analyses of their current ideas about that essential example of Chu culture and have included those analyses in an appropriate section of the Discussion.

Of Dr. Paul Singer, the distinguished art collector in whose honor the Chu symposium was held, I can say, without any fear of contradiction, that he is a man who has the courage of his convictions. Anyone who knows Paul Singer knows that nothing can divert him from his pursuit of artifacts or persuade him to change his opinions about them. I remember one occasion when I suggested to Paul that he modify — very slightly — one of his opinions. He responded, politely but firmly, "Tom, you are trying to tum me into a pussy cat." Well, let me assure you, a pussy cat Paul Singer is not.

I have known Paul Singer as an art collector, as a colleague and as a friend. In each of those roles he is exacting. Paul expects a friend and a colleague to be un- swervingly honest, to keep his word once it is given, and to be steadfast in the pursuit of knowledge. Taken in the abstract, these might not appear to be such unusual expectations; but when they have to be carried out faithfully, most of us falter. Paul Singer himself possesses these admirable qualities in full measure.

It is his fiercely independent views of art and culture that have enabled Paul Singer to assemble such an imposing collection of Chinese art. The international symposium at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, which focused on the art of the State of Chu, provided an ideal opportunity to honor Paul Singer. Decades before it was fashionable to do so, he was one of the first Westerners to appreciate the importance and the uniqueness of the art of Chu. In the face of considerable skepticism regarding provenance and authenticity, Paul quietly assembled large numbers of artifacts, some

xiii

Preface

of which were said to have been unearthed in southern China while others had no provenance at all.

During the last few decades, as archaeology has enriched our earlier understanding of Chu culture, providing dated monuments and key sites that clarify some aspects of the Chu people and their culture, the art of the State of Chu has emerged as one of the most exciting of all research topics. Simultaneously, Paul Singer's opinions — still razor sharp, with no trace of a "pussy cat" equivocation — assert new authority while his collection of Chu artifacts stands out as one of the finest in private hands.

It is always a pleasure to have one's convictions proven valid. But when those convictions are inextricably tied to artifacts of surpassing quality, the sheer joy of approval is heightened by the realization that one has played a key role in increasing intemational understanding of Chinese history and culture. As we honor Paul Singer for his connoisseurship, we must also congratulate him for continuing to believe in himself when so many people were uncertain of the course he pursued with such unerring confidence. We must thank him, too, for being an irreplaceable member of the small, select community of Chinese art collectors.

Finally I should like to thank those people whose support was crucial to the organization of the symposium. Jill Sackler was characteristically enthusiastic and supportive throughout the planning for the symposium. I hesitate to count the number of times I turned to her for counsel and for sympathy. Patricia Bragdon, Special Events Coordinator at the Sackler Gallery, managed to solve innumerable problems relating to travel, accommodation and catering with enviable equanimity. Jenny F. So, Curator of Ancient Chinese Art at the Sackler Gallery, participated in every aspect of the planning for the symposium. Without her painstaking concem for accuracy in translating the manuscripts submitted by Professors Jao Tsung-i and Li Ling, it would not have been possible to include their comments in this volume. She was also responsible for the selection of objects from the Singer collection and worked closely with John Zelenik, Head of Design and Production at the Sackler Gallery, and members of his staff to ensure that the installation of the Singer exhibi- tion would reflect the quality of the objects. Kim Nielsen, Chief Photographer at the Sackler Gallery, and his staff remained admirably patient in spite of repeated re- quests for photographs to illustrate the book. Fu Shen, Curator of Chinese Art at the Sackler Gallery, wrote the Chinese characters for the title of the symosium and of this volume. His elegant calligraphy is another manifestation of that culture of which Chu culture was a part.

Thomas Lawton Senior Research Scholar

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and Freer Gallery of Art

xiv

Contributors

MUo C. Beach is director of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and the Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution. His publications on the art of India include The Grand Mogul: Imperial Painting in India, 1600-1660 (Williams town, Mass., 1978), The Imperial Image: Paintings for the Mughal Court (Washington, D.C., 1981), and Early Mughal Painting (Cambridge, Mass., 1987).

i

Lothar von Falkenhausen is visiting assistant professor in the Department of Asian Languages, Stanford University. His Ph.D. dissertation, submitted in 1988 to the De- partment of Anthropology, Harvard University, is entitled "Ritual Music in Bronze Age China: An Archaeological Perspective." His publications include "'Shikin no onsei:' To Shu jidai no shun, taku, do, taku ni tsuite ""^^CO-f-^j : ^^"(Kcoi^, ^ .

1^ ti 7 I ^ T " (SHK 6 [1989], pp. 3-26), and "Niuzhong Chime-bells of Eastem Zhou China" [ASA 44 [1989], pp. 68-83). His book. Suspended Music: The Chime-bells of the Chinese Bronze Age, has been accepted for publication by the University of Calif omia Press.

Thomas Lawton is senior research scholar in the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and the Freer Gallery of Art. His publications include Chinese Art of the Warring States Period: Change and Continuity, 480-222 B.C. (Washington, D.C., 1982).

Li Xueqin ^^ffjis director of the Department of Pre-Qin History at the Institute of History of The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing. He has written exten- sively on various aspects of ancient Chinese art. His book The Wonder of Chinese Bronzes (Beijing, 1980) provides a cogent analysis of information based on recent archaeological finds. His magisterial study of Eastem Zhou and Qin civilizations, Dong Zhou yu Qin dai wenming (Beijing 1984), is available in an

English translation by K.C. Chang, Eastern Zhou and Qin Civilizations (New Haven, 1985).

XV

Contributors

Colin Mackenzie teaches in the Department of East Asian Studies, Durham University, England. Dr. Mackenzie received his Ph.D. degree from the University of London. His dissertation is entitled "Southern Traditions of Bronze- work in China during the Eastern Zhou Period." His publications include "The Evolution of Southem Bronze Styles in China During the Eastem Zhou Period" (BOCSHK 7 [1986], pp. 31^8], and "The Chu Tradition of Wood Carving" (in Scott & Hutt 1987, pp. 82-102).

Alain Thote is charge de recherche in the Oriental Language and Civilization Section of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris. His doctoral dissertation submitted to the University of Paris in 1985 is an anthropological and historical examination of Tomb No. 1 at Leigudun, Hubei. Among his publications are "Une tombe princiere chinoise du Ve siecle avant notre ere" {CRAIBL avril-juin 1986j, and "Une sculpture chinoise en bronze du Ve siecle avant notre ere: essai d'interpretation" [ASA 42 [1987], pp. 45-58).

Discussion Participants

Jonathan Chaves — Department of East Asian Languages and Literature, George Washington University, Washington, D.C.

Elizabeth Childs-Johnson — Department of Art History and Archaeology, Columbia University, New York.

Magdalene von Dewall — Siidasien-Institut, Universitat Heidelberg, Heidelberg.

Kenneth Dewoskin — Department of Asian Languages and Culture, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Jane Tilley Griffin — Asian Art Lecturer, Bethesda, Maryland.

Jao Tsung-i ^^T^ — Institute of Chinese Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.

Li Ling — Department of Chinese Languages and Literature, Beijing University, Beijing.

Martin Powers — Department of the History of Art, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Jessica Rawson — Department of Oriental Antiquities, The British Museum, London.

James C. Y. Watt Mx * — Department of Far Eastern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

xvi

The Essays

Chu Bronzes and Chu Culture

Li Xueqin

Today, as we have an opportunity to discuss Chu culture, we might begin by asking, "What is Chu culture?" There is no consensus among scholars, either in China or abroad. In 1980 the late Professor Xia Nai M^M examined the same question and his analysis warrants our attention. Noting that the term "Chu" had several different meanings. Professor Xia enumerated four definitions:

1. The name of a region, as in the "region of Chu." . . . Yet the geographical size and extent of the State of Chu differed during different historical periods. In antiquity Chu culture was not limited to present-day Hubei province, but also encom- passed Hunan, Anhui and southern Henan.

2. The name of a state or of a regional kingdom, as in the ''State of Chu" during the Zhou dynasty. Chinese texts record that the State of Chu, which appeared in the early years of the Western Zhou dynasty and was vanquished by the State of Qin in 223 B.C., existed for approximately 800 years. . . .

3. The name of a people or nationality, as in the "Chu people." Ancient Chu terri- tory must have been inhabited by other minority peoples as well as Chu. . . .

4. The name of a culture, as in the cultural features manifested as a result of ar- chaeological discoveries.^

What I would like to discuss here are problems relating to bronze vessels in Chu culture. When I say "Chu culture," I am using the term in a broad sense, similar to the first definition proposed by Professor Xia Nai, namely, the bronze culture within Chu territory. Focusing on research relating to bronze vessels, I shall discuss the rise and development of Chu culture, especially the relationship between Chu culture and the cultures of the Central Plain. I shall also discuss the effect of Chu culture on other cultures in southem China.

Jing-Chu in the Shang Dynasty

Ancient Chinese texts refer to the areas characterized by Chu culture as Jing-Chu ff'l^. In the "Shang song '^'^fi" (Odes to Shang) section of the Shi jingi^iM. (Classic

1

Li Xueqin

Fig. 1 . Lei from Panlongcheng, Huangpi Xian, Hubei. After Hubei Panlongcheng 1976, pi. 3:3.

Fig. 2. fia from Panlongcheng, Huangpi Xian, Hubei. Height 30.1 cm. After Beijing 1976, no. 4.

of Poetry) is a poem entitled "Yin Wu which describes the affairs of the Shang king Wuding . According to that account, Jing-Chu had acknowledged the sovereignty of and paid homage to Shang since the early years of the Shang dynasty, and its domain was included within the southern reaches of Shang territory. Later, when Shang strength declined, Jing-Chu rebelled. Only after King Wuding had embarked on a punitive expedition against them, penetrating deeply into difficult terrain and capturing many of their soldiers, did Jing-Chu again become a Shang vassal.

Some scholars believe that the poem ''Yin Wu" was handed down from the Shang dynasty, while others believe it was composed in the succeeding Zhou dy- nasty. Regardless of when the poem was written, it was generally accepted by the Zhou dynasty that King Wuding had undertaken a southern punitive military expe- dition against Jing-Chu.

The people living in the ancient Jing-Chu region are referred to as Jing-Man ff'l # or Chu-Man ^ W in ancient Chinese texts. According to the "Chu shijia it-iy-^" section of the Shi ji ^i^, Zhou Cheng Wang bestowed a fief located in

Chu-Man territory on Xiongyi ifMf . That fiefdom is described as encompassing both banks of the Yangzi river.

It is clear from the entry in "Chu shijia" that place names such as Jing-Chu and Chu-Man existed prior to the time when Zhou Cheng Wang granted the territory to Xiongyi, and that a region of Jing-Chu, as well as tribes called Jing-Chu or Chu-Man,

2

Chu Bronzes and Chu Culture

nan. Height 26 cm. After Henan 1981, no. 29.

were already known before the founding of the State of Chu. In addition, oracle bone inscriptions dating from the time of King Wuding include many references to his southern campaigns against Jing-Chu.^ Archaeology, especially the results of research on bronze vessels, seems to corroborate the information in ancient Chinese texts.

In recent years bronzes dating from the Erligang period have been found at

several sites on the Jiang-Han Plain, located between the Han >^ and Yangzi rivers in northem Hubei. Among those bronzes, the ones attracting most attention are clearly those found in 1974 at Panlongcheng ^it^^, Huangpi Xian-^F^^I, Hubei province.^ The site is near the north bank of the Yangzi, but the technology and style of the bronzes are identical to those unearthed in the Central Plain. For example, the lei (fig. 1 ) and jia (fig. 2) from Panlongcheng are similar to those excavated at Zhengzhou M'H] in Henan province (figs. 3, 4).

Another archaeological site where Erligang period bronzes were unearthed is in Sui Xian f^tll, northwest of Huangpi, a considerable distance from the Yangzi.^ The bronzes found at Sui Xian are stylistically the same as those from Panlongcheng.

Erligang-period bronzes were also unearthed on the southem bank of the Yangzi. A lei excavated at Wangjiadui^Ii^, Yidu Xian Jl:lf^i?|, in 1978 is similar in shape to that from Panlongcheng.^ The site where the lei was found is very near the Yangzi. Beyond this and further south, no early Shang bronzes have been found. It is clear, therefore, that while the Jing-Chu region was influenced by the bronze culture of the

3

Li Xueqin

Fig. 5. Fang zun from Huangcai, Ningxiang Xian, Fig. 6. fue from Xiangxiang Xian, Hunan. Hunan. Height 58.3 cm. After Beijing 1976, Height 33 cm. After Tokyo & Beijing 1983,

no. 1 7. no. 26. ^

Central Plain during the early Shang period, that influence did not penetrate far beyond the banks of the Yangzi; moreover, it was brought to the region by Shang immigrants from the north.

In the later years of the Shang dynasty, after Wuding's expedition against Jing- Chu, the situation was entirely different. Not only have bronzes dating from that period been repeatedly found in the Jiang-Han area of Hubei province, but even larger numbers have also been found in Hunan province still further south. Sites in Hunan — Shimen ^fl, Huarong Yueyang ^1%, Changsha -fi:}^, Ningxiang ^#f^,

Xiangxiang >^g#|^, Anhua^^-L, Xiangtan Liling it \% Hengyang flrF% and Shaoyang ^(^1%, even as far south as Changning — have yielded important bronzes.^ Geo- graphically, this encompasses the area from Lake Dongting '/HM^y^H to the Xiang river region.^ These bronzes are numerous and they reflect obvious Shang character- istics. With careful study, however, they display features that are different from bronzes made in the Central Plain.

The first difference between bronzes cast in the south and those from the Central Plain is their size. Most of the Shang bronzes unearthed in Hubei and Hunan are large and elegantly cast. A representative example is the four-ram fang zun unearthed at Yueshanpu>^ ihiM, Ningxiang, in 1938 (fig. 5). Standing 58.3 cm. high, the fang zun is decorated with extremely fine designs. The three-dimensional casting of ram- and dragon-heads on the shoulders, with the rams' homs curving inward, present signifi- cant degrees of difficulty in casting. A jue unearthed at Xiangxiang, Hunan, is 33 cm.

4

Chu Bronzes and Chu Culture

Fig. 7. Zun from Huarong Xian, Hunan. Height 73.2 cm. After Li Xueqin 1985b, no. 108.

high (fig. 6), while a zun found at Huarong, in Hunan, is 73.2 cm. high (fig. 7). All these vessels are larger than those usually seen in the Central Plain.

The second significant difference between bronzes cast in southern China and those from the Central Plain lies in their decoration. Bronzes from Hubei and Hunan have many distinct features. For example, taotie masks on these bronzes have a rather broad crest which is linked with the nose, bird-shaped flanges appear on the sides of the vessels, and fish motifs occur on the feet. A bronze you unearthed in 1956 at Shimen, Hunan, measuring 47.5 cm. in height, exhibits all these features, and is very different from you vessels from the Central Plain (fig. 8).

Certain types of bronzes made in the south also stand out distinctly. For in- stance, the single large nao bell is not known in the Central Plain. Shang dynasty nao

5

Li Xueqin

cm. After Li Xueqin 1985b, no. 107.

r

bells from the Central Plain were not only much smaller, but also occur in groups of three or five. By contrast, the largest nao from Hunan is an imposing 84 centimeters high and weighs 154 kilograms.^

Based on their characteristic features, the two Shang bronze drums — one excavated at Chongyang -^1%, Hubei, in 1977 (fig. 9),^ the other in the Sumitomo Collection, Japan — should also be products of the south. Animal-shaped bronze ves- sels are also found in considerable numbers in this area; they are often large and well cast. Many of the Shang period animal-shaped bronze vessels in various museum collections must have come from this region. In addition, bronze weapons made in the south also have distinct characteristics. A yue collected in Hunan in 1971 has a tiger on the upper end of the socket, and is entirely different from Shang dynasty weapons from the Central Plain (fig. 10).

Many scholars used to believe that the fine, elegant bronze vessels excavated in Jing-Chu had been imported from the Central Plain. Scientific analyses of the bronze alloy conducted in recent years have revealed that the proportions of tin and lead are much higher in Jing-Chu bronzes than in those unearthed in the Central Plain. There are usually traces of antimony as well, another element not found in bronzes from the Central Plain. It is clear that these bronzes were cast locally, and not imported from the Central Plain.

As a result, Jing-Chu bronze artisans developed their own bronze tradition during the late Shang period under the strong influence of the Shang culture from the Central Plain. It is important to note that a significant portion of those Shang dynasty

6

Chu Bronzes and Chu Culture

Fig. 9. Drum from Chongyang, Hubei. Height 75.5 cm. After Li Xueqin 1985b, no. 106.

bronze vessels that have survived to the present were made in Jing-Chu. It is also important, in studies of bronze vessels and their artistic development, that this distinction be made.

Jing-Chu bronze culture of the Shang period also had a great influence on other areas of south China. In 1986 two large sacrificial pits of the Shu state were dis- covered at Sanxingdui^^^ Guanghan >J|, just north of Chengdu in Sichuan province. The pits, which yielded a large number of bronzes, are believed to be contemporary with the late Shang dynasty. News of the Guanghan find attracted the

7

Li Xueqin

Fig. 1 1 . Zun from Sanxingdui, Guanghan Xian, Sichuan. Height 53 cm. After WW 1989.5, color pi. 2:2.

Fig. 12. Lei from Sanxingdui, Guanghan Xian, Sichuan. Height 34 cm. After WW 1989.5, pi. 4:2.

attention of academic circles in China and abroad. The Shu bronzes unearthed from the two sacrificial pits reflect the flavor of minority tribes in southwestem China, while a few of the ritual vessels display the style of the Shang bronze culture.

The two bronze zun from Pit No. 2 at Guanghan — with seated birds on the shoulders and a high swollen footring — are different from those of the Central Plain (fig. 11). They are comparable to vessels unearthed in 1966 at Huarong, Hunan, at Zaoyang ^f%, Hubei, in 1987, and at Chenggu Shaanxi, in 1963. Three lei were recovered from Pit No. 2 at Guanghan. One of them is completely intact, showing a characteristically near-cylindrical shape and almost vertical walls for the body (fig. 12). It can be compared with lei vessels unearthed at Yueyang, Hunan, in 1982 and at Shashi :)^'"^, Hubei, in 1987.^^ It is clear that whether the bronzes were cast in Sichuan or not, they were influenced by the Jing-Chu culture.

Jing-Chu bronze culture also exerted influence on the southeastern provinces of China, including Jiarigsu, Zhejiang and Fujian, and the Guangxi Autonomous Re- gion. The nao bells unearthed in the region stretching from Jiangsu to northem Fujian are similar in style to those found in Hunan. On the basis of archaeological finds it seems that this kind of special musical instrument spread from Jing-Chu to south- eastem China.

A bronze you of late Shang date unearthed at Wuming ^"1%, the Guangxi Au- tonomous Region, in 1974, is similar in shape to the example found at Ningxiang, Hunan (fig. 13). Located near the extreme southern border of China, Wuming is

8

Chu Bronzes and Chu Culture

Fig. 13. You from Wuming Xian, Guangxi Autonomous Region. Height 40 cm. After Guangxi 1978, no. 34.

almost too far south. As some scholars believe, the you was made farther north and subsequently taken to the south; however, it need not have come from the Central Plain, but could have been made in the Jing-Chu region.

From the preceding discussion it is apparent that after King Wuding's southem campaign the bronze culture in Jing-Chu reached a high level. It is in this way that Shang bronze culture from the Central Plain penetrated the south and subsequently proceeded to influence still other areas. Contemporary Chinese scholars in archaeo- logy have begun to pay attention to this sequence of cultural influence, pointing out that the "Jii^g-Chu culture in Shang times had its own features . . . and the early Chu culture may have developed from a branch of the Jing-Chu people. "^^ That is to say, the Shang period bronze culture that existed in the region occupied by present-day Hubei and portions of Hunan provided the basis upon which Chu culture in the narrower sense was to emerge during the Western Zhou period.

The Formation of the Chu Bronze Tradition

We have already noted that a high level of bronze culture existed in the Jing-Chu region — ^present-day Hubei and Hunan — during the late Shang period. Remnants of

9

Li Xueqin

that culture consist of the incomparably exquisite bronzes that continue to appear in seemingly endless numbers. Those bronzes furnish the basis for comparative re- search on the culture, religion and myths of the peoples who inhabited the Jing-Chu region and those who resided in the Central Plain in antiquity. With the decline of the Shang dynasty, however, the Jing-Chu bronze culture declined dramatically. The change was an obvious and drastic one,- no doubt it was the reflection of major changes in political and historical events at the time.

To date, the Westem Zhou bronzes found in Hubei and Hunan are few in number. Especially noteworthy is the fact that hardly any important individual bronzes, or sets of bronzes, have been recovered from south of the Yangzi. Such a situation cannot be accidental. It indicates that after Zhou Wu Wang overthrew the

Shang dynasty and established the Zhou dynasty, the Jing-Chu culture entered a period of decline.

Among the Westem Zhou bronzes found in the Jing-Chu region the most impor- tant examples fall into two groups, both of which were unearthed north of the Yangzi. The first group of bronzes was found in A.D. 1118, the first year of the Chonghe "f" era of the Northern Song, in Xiaogan Xian ##11^, Hubei province. The cache consisted of three fang ding, one round ding, one yan, and one zhi. Many scholars have pointed out that the inscriptions on these bronzes record an attack by Zhao Wang 9§ i on Jing-Chu. The owner of the bronzes was one of Zhao Wang's ministers who evidently died and was buried there.

The second group of Westem Zhou bronzes found in the Jing-Chu region was unearthed in 1977-78 from Tomb No. 30 at Lutaishan •%4^dA, Huangpi, in Hubei province. Included among the fourteen bronzes from the find were fang ding, ding, yan, gui, you, gu, and jue.^^ Research has shown that these vessels were cast during the reign of Zhou Kang Wang the father of Zhao Wang. Most of the bronzes

formed the dowry given to the daughter of the Duke of Bi -f-^, a minister of the Zhou court.

In addition, in 1962 a group of bronzes was recovered from a tomb in Wancheng Mj^^, near Jiangling yxj^in Hubei. Those bronzes date from the early years of the Westem Zhou period. A clan sign that occurs in the inscriptions on several of the vessels belongs to the Shang rather than the Zhou people. That same clan sign appears in bronzes unearthed in the royal Shang Tomb HPK1550 at Anyang -^1%, Henan. The presence of a Shang clan sign on the bronzes unearthed in 1962 in Wancheng, Hubei, indicates that there were still some Shang people in Jiangling during the early years of Westem Zhou.^'' It is likely that the remains of Shang forces in the Jiangling area prevented the influence of the Zhou dynasty from spreading southward. Ever since Zhao Wang's failure to overcome Jing-Chu, the peoples of this region continued to oppose the political and cultural influence of the Zhou. Cultural influence from Zhou thus entered southern China via the State of Wu in present-day Jiangsu, unlike Shang influence to the south, which entered through Jing-Chu.

10

Chu Bronzes and Chu Culture

Xiongyi, the first ruler of the Chu state, was awarded a fiefdom during the reign of Zhou Cheng Wang. Inscriptions on oracle bones recently unearthed at sites in the Zhou homeland in Shaanxi provide new clues to the relationship between the Zhou court and Chu. Initially Chu was a small and weak political entity. During the more than 200 years of the Westem Zhou, Chu became steadily stronger. The earliest Chu bronzes unearthed so far are few in number and date from the late years of Westem Zhou. Our knowledge of Chu bronzes from Westem Zhou to the early Spring and Autumn period is limited, just as archaeological finds relating to the Chu state from the same period are limited. While it still is not possible to describe in detail how Chu bronze culture developed, there is no question that by the mid- Spring and Autumn period Chu bronzes of high quality were being made in large numbers.

Representative of Chu bronzes dating from the mid- Spring and Autumn period are the vessels unearthed in 1978-79 from a group of Chu tombs at Xiasi T^, Xichuan Xian >t^^il iriv in sou them Henan.^^ Nine large tombs and sixteen smaller tombs have been excavated at Xiasi. These tombs may be divided into five groups, among which the third is most important. Within that third group Tomb No. 2 proved to be the main burial. To the south and north of Tomb No. 2 are the satellite tombs, Nos. 1, 3 and 4. To the west and north are located the tombs of people who were sacrificed for burial with the occupant of Tomb No. 2. There is a richly appointed chariot pit containing six chariots and nineteen horses west of Tomb No. 2.

According to published reports more than 5,000 objects, including bronzes, jades and cowrie shells, were unearthed from Tomb No. 2. Many bronzes and jades were also found in Tomb No. 1 . From inscriptions in the bronzes it is clear that some of the bronzes from Tombs Nos. 1 and 2 belonged to Prince Wu (Wangzi Wu i-f-^), while others belonged to a person named Peng . Wangzi Wu is mentioned in the Zuo zhuan where it is recorded that he died in 552 B.C. Many scholars believe that Peng should be identified as Wei Zipeng ik^ According to the Zuo zhuan, Wei Zipeng died in 548 B.C. Consequently the bronzes found in Tombs Nos. 1 and 2 at Xiasi should be dated to the mid-sixth century B.C.^° But there are also scholars who be- lieve the bronzes should be dated some thirty or forty years later,^^ in other words, to the late sixth century B.C., near the end of the Spring and Autumn period. No resolu- tion appears to have been reached on this issue.

In June 1986 Christie's in New York included an important ancient Chinese bronze in their auction catalogue (fig. 14).^^ That bronze, which should be referred to as the Chu Wang Yinshen zhan has an overall height of 20 cm. and a

diameter of 24 cm. Its openwork decoration consists of a dense arrangement of very fine coiled serpents. The zhan is very similar to that unearthed from Tomb No. 1 at Xiasi, Xichuan (fig. 15). King Yinshen, also known as Xiongshen, King Gong fik "^,4^^, died in 560 B.C. He was a contemporary of Wangzi Wu and Wei Zipeng. The evidence provided by the zhan of King Yinshen proves that the Xiasi bronzes could not date as late as from the last years of the Spring and Autumn period.

11

Li Xueqin

Fig. 14. Chu Wang Yinshen zhan and its inscription. Height 20 cm. Courtesy of Christie, Mason and Woods Ltd.

Representative of the Xiasi bronzes are the jin (fig. 16) and the Wangzi Wu ding (fig. 17). They display two charac- teristic features of Chu bronzes of the mid- Spring and Autumn period: a new artistic style and a new bronze-casting technology.

I trust we all recall the many bronzes unearthed in 1923 from the large tomb at Xinzheng l/r^P, Henan. The Xinzheng

Fig. 15. Zh.r7 from Xiasi, Xichuan Xian, Henan. bronzes, which date from the middle Height 18 cm. After KG 1981.2, pi. 11:5. years of the Spring and Autumn period,

are therefore close contemporaries of the Xiasi bronzes.^ Among the Xinzheng bronzes are two square hu with lotus and crane motifs, whose style differs from earlier vessels (fig. 18). At the time of the Xinzheng find, scholars believed that its distinctive bronze style was symbolic of a new artistic spirit. The Xiasi bronzes possess precisely the same new spirit. The specific charac- teristics of these bronzes are the three-dimensional animals, openwork omaments, and fine, dense motifs. This style of bronze decoration is more developed at Xiasi than at Xinzheng. Apparently the new style was formed in the State of Chu and then spread northward into the nearby State of Zheng # . Recognition of the origins

12

Chu Bronzes and Chu Culture

Fig. 16. fin from Xiasi, Xichuan Xian, Henan. Length 107 cm. After Li Xueqin 1986, no. 17.

Fig. 17. Wangzi Wu ding from Xiasi, Xichuan Xian, Henan. Height 67 cm. After Li Xueqin 1986, no. 16.

and transmission of this bronze style is important to research on bronzes and the history of art.

The new bronze-casting technology was the lost-wax casting technique. The question of when a sophisticated method like lost-wax casting was first used in

13

Li Xueqin

China has been discussed by archaeologists for a long time. Recovery of the pan and zun in 1978 from Tomb No. 1 at Leigu- dun^iVIk, in Sui Xian, Hubei, marked a significant advance in determining the date of Chinese lost-wax casting, since experts have proven that the pan and zun were cast by that process. The date of Tomb No. 1 at Leigudun is ca. 433 B.C. According to re- cent research it is clear that quite a few of the bronzes from Xiasi, such as the jin and zhan previ- ously mentioned, were also made by the lost-wax technique.

We have already discussed the zhan of King Gong of Chu and the zhan unearthed at Xiasi. The unusual characteristics of the modelling and the style of those two vessels are the same, hence it seems reasonable to propose that the zhan of King

Fig. 18. Fang hu from Xinzheng Xian, Henan. Height 118 Gong was also made by the lost- cm. After Li Xueqin 1986, no. 56. wax process. We can determine,

therefore, that at least as early as 560 B.C. the lost-wax casting technique was already highly developed in the State of Chu. It also appears, on the basis of current information, that lost-wax casting was not used in the Central Plain during the same period.

From this discussion we can say that a distinctive tradition in Chu bronzes had already been formed by the middle of the Spring and Autumn period, i.e. the sixth century B.C. By this time the Chu bronze culture had already rid itself of influences from the Central Plain and had begun to exert its own influence on peoples in its surrounding areas. From the late Spring and Autumn period to early Warring States period (the fifth century B.C.) Chu influence on surrounding states became extremely obvious. For example, the bronzes of the late Spring and Autumn period unearthed from the tomb of the Marquis of Cai 4^i^ in Shou Xian ^ir-l, Anhui, and the Zeng # state bronzes dating from the early years of the Warring States period at Leigudun, Sui Xian, can generally be classified as part of Chu bronze culture, even though they

14

Chu Bronzes and Chu Culture

have some characteristics of their own. Influence of the State of Chu can also be seen in the bronze culture that arose in the States of Wu and Yue ^ in the late years of the Spring and Autumn period.

Chu Bronzes and Other Cultures

During the years from the mid- Spring and Autumn period to the Warring States period, Chu bronze culture developed in its own style and formed a distinct tradition. As I said earlier, that bronze culture was originally under the strong influence of the Central Plain bronze culture. But by the Eastem Zhou period Chu bronze culture had become one of the most advanced cultural traditions, and in turn influenced the Central Plain, as well as other parts of China.

As the political power of Chu spread, its bronze culture exerted influence on more and more regions. During the early years of the Spring and Autumn period the State of Chu was still a weak principality. It initially occupied a large area of land in the middle reaches of the Yangzi. Gradually its territory expanded northwards and eastwards. In the two-and-a-half centuries of the Spring and Autumn period the State of Chu successfully absorbed more than forty smaller states. By the Warring States period Chu territory had expanded to the southeast and northeast, its borders stretch- ing south to the sea and northeastward to the State of Lu . As a result, the region of the distribution of Chu bronzes, and consequently its sphere of influence, during the Warring States period were much wider than that of other traditions.

As we have already noted, by the mid- Spring and Autumn period the influence of Chu bronze styles in northern China had reached the State of Zheng in northern Henan. In the years between the mid- Spring and Autumn and early Warring States periods, many states, such as Cai and Sui fA (i.e. Zeng ^), which belonged to the Ji -k^ clan, were absorbed into Chu bronze cultural traditions.

Most important is the influence Chu bronze culture exerted upon Yue, in the southeast, and upon Ba-Shu ^ Wj, in the southwest. The Yue people were an impor- tant minority tribe in ancient sou them China. The territory inhabited by the Yue was vast, mainly covering a large portion of present-day Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, and other provinces such as Fujian and Guangdong, and the Guangxi Autonomous Region, where they were called ''Baiyue (Hundred Yue). After the mid- Warring States period those areas largely came under Chu control and Chu bronze culture penetrated swiftly. This influence from Chu remained strong during the late years of the Warring States period, even though Chu had become too weak to control and rule Guangdong and Guangxi.

In 1971 many late Spring and Autumn period bronzes were found at Yangjia'f^^, in Gongcheng Xian located in northeast Guangxi near the border with Hunan.

According to archaeological reports the bronzes were recovered from a tomb.^^ Among those bronzes, some displayed obvious Yue characteristics, such as the ding with three

15

Li Xueqin

After 1973.1, pi. 12:2.

Fig. 19. Ding from Gongcheng Xian, Guangxi Autonomous Region. Height 14.5 cm. After Guangxi 1978, no. 43.

Fig. 21. Ding from Gongcheng Xian, Guangxi Fig. 22. Lei from Gongcheng Xian, Guangxi

Autonomous Region. Height 55.5 cm. After Autonomous Region. Height 39.5 cm. After

Guangxi 1978, no. 42. Guangxi 1978, no. 41.

outward-curving feet (fig. 19) and boot-shaped axes (fig. 20). Others, however, were quite similar to Chu examples. One large ding measuring 55.5 cm. high, has a deep belly and side handles, and is decorated with fine coiled serpent motifs, features that are identical to Chu examples (fig. 21). This ding may have been imported from the State of Chu.^"^ In addition, the tomb at Yangjia yielded a lei with a pair of animal- shaped handles (fig. 22). Although its decoration also included interlocking motifs.

16

Chu Bronzes and Chu Culture

Fig. 23. Ding from Xindu Xian, Sichuan. Height 26 cm. After Sichuan Sheng Bowuguan 1981, pi. 2:1.

Fig. 25. Foil from Xindu Xian, Sichuan. Height 28.3 cm. After Sichuan Sheng Bowuguan 1981, pi. 4:4.

Fig. 24. Ding from Sui Xian, Hubei. Height 40 cm. After Hubei Sheng Bowuguan 1989, pi. 53:2.

Fig. 26. Fou from Sui Xian, Hubei. Height 35.9 cm. After Hubei Sheng Bowuguan 1989, pi. 77:1.

the serpentine designs on the belly of the lei are seldom seen on Chu bronzes. I be- lieve the lei was cast in a local rather than a Chu foundry. The bronzes from Yangjia indicate that the influence of Chu spread to Guangxi at quite an early date.

In 1980 a large tomb of the Shu W state dating to the early years of the mid- Warring States period was unearthed at Xindu l^r^f^, north of Chengdu, in Sichuan.^^ Among the many bronzes found at Xindu were some with inscriptions in Chinese characters, others had Ba-Shu inscriptions. In both vessel shape and decorative style, the ritual bronzes found at Xindu resemble vessels from the Chu bronze culture. For instance, a ding with thin legs (fig. 23) is identical to the ding unearthed from Tomb No. 1 at Leigudun (fig. 24). The fou excavated at Xindu, with a chain linking the two handles (fig. 25), closely resembles the fou found at Leigudun (fig. 26). A general evaluation of the bronzes from the large tomb at Xindu would be that while the ritual vessels all show obvious Chu influence, the weapons display outstandingly nationalistic Shu characteristics.

17

Li Xueqin

Fig. 27. Rubbing of inscription on ding from Xindu Xian, Sichuan. After Sichuan Sheng Bowuguan 1981, p. 7, fig. 14:2.

Fig. 28. Rubbing of inscription on bell from Sui Xian, Hubei. After Hong Kong 1984, p. 21, fig. 6.

I would like to emphasize that, both in script style and sentence formulation, the inscription on the bronze ding unearthed at Xindu (fig. 27) is identical to those found in inscriptions on bronzes from Tomb No. 1 at Leigudun (fig. 28), as well as on other bronzes of the same period. Obviously Chu bronze culture had a strong influence on the Yue people and on the Ba-Shu tribes. In fact, some Yue and Ba-Shu people resided in the State of Chu, where they maintained their own cultural characteristics, as is indicated by bronzes found there. Yue bronzes have been found in many sites in present-day Hunan, covering the areas from Yueyang, north of Lake Dongting, to Changsha and Hengshan i^iU, in the centre of the province, and even extending to Dao Xian illir-l in the south. Among those bronze finds the most representative pieces are boot-shaped axes, some of which are symmetrically shaped (fig. 29), while others are not (fig. 30).^^ Some boot-shaped axes have geometrical designs on their surfaces, and others bear human figural motifs. This kind of bronze weapon, which belonged solely to the Yue people, has been found in Zhejiang and Guangdong, and in the Guangxi Autonomous Region.

An example of this kind of boot-shaped axe was unearthed in 1976 at Shitushan

18

Chu Bronzes and Chu Culture

Fig. 31. Boot-shaped axe from Shitushan, Qin Fig- 32. Boot-shaped axe from Yinshanhng,

Xian, Zhejiang. Height 10.1 cm. After KG Pingle Xian, Guangxi Autonomous Region.

1984.8, p. 762, fig. 1. After KGXB 1978.2, p. 239, fig. 33:13.

^ 5t«J-> in Qin Xian ff^lj, Zhejiang.^^ Measuring 10.1 cm. high and 12 cm. wide, the axe has symmetrical corners (fig. 31). The design on the side of the axe depicts four figures wearing feathered headdresses rowing a boat, and a paired design composed of coiled serpents above. Scholars have pointed out that representations of boating also appear on bronze drums unearthed in southem China and in southeast Asia.

Representative of bronze axes found in the Guangxi Autonomous Region are those excavated in 1974 from a Warring States tomb at Yinshanling Pingle Some of the axes found at Yinshanling are symmetrical; they are also deco-

19

Li Xueqin

Fig. 34. You from Jinqicun, Xiangtan Xian, Hunan. Height 35.5 cm. After HNKGJK 4 (1987), pi. 1.

rated with geometric motifs (fig. 32). Noteworthy is the fact that bronzes cast by the Yue people Hving in Hunan retained traces of the influence of Central Plain bronze cultures of Shang and early Western Zhou. In 1963 a zun was unearthed at Xialiushi fl^/'^i^, Hengshan Xianflf J^^., Hunan (fig. 33).^^ The zun, which stands 21 cm. high, is decorated with small raised serpents. A geometric design appears on the neck of the vessel, while boot-shaped axes decorate the belly. In 1986 a bronze you measur- ing 35.5 cm. in height was found at Jinqicun ^^Mi, Xiangtan Xian M Hunan (fig. 34).^^ Designs based on geometric forms, clouds and boot-shaped axes, as well as serpents, frogs and lizards, embellish the surface of the you. Among the Yue bronzes unearthed in Gongcheng, the Guangxi Autonomous Region, already mentioned, were two zun decorated with serpents and frogs (figs. 35, 36). Bronze zun and you of similar shape cast in the Central Plain date no later than early Western Zhou. It seems that the Yue people who made these bronzes were influenced by the Central Plain culture at a very early stage, but then gradually came under the influence of Chu.

Ba-Shu ruins and bronzes have also been found within the State of Chu. For instance, Jiangling, located in present-day Hubei, was the capital of the Chu state for

20

Chu Bronzes and Chu Culture

Fig. 36. Drawing of zurz. From Gongcheng Xian, Guangxi Autonomous Region. After 1973.1, p. 32, fig. 5, top.

a long time. North of Jiangling a Ba-Shu style bronze sword was unearthed in a Chu tomb in 1981. In 1984 a Warring States period Ba-Shu site was recovered at Tuojiangsi fty:^-^, also in Jiangling; its cultural characteristics are entirely different from those of the surrounding Chu sites. The excavations at Tuojiangsi demonstrate that Ba-Shu tribes lived and intermingled with Chu people within Chu territory.

Most interesting of all, there are in- stances in which bronzes representative of three different cultures — Chu, Yue, and Ba-Shu — are found in the same tomb. In 1985 a Chu tomb was unearthed at Sanyuan Village ^tLH, Taoyuan Xian ^4>>^,ir-|, west of Changsha. Most of the bronzes were typical of the Chu state. But the sword with a gold inlaid inscription obviously belonged to the Yue people, while there was a ge with Ba-Shu characters. Examples of this type of multi-cultural burial demonstrate that during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods the State of Chu consisted of a coalition of many different peoples. As a result, Chu bronze culture also reflects the influence of those different ethnic traditions.

The Chu bronze culture was initially based on a flourishing period in the Shang tradition, but had gradually developed its own particular aesthetic tradition by the middle of the Spring and Autumn period. At the same time, it incorporated the cultural elements of other tribes, while also exerting important influences on its neighboring states. The Chu bronze culture was therefore among the most advanced of the bronze cultures that flourished in the other states at the time. In fact, during

Fig. 35. Zun from Gongcheng Xian, Guangxi Autonomous Region. Height 16 cm. After Li Xueqin 1986, no. 49.

21

Li Xueqin

the Warring States period, the State of Chu had already united the southern half of China, laying the foundation for subsequent unification during the Qin and Han >J| dynasties. The important tombs dating from the Qin and early Han dynasties recently investigated in Hubei — including the Qin tombs at Shuihudisi:.^i^!L, Yunmeng and the early Han tombs at Fenghuangshan i^M, J-i and Zhangjiashan J-i in Jiangling — as well as the Mawangdui Mj^^f. burial in Changsha, Hunan, all devel- oped from Chu traditions. The important place occupied by Chu culture in ancient Chinese history is clearly demonstrated by these finds.

Notes

1. XiaNai 1982, p. 1.

2. Li Xueqin 1976.

3. Hubei Panlongcheng 1976.

4. Suizhoushi Bowuguan 1981.

5. Yichang Diqu Bowuguan 1986.

6. Li Xueqin 1985b, p. 7.

7. An inscribed bronze you is said to have been found at Xing'an the Guangxi Autonomous Region, the source of the Xiang river. See Liang Jingjin 1978, p. 93, pi. 4:1 and fig. 6.

8. Gao Zhixi 1986b, p. 279.

9. Gao Zhixi 1981.

10. Gao Zhixi 1981.

11. Li Xueqin 1989b.

12. Gao Zhixi 1981.

13. Chen Xianyi 1980.

14. Tang Lan 1986, pp. 283-89; also see note 2.

15. Hubei Huangpi 1982.

16. Liu Qiyi 1984.

17. See note 2.

18. Li Xueqin 1988b.

19. Henan Danjiang 1980.

20. Li Ling 1981.

21. Zhang Yachu 1985.

22. Christie 1986, lot 54.

23. Li Xueqin 1985a, pp. 85-87.

24. Li Xueqin 1985a, pp. 175-82, 184-88.

25. Guangxi Zhuangzu 1973.

26. Jiang Tingyu 1980.

27. Sichuan Sheng Bowuguan 1981.

28. Gao Zhixi 1980.

29. Cao Jinyan Zhou Shengwang 1984.

30. Guangxi Zhuangzu 1978.

31. Li Xueqin 1986, pL 44.

32. Xiong Jianhua 1987.

33. Zhang Shisong 1985.

22

The Double Coffin of Leigudun Tomb No. 1 : Iconographic Sources AND Related Problems

Alain Thote

More than ten years after its excavation in 1978, the tomb of Zeng Hou Yi # C at Leigudun 4tii Suizhou fA'M, Hubei province, still remains the most important site of an Eastern Zhou dynasty tomb.^ Of special significance to scholars is the fact that it is possible to date the tomb with reasonable precision to ca. 433 B.C. according to an inscription on a bo i% bell which belongs to the tomb fumiture.^ The outer coffin {wai guan ^K^f ) and inner coffin {nei guan \^^t]o{ Zeng Hou Yi, which were found in the eastern chamber of the tomb, are in an excellent state of preservation (figs. 1, 2). No doubt the remarkable condition of those two coffins is partly the result of the lacquer applied to their wooden surfaces.^

An initial examination of the two coffins reveals that they differ in shape and in decoration. First of all, the outer coffin, with its huge dimensions and unique bronze frame (fig. 3), cannot be compared with any other known example. But, if we do not concern ourselves with the extemal painted decoration, the inner coffin (fig. 4a) appears rather similar to one of the main types of Chu coffin (fig. 4b), since it has a round shaped cover and rounded flanges. By contrast, the other main type of Chu coffin, which sometimes may be nested inside another slightly larger coffin -of the same form, is characterized by a flat cover and flat flanges (fig. 4c). Both types of Chu coffin appear relatively early in Eastern Zhou; they were in use at least as early as the Spring and Autumn period or the beginning of the Warring States period."^

The omamentation of the outer coffin from Tomb No. 1, which is organized in vertical and horizontal bands, frames a series of panels that are almost square (figs. 1, 5). The vertical and horizontal bands also delineate the massive construction in wood and in bronze underneath the painted lacquer decoration.

On the other hand, the decoration of the inner coffin is independent of the coffin's shape (fig. 2). The Chinese artist drew lines to define separate units within the overall composition,- those units contain several different kinds of pattems. All of the designs on the exterior surface of the inner coffin seem to follow an iconographi- cal program which consists of no less than twenty patterns, some of which, as of the present moment, remain totally without precedent. Some of the pattems can easily

23

Alain Thote

Fig. 1. Outer coffin of Zeng Hou Yi from Tomb No. 1, Leigudun, Suizhou, Hubei. Lacquer on wood and bronze. Height 219 cm., length 320 cm., width 210 cm. After Sui Xian 1980, pi. 3.

Fig. 2. Inner coffin of Zeng Hou Yi from Tomb No. 1, Leigudun, Suizhou, Hubei. Lacquer on wood. Height 132 cm., length 250 cm., width 125 cm. After Sui Xian 1980, pi. 4.

24

Double Coffin of Leigudun Tomb No. 1

Fig. 4a. Inner coffin of Zeng Hou Yi. After Hubei Sheng Bowuguan 1989, vol. 1, p. 27, fig. 16. Fig. 4b. Coffin from Tomb No. 554, Yutaishan, Jiangling, Hubei. After Yutaishan 1984, p. 7, fig. 4. and p. 26, fig. 15.

Fig. 4c. Coffin from Tomb No. 354, Yutaishan, Jiangling, Hubei. After Yutaishan 1984, p. 48, fig. 38.

25

Alain Thote

Fig. 5. Painted decoration on outer coffin. After Hubei Sheng Bowuguan 1989, vol. 1, p. 24, fig. 14. Drawings of patterns nos. 1-6 by the author.

be distinguished since they are isolated against a plain colored surface. Other pat- terns are organized so densely that they are often mixed or truncated. In order to define those particular patterns it is necessary to compare different versions of each one of them, since, at first glance, they appear to be quite similar. Most of the pattems depict hybrid creatures, half -human, half -beast, or are composed of snakes, birds, and dragons.

The painted decoration on the outer coffin, on the contrary, has a far simpler iconography that includes only six pattems of solely geometric images designated here as nos. 1 through 6 (fig. 5:1-6). Those images are regularly repeated on the sides and on the cover of the coffin, with slight variations resulting from their placement and the craftsmanship of the artist.

For example, in the two square panels located in the center of the long sides of the outer coffin, the complex interlace pattern is fully developed. But on the panels flanking those central units, the Chinese artist cut off a portion along the right edges because of inadequate space. The two loops which end the basic interlace motif contain a small S-shaped design, similar to the Greek letter epsilon. That small design is often truncated, sometimes it is presented upright and otherwise it is painted

26

Double Coffin of Leigudun Tomb No. 1

Fig. 6. Drawings of geometric motifs painted on wooden walls of funerary chamber of Tomb No. 1 at Tianxingguan, Jiangling, Hubei. After Tianxingguan 1982, p. 77, fig. 7.

horizontally. Compared with the brushwork of the decoration on the inner coffin, that on the outer coffin is not as carefully executed. Individual brushstrokes indicate some hesitation on the part of the artist, and identical patterns are not rendered with any marked degree of regularity.

While the two coffins differ from each other in general composition, iconogra- phy, and quality of the painting, they obviously are distinct from all other known Zhou dynasty lacquered wooden coffins that have been excavated up to the present.

Most of the known Zhou dynasty painted coffins are decorated with geometric motifs or with rather abstract zoomorphic designs. In the case of Tomb No. 1 at Tianxingguan ^ J- H?, at Jiangling Hubei, the wooden walls of the funerary

chamber are painted with geometric designs (fig. 6).*^ On the other hand, we cannot consider the motifs painted on the inner and outer coffins of Zeng Hou Yi to have been designed and executed ex nihilo, without any support from a strong tradition. Since limited comparative material is available for analysis of the Leigudun painted coffins, we must, of necessity, consider both the iconographical and stylistic aspects of those compositions, and then extend those comparisons to grave goods made of material other than lacquer. The purpose of this paper is not to recognize or to identify each of the patterns in the lacquer decoration on the two coffins, nor is it to formulate a comprehensive interpretation of the whole decorative program. Instead, it is intended to explore other images to which those painted motifs on the Leigudun coffins may be related and the traditions to which they may belong.

27

Alain Thote

E

Fig. 7:1-6. Six patterns decorating the outer coffin of Zeng Hou Yi.

Fig. 7A-G,I. Motifs on various pieces excavated from Tomb No. 1 at Leigudun.

After Hubei Sheng a Beijing 1984, pp. 14, 32, 8, 19, 24, 24, 87, 89.

Fig. 7h. Pattern on inner coffin of Zeng Hou Yi.

The Outer Coffin

Among the six patterns which ornament the outer coffin — all of which are geometric in nature — two are purely abstract (figs. 7:1,2), while three others are interlaced motifs (figs. 7:3,4,6). The one which marks the center of each square panel in the composition features a whorl (fig. 7:5). The interlaced motifs themselves are all of different kinds: simple ribbons twisted together (fig. 7:3), freely painted hooks against a surface covered by comma designs (fig. 7:6), and a much more complicated motif (fig. 7:4) which recalls intertwined dragons. Because of its unusual aspect, pattem no. 4 forms a strong contrast to the two others, which were very common during the fifth century B.C. For instance, one of the pattems (fig. 7:3) is frequently encountered

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Double Coffin of Leigudun Tomb No. 1

Fig. 8. Whorl motif (pattern no. 5) on bronze guan fou from Tomb No. 1 at Leigudun, Suizhou, Hubei. After Hubei Sheng Bowuguan 1989, vol. 2, pi. 77:1.

on Eastern Zhou bronzes, particularly on the so-called Liyu bronzes/ All in all, comparison of the six painted lacquer patterns reveals that they are rather different from each other in spirit, an aspect of the decorative program that is consistent with contemporary late Eastem Zhou taste. That same aspect of the painted lacquer deco- ration might likewise indicate that each of the pattems has been borrowed from a different source.

In fact, as careful examination proves, the lacquer paintings on the outer coffin (figs. 7:1-6) testify to a close relationship with the decoration of various pieces exca- vated from the Zeng Hou Yi tomb (figs. 7A-G,I).

For example, the two pattems designated nos. 1 and 2 (figs. 7:1,2) which are un- known elsewhere, are painted on the lacquer beams (fig. 7a) and on the bronze war- riors (fig. 7b) supporting the bell stand from the tomb. Executed in a slightly different manner, pattem no. 2 (fig. 7:2) occurs again on the cover of a lacquer chest from Leigudun (fig. 7c). Pattern no. 3 (fig. 7:3) appears not only on lacquers from Leigudun, such as the fragment of lacquer-coated leather armor (fig. 7d) and the wooden coffin of sacrificial victims (figs. 7e,F), but also on bronzes and gold omaments from the same site, such as the gold applique from a horse fitting (fig. 7l). Many bronze fittings (fig. 7g) or bronze vessels (fig. 8) discovered at Leigudun are omamented with the whorl motif, no. 5 (fig. 7:5). A typical lacquer design of the Warring States period,^ pattem no. 6 (fig. 7:6), is represented either in very small scale, as on fragments of lacquer armor (fig. 7d), or in very large scale, as on the coffins of the women who were sacrificed and interred with Zeng Hou Yi (figs. 7e,F).

Pattem no. 4, which occurs on the outer coffin of Zeng Hou Yi (fig. 7:4) as well as his inner coffin (fig. 7h), confronts the researcher with a rather perplexing problem.

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Fig. 9. Bronze fang hu. Height 74.9 cm. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, S1987.2. Courtesy of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

This uncommon design appears on scattered bronzes dating from the late Westem Zhou to the early Eastem Zhou period (figs. 9, lOc).^ In that earlier phase, the design was zoomorphic in nature. Composed of two S-shaped intertwined dragons having a snake-like body, a profile head at each end of the body, and protruding comma-like tongues, the pattem disappears in the sixth century B.C., only to reappear a century or so later at Leigudun in an abstract rendering (figs. 10: 1,2).

With the passage of time, the original zoological connotations of the design had vanished, but the composition, the movement and the overlapping mode of presenta- tion still remained. The dragons' heads no longer exist, but the positions of the

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Double Coffin of Leigudun Tomb No. 1

A

B

c

Fig. 10:1,2. Pattern no. 4 from outer coffin of Zeng Hou Yi. Drawings by the author.

Fig. 10a. Similar motifs from bronze gui discovered at Lintong, Shaanxi. After WW 1977.8,

p. 3, fig. 4:1, and p. 6, figs. 17 and 16.

Fig. 10b. Motifs on bronze pen from Xinyang Shi, Henan. After WW 1981.1, p. 12, fig. 10, and p. 13, fig. 17.

Fig. 10c. Motif on a hu of unknown provenance. After Rong Geng 1941. vol. 1, p. 138.

tongues are indicated by commas. Initially the design occupied a panel on a bronze surface, as on a gui discovered at Lintong Shaanxi (fig. lOA), or was repeated on a horizontal band, as on a pen excavated at Pingqiao , Xinyang Shi ^^f%'^, Henan (fig. 10b). On the outer coffin from Leigudun, on the other hand, this design is re- peated in three registers, the middle one being interrupted by a round whorl (fig. 5). As already noted in regard to the five other pattems, this design is represented once more in Leigudun, on the inner coffin (fig. 7h). When compared with the rendering on

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Fig. 11. Coffin of consort of a prince of Huang. Lacquer on wood. Height 108 cm., length 235 cm., width 100 cm. 8th-7th century b.c. Excavated at Baoxiangsi, Guangshan Xian, Henan. Aker KG 1984.4, color pi. 1:1.

the outer coffin (fig. 7:4), however, it is clear that the design painted on the inner coffin is done much more skillfully. Reproduced in equally broad bands, that version of the pattern maintains a regular shape. All of these points suggest that the lacquer pattern on the outer coffin apparently was based on the version painted on the inner coffin. It is unlikely that the inner coffin design might have been borrowed from the outer coffin. If my interpretation is correct, it appears that the outer coffin should have been painted after the inner coffin.

The six pattems on the outer coffin are not only dissimilar but all of them, even the rare or unusual ones, are also conspicuous for having been used on various lacquers or bronzes from the same site. If we also consider the fact that the outer coffin, with its heavy bronze frame — a structure that is estimated to exceed 3,200 kilos — could not have been moved from a great distance, it becomes plausible that the lacquer decoration might have been executed by local craftsmen, inspired by close models. The quality of the lacquer painting on the outer coffin, which has none of the refinement of the other lacquers from Leigudun, would also be in accord with this suggestion, that local craftsmen were responsible for the execution.

It is most remarkable that the lacquer designs painted on the outer coffin are, with the exception of pattem no. 6, identical or stylistically similar to omaments found on ancient or contemporary bronzes. Such a phenomenon is, however, not isolated and can be traced back at least to the early Zhou period. The designs on a lacquered coffin, excavated from the double tomb of a prince of the State of Huang ^ and his consort (figs. 11, 12A-D], show an even closer relationship with contempo- rary bronze pattems (figs. 12E-G|.^^

32

Double Coffin of Leigudun Tomb No. 1

			m
		puis)

D

H

Fig. 12A-D. Motifs on coffin from Baoxiangsi, Guangshan Xian, Henan. After KG 1984.4, pp. 306, 307.

Fig. 12E-G. Motifs on bronzes excavated from same site. After KG 1984.4, p. 321. Fig. 12h. Motif on bronze from site near Suizhou, Hubei. After KG 1984.6, p. 511.

Taking into account that the sites from which these coffins come — located respectively in Guangshan and Suizhou districts — are not very far from each other, and that at an earlier period the States of Huang and Zeng had close ties/^ it is indeed possible that the two coffins might be in a line of common tradition.

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The Inner Coffin

As already noted, the inner coffin from Leigudun, when compared generally to the outer coffin, has a distinctive character: not only is it different in shape, construction techniques and quality of the lacquer paintings, but it also has a number of remark- able decorative motifs.

At first glance these motifs, arranged in patchwork fashion, appear to have a great deal of variety (figs. 13, 17). In fact, they can be grouped into four distinct types: (1) geometric and zoomorphic interlaces (figs. 13:7-10);

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Double Coffin of Leigudun Tomb No. 1

(2) two-leaf doors (one of these units appears on each of the long sides of the inner coffin) and a single casement window (figs. 13:15,15 bis);

(3) hybrid creatures and birds, all large and all standing out distinctly from the background (figs. 13:11-14,16);

(4) nine patterns densely covering large areas of the surface (figs. 13:17-25).

The main subjects of the lacquer paintings seem to be the openings — whether doors or windows — and the hybrid creatures which stand beside the openings, in an appar- ently protective position.

As for the identification of motifs nos. 15 and 15 bis as openings, a few indica- tions are provided by several early square bronze vessels (fig. 14b).^^ The bases of those bronzes are shaped like a room and are fitted with doors and windows. Similarly, a pavilion painted on a fifth-century B.C. lacquer plate unearthed in Langjiazhuang ^l^^/t, Linzi Shandong (fig. 14c), provides an example of a door quite similar to the openings painted on the long panels of the Leigudun coffin.

Fig. 14a. Openings painted on three sides of inner coffin of Zeng Hou Yi.

Fig. 14b. Doors and windows identified on Western Zhou square bronze vessels of various origins. After KGYWW 1981.4, p. 31.

Fig. 14c Painted lacquer plate of the fifth century B.C. excavated at Langjiazhuang, Linzi, Shandong. After i^GXB 1977.1, p. 82.

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Fig. 15. Painted decoration on two coffins of human sacrificial victims at Leigudun. Window designs are indicated by arrows. After Hubei Sheng Bowuguan 1989, vol. 1, p. 52, fig. 28.

With the exception of these openings, no other architectural detail is noted in the shape and decoration of the inner coffin. But the window and two doors certainly play a prominent role among the various painted motifs of the iconographic program. In fact, twelve out of the twenty-one coffins of sacrificial victims excavated from Tomb No. 1 at Leigudun have a window as the only identifiable motif among very crude geometric decoration (fig. 15).^^

Moreover, it is appropriate to consider that the small opening that penetrates one side of the outer coffin and those openings between the four chambers of the Leigudun tomb itself (fig. 16) were meant for communication, even if that communication would have been more symbolic than real.

Fig. 16. Plan of Tomb No. 1 at Leigudun, Suizhou, Hubei province. Openings through walls separating the central chamber from the northern, eastern and western chambers of the tomb are indicated by arrows. After Hubei Sheng Bowuguan 1989, vol. 1, p. 9, fig. 5; p. 15, fig. 8.

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Double Coffin of Leigudun Tomb No. 1

In those areas of China controlled or influenced by the State of Chu, we currently know of only a dozen compartmentalized tombs which provide similar examples of doors or windows, some of which are genuine while others are painted. Those few compartmentalized tombs are dated from the fourth to the second centuries B.C.^''

At Leigudun, the importance of the geometric openings painted on the long sides of the inner coffin is emphasized by the creatures arranged in two horizontal registers beside them (fig. 17). The arrangement of those creatures is quite symmetrical with regard to the center of the openings. As each of the painted creatures holds in its claws a double-ge X halberd with the points of the ge directed away from the open- ings, they obviously are intended to be in charge of the doors and should be seen as

Fig. 17. Decoration on two long sides of inner coffin of Zeng Hou Yi. After Hubei Sheng Bowuguan 1989, vol. 1, p. 36, fig. 21; p. 39, fig. 22.

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guardians. If we look more carefully at the shape and attributes of the painted creatures, it is apparent that they form three different types.

Four creatures have human faces with pointed horns and long sinuous ears (fig. 13:13). Their bodies are shaped like those of a bird, but they have human arms and legs. Eight other creatures have bodies of human proportions ornamented with a kind of tattoo (fig. 13:14). Their heads, very emaciated and without noses, are surmounted by horns and they have curved ears and long whiskers on either side. It is more difficult to give a precise description of the last eight creatures (fig. 13:12). Except for the central portions of their faces, which have human features, they have nothing at all in common with real beings: their legs are not clearly shaped, their very large faces seem to have four eyes, and the tops of their heads are surmounted by a kind of double antenna.

The comparative material which could help us to identify these beings is, for the present, very limited. Like many deities of the twelve months on the Sackler Chu Silk Manuscript, the creatures painted on the inner coffin from Leigudun possess in common three distinct characteristics. They are shown frontally in a posture which could be described as heraldic,- they are hybrid in nature,- and they have boms or antennae at the tops of their heads. Considering that these characters are distinct from each other, but joined together in a single composition, it seems reasonable to suggest that the hybrid creatures on the inner coffin must have specific attributes, even if they all are in charge of guarding the doors.

The four birds arranged horizontally above some of the hybrid creatures also have a heraldic posture, which is very unusual for birds during the Zhou dynasty. If we take into account the shape and characteristics of the four birds, an identification with natural birds should be ruled out. For these reasons, the four birds cannot be considered as purely ornamental designs. Similarly the two symmetrical motifs that appear next to the window painted on one end of the coffin must have had special significance. They feature a bird settled on a feline dragon, surrounded by snakes or reptiles (fig. 18). This is the only lively motif among all of those we have so far considered. The style of the design can only be described as nervous,- the composition itself suggests various kinds of movement through undulating lines. Fortunately, in discussing these two symmetrical motifs, we have at our disposal much more com- parative material.

In Chu, for example, birds are often found in combination with snakes or dragons, either devouring or grasping them with their claws or being attacked by them.^^ Birds are also associated with felines, notably on drum stands.^° But seldom are birds combined with felines or dragons and serpents. Only a few examples of this last grouping can be supplied. One of those examples is documented by a lacquer fragment excavated at Changsha -ft which is now in the Musee Guimet.^^ Another similar example is from outside the Chu sphere of influence, namely from Liulige }V$;f^ in Henan (fig. 19]}^

38

Double Coffin of Leigudun Tomb No. 1

Height 40.4 cm. After Weber 1968, fig. 44d. I I

The significance of all these motifs which combine birds and dragons or birds and serpents still remains hypothetical. Nevertheless, they clearly show two antago- nistic forces combined together in a combat or after combat. In my view, these images could suggest the movement of life in altemating phases.

Though tempting, it is dangerous to offer further interpretations, however tenta- tively, of these hybrid creatures which reveal such a lively religious context in the light of the few books inherited from the Eastern Zhou period. In fact, on the basis of the limited number of artifacts and texts presently available to us, we cannot be certain that the concepts described in early Chinese texts can be neatly linked to images such as those painted on the inner coffin from Leigudun.^

To retum to our consideration of the decoration of the inner coffin as a whole, we should note that, with the exception of an interlaced motif which appears on the outer coffin and has already been analyzed, none of the other pattems can be found on that coffin. Moreover, only one motif on the inner coffin (fig. 13:21 ) appears again with similar properties on another piece excavated at Leigudun. It is represented on a qin ^ zither with much greater delicacy.^"^ But even the most decorative character

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Fig. 20. Drawing and rubbing of bronze lei from Sanji, Pingshan Xian, Hebei. Height 29.7 cm. After KGXfK 5 (1987), pp. 178-79.

Fig. 21. Motif no. 17 on inner coffin of Zeng Hou Yi and comparison of the vertical divider in its upper portion with copper inlaid motifs on bronze vessels. After Hubei Sheng Bowuguan 1989, vol. 1, p. 30, fig. 18; p. 34, fig. 20; p. 36, fig. 21; p. 39, fig. 22; Weber 1968, figs. 48e, 36a, 37a, 37b.

40

Double Coffin of Leigudun Tomb No. 1

of all these lacquer patterns cannot be compared with mo- tifs on the lacquers or bronzes from Tomb No. 1 at Leigudun. In this respect, the decoration of the inner coffin differs consider- ably from the outer coffin.

Common to both coffins from Leigudun is the fact that some pattems on the inner cof- fin are close to contemporary or earlier bronze motifs. Such similarities can be seen in their iconography, in their internal arrangements, and in their styles.

The zoomorphic interlace surrounding the window motif painted on one small side of the inner coffin is very similar to many cast designs on bronzes attributed to the fifth century B.C.; for example, the interlaced dragons on the belly of a bronze hu discovered in Pingshan ^ district, Hebei (fig. 20).^^

It is obvious that the treat- ment of at least one of the painted lacquer pattems has been influenced by inlaid decoration. In the case of that motif (fig 13:17) a double-bodied dragon with two snake-like heads seems to be biting two birds presented en face (fig. 21). Whether or not we assume that this is a direct adoption of a rather common inlaid design on bronzes dating from the fifth to fourth centuries B.C., the vertical divider separating the two birds — each of which is engaged in fighting with a snake — is worth considering.^^ A careful examination of the ap- proximately twelve occurrences of the pattem painted on the inner coffin reveals some modifications from one representation to another. But all of these representa- tions prove to be very close to copper motifs inlaid on bronze vessels.

Other links can also be observed between the areas of the Leigudun inner coffin which are densely covered by motifs nos. 1 7-25 (figs. 13:17-25) and the decoration that appears on a pair of bronze fang hu unearthed in 1923 at Xinzheng Henan (fig. 22).^^ First of all, the very intricate composition of those areas of the painted

Fig. 22. One of pair of bronze fang hu from Xinzheng, Henan. Height 1 18 cm. After Guan Boyi 1929, vol.1, pi. 39.

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Fig. 23. Similarities between patterns nos. 17, 18, 19 and 20 on the inner coffin of Zeng Hou Yi and some motifs (rubbings, designated A) ornamenting bronze fang hu from Xinzheng, Henan.

lacquer decoration may be compared to the endless movement of the various crea- tures which animate the surface of the fang hu.

Although the different motifs on the coffin are distinct from each other, instead of being connected together as they mainly are on the fang hu, they produce a similar textural effect, since there are no breaks between the individual units of the decora-

42

Double Coffin of Leigudun Tomb No. 1

tion. Furthermore, the bronze fang hu are enhvened by dragons whose bodies divide into two parts, by birds or dragons seen in profile, and by snakes.

All of these creatures are equally the main components of the patterns nos. 17- 25 (figs. 13:17-25).^^ Some of these designs also are more or less identical (fig. 23). This fact can be noted again in some combinations of bird and dragon where the neck of the bird surmounts the muzzle or the head of the dragon (fig. 13:18).^^ The birds, which have long crests, face each other, while the dragons look forward. Similarities in the bronze fang hu decoration are also to be found in patterns (fig. 13:19) where snakes, on whose bodies birds are superimposed, approach the beaks of the latter. The differ- ent snake-like dragons and bird-like creatures of the fang hu vessels are connected together with right angles. This type of representation appears in many lacquer pattems painted on the inner coffin, especially pattem nos. 17 and 19. Symmetry is likewise observed on each side of the bronze fang hu and with both patterns. But instead of the crawling bronze dragon split into two distinct bodies and features above the hybrid bird-dragon creatures, two entwined snakes stand in the middle of the painted images (figs. 13:17-18). As a result of this comparison of objects separated by more than a century, it might be possible to suggest that what once was an array of various elements on the sixth-century B.C. fang hu gave birth to independent and well-defined images painted side by side on the fifth-century lacquered coffin.

A stylistic or iconographic analysis of all the other pattems painted on the inner coffin from Leigudun would provide many interesting results. ^° Yet the comparison of those patterns to the pair of bronze fang hu from Xinzheng is much more valuable because, as it has been remarked earlier, the fang hu possess features in common with some of the Zeng Hou Yi bronzes.^^ In addition, it should also be said that the deco- ration on those two bronzes should not be considered as purely ornamental. Like the pattems painted on the inner coffin from Leigudun, those cast bronze designs may have followed an iconographic program that played a magic or religious role.

Notes

1. See Sui Xian Leigudun 1979, pp. 1-24. The full excavation report has been published in 1989 (see Hubei Sheng Bowuguan 1989). A few short presentations of the site are available in western languages: Thorp 1981; Thote 1982; Hong Kong 1984; Thote 1986.

2. This inscription states that the bell was given to Zeng Hou Yi in the 56th year of the reign of a Chu king who has been identified as King Hui of Chu ^,t.--i (reigned 488- 432 B.C.). See Hubei Sheng Bowuguan 1989, vol. 1, pp. 87, 461-64.

3. It is still difficult to determine the exact causes for this remarkable condition. Lacquer itself is an excellent preservative. But to be preserved with its core, it requires several environmental conditions in regard to the temperature, humidity, and soil conditions. Quo Dewei, the editor of the excavation report of Tomb No. 1 at Leigudun, notes several interesting facts on the subject (Guo Dewei 1988, p. 74).

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4. At Yutaishan ^4-^, Jiangling, Hubei, more than 550 tombs dating from the Eastern Zhou period have been excavated. Both types of Chu coffins are well represented in this group (see Yutaishan 1984). The earliest examples were found in Tomb No. 1 at Liuchengqiao Changsha in Hunan [KGXB 1972.1, p. 59, fig. 1) and in Tombs Nos. 2 and 3 at Zhaojiapang ^^if, Dangyang tf%, Hubei {JHKG 1982.1,

pp. 12-13, figs. 3-4). The rather advanced techniques of joinery used for such coffins are illustrated by a coffin excavated in 1984 from a Chu tomb at Caojiagang Dangyang, Hubei, of the late Spring and Autumn period [KGXB 1988.4, p. 459, fig. 4).

5. The excavation report gives a precise description of the pattems of the inner coffin by their location (Hubei Sheng Bowuguan 1989, vol. 1, pp. 28-41). A total of 895 animals, more or less imaginary, and various creatures are painted on the surfaces of the inner coffin. My calculation, less important in number, takes into account that these ani- mals and creatures are often grouped together in a single motif and that such a motif is often duplicated or replicated several times with only slight variations.

6. Tianxingguan 1982, 1982.1, p. 77, fig. 7. The best examples are illustrated by the double burial of Huang Jun Meng -^^^ and his consort, at Guangshan itJ-i, Henan [KG 1984.4, pp. 306-07, figs. 5-6, pi. 1:1) of the Spring and Autumn period; and by the following Chu tombs: Nos. 1 and 2 at Changtaiguan-i^:!'^, Xinyang itf%, Henan [Xinyang 1986, color pis. I, vn and VIII), of the second half of the fourth century B.C.; No. 2 at Baoshan Jiangling, Hubei [WW 1988.5, pi. 1:1), also of the second half of the fourth century B.C.; Nos. 1 and 2 at Niuxingshan "^^^d^, Xiangxiang Hunan (WWZLCX 3 [1980], p. 108, figs. 16-19).

7. On this type of "highly abstract interlaced meander bands," see Lawton 1982, no. 36. See also Delbanco 1983, nos. 57-58; Hayashi 1989, pp. 421-22.

8. See Shou Xian 1956, p. 16, fig. 6; WW 1973.9, pp. 7-17, pi. 4:4. This design is also to be seen on other materials than lacquer ware, as on the bit of a horse bridle from the tomb of the Marquis of Cai at Shou Xian #11, Anhui [Shou Xian 1956, p. 16, fig. 5).

9. For example, the pattern is represented on the lid and on the base of a pair of fang hu of the late Western Zhou or early Eastern Zhou dynasty (8th century B.C.). One is in the collection of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution (Delbanco 1983, pp. 122-23, no. 49), and the other, unpublished, is in the collection of the Musee Guimet. For the sources of interlaced motifs, see Rawson 1987c. For a rubbing of the motif see Rong Geng 1941, vol. 1, p. 138.

10. See Rawson 1980, pp. 153, 159.

11. KG 1984.4, p. 307, fig. 6, and p. 321, figs. 22:1-2.

12. LiXueqin 1985a, p. 182.

13. XGYWW 1981.4, pp. 28-33.

14. KGXB 1977 A, pp. 73-104.

15. By contrast, some coffins of the Sui and Tang periods are obviously made to resemble architectural structures. An example is the sarcophagus from the tomb of Li Jingxun ^ifM in the western suburb of Xi'an Shaanxi, dated A.D. 608 [KG 1959.9,

pp. 471-72; Bruxelles 1982, p. 188, fig. 147).

16. Hubei Sheng Bowuguan 1989, vol. 1, pp. 51-55, figs. 28:2-3, 29:3; vol. 2, pis. 12:1-3, 12:5, 13:4-5, 14:4, 17:2, 17:4, 18:4-5. As no systematic description of the decoration of those coffins is provided individually in the full excavation report, my account of the twelve coffins out of a total of twenty-one is deduced from the photographs or drawings supplied. These twelve coffins are the following: nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, and 8 of the eastern chamber, and nos. 1, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13 of the westem chamber.

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Double Coffin of Leigudun Tomb No. 1

17. See Tomb Nos. 554, 169, 321, 406, 166 at Yutaishan, Jiangling {Yutaishan 1984, pp. 16-18, 27-28, 34-35); Tomb No. 4 at Lijiatai #^4, Jiangling [JHKG 1985.3, p. 24, fig. 7|; Tomb No. 50 at Taihuiguani^af ^, Jiangling (;<CG 1977.1, p. 58, fig. 2|; Tomb No. 2 at Xi'eshan ^^ih, Jiangling [KG 1984.6, p. 516, fig. 3); Tombs Nos. 167, 168 at FenghuangshaniCM^O^, Jiangling [WW 1976.10, pp. 31-37, and 50; WW 1975.9, pp. 1-8); Tomb No. 7 at Shuihudi8l:.^i<!L, Yunmeng -t-^ [WW 1976.9, p. 52, fig. 3).

18. Those creatures of the Sackler Chu Silk Manuscript are numbered 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 1 1 in figs. 4B and 4C in Barnard 1972, pp. 94-97.

19. Among numerous examples, the wooden lacquer screen of Tomb No. 1 at Wangshan % iJ-i, Jiangling, in Hubei province, shows birds devouring and grasping snakes with their claws while being attacked by other snakes [WW 1966.5, pis. 2-3).

20. Thote 1987, pp. 51-53.

21. This unpublished piece depicts two birds face to face swallowing serpents grasped in their claws. The two dragons, which are placed head to tail with the birds, have their mouths opened to catch them.

22. Weber 1968, fig. 44d.

23. Some authors have attempted interpretations of the motifs ornamenting the inner coffin of Zeng Hou Yi, with the help of texts most, if not all, of which are later than the fifth century B.C. In many cases these texts are so imprecise that it is necessary to use their commentaries written centuries later (some as late as the Qing dynasty). The texts cited do not fit exactly with the paintings and the descriptions they provide are terse and ambiguous. Consequently, the quotations are not always given in full and the authors neglect to consider the particular nature, whether religious, literary or anecdotal, of the texts to which they belong. See Tang Chi Zhu Jianhua 1980; Guo Dewei 1989; Hubei Sheng Bowuguan 1989, vol. 1, pp. 42-45.

24. Hubei Sheng Bowuguan 1989, vol. 1, p. 165, fig. 77; this is our motif no. 21.

25. This hu vessel was discovered at Sanji ^/X, Pingshan, in Hebei province (See KGXJK 5 [1987], pp. 157-93; 178-79, figs. 28 and 30). The decoration on this hu is interesting because of the many different styles of its decoration. On the inner coffin from Leigudun, the interlace dragon is represented in different ways. One of these, which I designate as no. 10, is rather abstract and geometric with many right angles. Another, no. 9, is very lively and detailed, while still another, no. 8, stands between the two. Other bronze vessels almost identical and with similar designs belong to the Avery Brundage Collection in San Francisco and the Shanghai Museum. See Lefebvre d'Argence 1977, pp. 116-17, and Hong Kong 1983, pp. 126-27.

26. Examples of the same motif as no. 17 are numerous. Some of them appear in Weber 1968, figs. 36a, 37a-b, 48e.

27. See Sun Haibo 1937, vol. 2, pp. 100-08; Tan Danjiong 1977, pis. 24-25; Fong 1980, chapter 7 and entry no. 67; So 1983.

28. In regard to the Xinzheng fang hu, Colin Mackenzie has noted the association of the bird on top of the vessel and the feline forming the feet of the vessel, an association which is interpreted as a ''borrowing from an already established tradition of southern wood sculpture." See Mackenzie 1986, pp. 91-92.

29. The combination of bird and dragon (or serpent) can be seen in bronze decoration as early as the late Shang period (dragon grasping a figure of a bird). See Rawson 1987a, pp. 30-31. It is a common theme on many jades and bronzes of the Zhou period, represented in a great number of different shapes. But in the case of the fang hu decoration and the paintings on the Leigudun coffin, we note in particular several

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Alain Thote

striking similarities in the shape of the combination.

30. For example, the snake-bird association or the head of a hybrid creature surmounted by two symmetrical animals or dragons (pattern nos. 17, 20, 23).

31. So 1983, pp. 67-69.

46

Chu RrruAL Music

Lothar von Falkenhausen

Introduction

Before delving into the intricacies of Chu music through archaeology, I had better acquit myself of some sinological preliminaries.

Southern Musics Nan

In ancient Chinese texts, references to "southem" musics are fairly numerous, though their exact significance is difficult to determine. To begin with, the word nan j^(south| is itself a musical term. It occurs, for instance, in a stanza of the poem "Gu zhong M^ii" in the Shi jing i^i^ (Classic of Poetry, ca. tenth to sixth centuries B.C.):

They strike the bells solemnly,

They play their se and qin 4^ zithers,

The reed-organs and the musical stones blend their sounds;

With them they perform the ya and the nan,

They wield their flutes without error.'

Nan is here juxtaposed with ya (elegantiae), a genre of dances with musical accom- paniment that was cultivated at the royal Zhou court in north China. Ya is virtually synonymous with "court music." The texts of some of the hymns associated with the ya of the Zhou dynasty are preserved in the "Xiaoya (Lesser elegantiae) and "Daya (Greater elegantiae) sections of the Shi jing-, "Guzhong" itself is one of

the "Xiaoya." Given that the poem describes a musical performance at the royal court (probably in the Westem Zhou), it seems likely that nan also was a musical genre of some sort, though it is not certain why the term is synonymous with "south." We should consider two principal alternative explanations.

In the first explanation, nan possibly refers jointly to the "Zhounan M^" and "Shaonan ," two among the fifteen different kinds of "Guofeng ® ^" (Airs of

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LOTHAR VON FaLKENHAUSEN

the States) that comprise roughly half of the Shi jing text. Traditionally, these two terms have been understood as referring to the new, "southem" locations of two ancient territories, Zhou and Shao. In legendary times, both had been moved into the Plain of Zhou m/^. (in present-day central Shaanxi) from further north.^ Regardless of whether or not that southward move is truly the origin of the element nan in "Zhounan" and "Shaonan,"^ the term nan does seem to have been used to refer to those two kinds of regional musics as a separate musical genre, possibly akin in meaning to feng (airs),"^ and the nan in "Gu zhong" has been interpreted in that sense. ^ If the ya and nan in that poem were thus two kinds of musical pieces of the Zhou repertoire, there would be no reason to stipulate a geographical connection between the nan music and southem areas such as the territory of Chu.

On the other hand, the Westem Han period Mao commentary on the poem "Gu zhong" does just that: it claims a southem origin for the nan mentioned in that poem, stating that ''the songs of the Southem Barbarians [Nan Yi ^] are called nan,"^ and this brings us to the second explanation. Underlying this interpretation is the assumption that, even early on, the Zhou royal court employed teams of musicians from various regions to perform their distinctive regional musics. Such a practice is well documented in later Chinese history. The idea that the term nan refers to the music of southem populations has been echoed in much of the classical literature.'' Cosmological considerations required that the nan be correlated with all four cardi- nal directions, and various Han texts list the musics of the 'Tour Barbarians ^ ^^^."^ The reason why the southem music is singled out in the poem "Gu zhong" of the Shi jing is explained by one Mr. Xue #^ in a commentatory note to the Hou Han shu as follows:

The music of the Southem Barbarians is called nan. Among the musics of the Four Barbarians, only the nan can harmonize with the ya, because it is neither excessive nor deficient in its employ of the human voice and of the wind instruments.^

Even though this is probably pure confabulation (postdating the poem "Gu zhong" by perhaps as much as a millennium), the notion of an especially close relationship between southem regional musics and the ya of the royal Zhou court may hint at some historical reality. We shall see that, even if the nan are "southem" musical forms, it is perhaps no accident that the Shi jing mentions them in one breath with the northern ya court music.

Recently, the inscription on the newly-discovered Shenliu[?l bells (second half of sixth century B.C.) has further encouraged those who prefer to interpret the musical term nan in terms of geography and ethnicity. Here we find the following text:

... I, Shenliu[?], . . . selected my auspicious metals to make and cast these harmo- nizing bells. With them I present sacrifices to my former ancestors. . . . With them I perform the xia and the nan. . .

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Chu Ritual Music

The last four-character phrase quoted is identical to the second-last line in "Gu zhong," except that the character ya (elegantiae) has been replaced by xia. Xia, the name of the earliest royal dynasty in north China, was the most commonly used ethnonym for the north Chinese subjects of the Zhou kings during East em Zhou times. The bell inscription thus seems to juxtapose the music of those Xia peoples and that of the southern {nan) lands. This is regarded as especially significant because the donor Shenliu[?] was an individual from the sou them state of Xu

However, there is some room for doubt. First of all, xia ag) and ya (*ngag) are phonetically cognate and in all probability interchangeable; the phrase in the Shenliu[?] bell inscription may be nothing more than a slightly garbled quotation from the Shi jing, with xia intended to be equivalent to ya. But more importantly, xia may not here have the meaning of an ethnonym. In the classical texts, after all, xia is well docu- mented as the name of a musical genre sometimes alleged to go back to the time of the great Yu of Xia Jl^ . This music is known variously as xiayue K.^ (winds of Xia), ^ ^ or daxia (great Xia).^^ Though its relationship to the ya remains to be clarified, there is little inherent reason to interpret the xia music in ethnic terms. Hence, the phrase in the Shenliu[?] bell inscription may be virtually synonymous to that in the poem "Gu zhong."

Thus we can still not be sure as to the exact significance of nan music, except that it was probably a genre of court music. The Shenliu[?] bell inscriptions apprise us that the nan was known not only at the royal Zhou court, but in the southem state of Xu as well. However, it would be imprudent to assume that Xu was its place of origin. The linguistic similarity of these inscriptions to the Shi jing and to other products of the Zhou ritual language suggests a knowledge, in the southerly area where the Shenliu[?] bells were made, of Zhou poetics and, very likely, its concomi- tant musical conventions. It cannot be ruled out that the nan — whatever it was — had actually been introduced into Xu from north China.

Nanyin and Chusheng

The earliest instance in the literature that makes explicit a connection between "southem" musics and the state of Chu occurs in a passage in the Zuo zhuan i# (compiled around the middle of the fourth century B.C.) referring to an event in 582 B.C. The text recounts how Zhong Zi Qiii^M, a Chu music-master imprisoned in Jin ^, performed the nanyin (southem tones) in the presence of the ruler of Jin.^^ The commentator Du Yu #.f^ (A.D. 222-84) claims that this type of music was the same as the chusheng (sounds of Chu) mentioned in Han dynasty sources. The chusheng were the favorite music of the first Han emperor Gaozu >Jlrt#-, and for this reason had been elevated to the position of imperial fangzhong yue (bedchamber music) at the beginning of the dynasty. Traditionally, the chusheng sue, taken to have comprised various forms of musics of local southem origin that

49

LOTHAR VON FALKENHAUSEN

were cultivated at the Han court, notably portions of the Chu ci itSf (Songs of Chu) composed from the late Warring States to Han, and of the "Dafeng ge:^^^" (Song of Great Wind) composed by Gaozu himself. It is obvious from this that Du Yu's linking of the nanyin in the Zuo zhuan to the Han dynasty chusheng is almost certainly an anachronism. While Zhong Zi Qi in 582 B.C. undoubtedly played the tunes of his native land, it remains uncertain what these tunes were, and how they differed, for example, from those indigenous to the Jin area.^^

The Chu ci

Most textually-based characterizations of Chu music are in large measure based on the Chu ci}^ These poems differ in many respects from those of the Shi jing, most prominently in their meter. Indeed, the nervous, pulsating rhythm of the Chu ci, created by the uneven length of the lines, with two half-lines typically linked by the "breathing particle" xi could hardly be more different from the march-like four- beat meter characteristic of most Shi jing poetry. As it is well known that both kinds of poems were sung to music, one might look here for indications of musical differ- ences as well, but caution is in order, for poetic meter cannot, as a matter of principle, be equated with musical meter. Perhaps it is more fruitful to stress features shared in common. In their subject matter and (apart from a small number of lexical items traditionally labelled as Chu dialect words) in their vocabulary, the Chu ci poems rather resemble the Shi jing poems, and they stand in the same poetic tradition. What differences that exist between the two may be due not to geographical factors, but mainly to the time gap separating them. Unfortunately we cannot control the time variable when comparing the two poetic styles, as we possess neither early Zhou poems from the south nor later pre-Han poems from the north.

In any case, the occasional glimpses of musical performances described in Chu ci poetry make us feel that there was a special excitement to Chu music. A Chu dance, the "Ji Chu j^i^ " (Whirling Chu), for example, appears as the climax of a perform- ance program of various regional musical forms in the poem "Zhao hun ^U^A" (Summoning the Soul):

Before the dainties have left the tables

girl musicians take up their places. They set up the bells and fasten the drums

and sing the latest songs: "Crossing the River", "Gathering Caltrops"

and "Sunny Bank". . . Two rows of eight, in perfect time,

perform a dance of Zheng # . . . ; Pipes and zithers rise in wild harmonies

the sounding drums thunderously roll;

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Chu Ritual Music

And the courts of the palace quake and tremble

as they throw themselves into the Whirling Chu. Then they sing songs of Wu and ballads of Cai

and play the Dalii A S music ... The singing girls of Zheng and Wei

come to take their places among the guestS; But the dancers of the Whirling Chu

find favour over all the others.'^

The widespread idea that Chu music v^as ''shamanistic" rests, for the most part, on impressions gained through reading the Chu ci, especially the famous descrip- tions of shamanistic experiences in the "]iu ge A^^" (Nine Songs).^° A connection betv^een Chu music and "shamanism" also tums up in other texts, hov^ever,- the Liishi Chunqiu (compiled around 245 B.C.), for example, goes so far as to state that "Chu's decline was due to its making shamanistic music [wuyin ^^]."^^ Yet again, we cannot be too sure about the specific nature of the "shamanistic" content of Chu music. Certainly it was not the presence of "shamanism" itself that distinguished Chu; for ecstatic techniques that would fall under that rubric were practiced all over China throughout the Bronze Age,^^ even though north Chinese poetic testimony comparable to that of the Chu ci is so far lacking.

Objectives and Methods

When it comes to the so-called "sou them music" (or "musics") of Chu, then, the texts confront us with the widespread prejudice that it was highly distinctive and much more exciting than the music of the northem states of the Zhou cultural sphere; yet we cannot pinpoint what exactly the differences were. In this essay, I shall attempt to assess the issue from an archaeological perspective. The wider context of this argument, of course, concems the very nature and originality of the so-called "Chu culture" of the Eastem Zhou period. To begin with my conclusion: I am skeptical, so far, that there is much substance to the claim to uniqueness of Chu music. Although I can treat here only a limited aspect of Chu material, my conclusion may have some impact on how we should view Chu and its civilization as a whole.

In addressing the subject of music in ancient China from an archaeological perspective, we are constrained by the available evidence to emphasize the extra- musical ramifications of music. ^ An appreciable number of musical instruments has been excavated from ancient tombs. Such finds, while allowing inferences on the role of music in sumptuary display and conspicuous consumption, tell us little about how exactly these instruments were used in rituals and musical entertainment. On the positive side, some of the well-preserved sets of chime-bells from the Chinese Bronze Age can still be played today,- other types of musical instruments are now

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LOTHAR VON FaLKENHAUSEN

well known enough for exact replicas to be made, which are likewise playable. We can therefore recreate the timbre of an ancient ritual orchestra. Moreover, the in- scriptions on the bells and chimestones from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng ^j^d (died ca. 433 B.C.), which were excavated in 1978 at Leigudun, Suizhou, Hubei, contain invaluable information on the musical theory current at the beginning of the War- ring States period. But musical scores from antiquity, though they may have existed, have not yet been found. The ancient music itself thus remains subject to imagina- tive reconstruction. The dazzling pageant presented by the Hubei Provincial Song and Dance Troupe on its 1989 tour of the United States is one (albeit not yet entirely convincing) attempt in this direction.

Admittedly, given the limitations of its material remains, the extent to which Chu music differed from that of other Zhou states is difficult to assess archaeologi- cally. Virtually all archaeological remnants of Chu music pertain to the sphere of ritual music; folk music and other forms of musical entertainment must remain outside the scope of this paper. Even so, I shall argue below that, at least so far, relevant distinctions are not in evidence. I shall begin by examining the most durable component of Chu music: the already mentioned sets of chime-bells, which, incidentally, were also by far the most technologically sophisticated and precious musical instruments available in ancient China. Through several centuries of de- velopment during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, Chu bronze- casters became expert at manufacturing such bells; but, while distinctive in their ornamentation, Chu chime-bells remained typologically and musically dependent on north Chinese prototypes. After briefly discussing other types of musical instru- ments, I shall go on to treat the musical theory of Chu as documented in the Zeng inscriptions. Here, too, Chu idiosyncracies, though interesting, pale in comparison to the pervasive structural homology with the musical systems of other states of the Zhou cultural sphere. Both instrument typology and musical theory suggest that Chu ritual music of the Eastem Zhou period was derived from Zhou court music of late Westem Zhou and that it continued to be compatible with other regionally distinctive forms of ritual music within the Zhou cultural sphere.

Archaeological Evidence

I take the term ''Chu" rather loosely to denote a vast area in southern China centered upon the middle reaches of the Yangzi river traditionally regarded to have been the Chu sphere of influence. In political terms, this area encompasses both Chu proper and a large number of neighboring states which, from the seventh century B.C. onward, gradually came under Chu hegemony or suzerainty.^"^ In this essay I have included for consideration provenanced archaeological finds from this wider ambit of Chu, as well as some unprovenanced items linked by inscription to Chu or its vassal states.

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Chu Ritual Music

Early Bells

The Chu Gong Jia[}] yongzhong

The three Chu Gong fia[l] yongzhong ^ ^If , extant since the eighteenth cen- tury and now in the Sen'oku Hakkokan (Sumitomo Collection), Kyoto, are the ear- liest specimens on which a Chu connection is indicated epigraphically.^^ Bells No. 1 (fig. 1) and No. 3 form parts of the same set. With their raised ridges [zhuan ^) separating the symmetrical rows of bosses [mei ) and their ubiquitous abstract scroll motifs, they are stylistically datable to around the first half of the ninth century B.C. Bell No. 2 (fig. 2), however, strikingly diverges in its decoration; it appears to be slightly later.^^ Yet its proportions are identical to those of the two others, and it is exactly intermediate between them in size; it may have been made at a posterior date to fit the set.^^

These are typical Westem Zhou bells of the yongzhong type, designed to emit two tones: one (the A- tone) obtained by striking the bell in the center, the other (the B-tone) by striking it on the side. The interval between the two tones is usually either a major or a minor third.^^On the three Chu Gong Jia[l] yongzhong, bird-markers

Fig. 2. Chu Gong Jia yongzhong No. 2. Height

44.1 cm. Sen'oku Hakkokan (Sumitomo Collection). Courtesy of the Sen'oku Hakkokan, Kyoto.

Fig. 1. Chu Gong Jia yongzhong No. 1. Height

53.2 cm. Sen'oku Hakkokan (Sumitomo Collection). Courtesy of the Sen'oku Hakkokan, Kyoto.

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{or, in bell No. 2, a small elephant) on the lower right of the bell-face indicate the striking-point of the B-tone. Tone measurement data are available,^^ but when com- pared to other data obtained from contemporary bells, they do not seem to yield a musically meaningful pattern. A possible reason is that the bells may have under- gone repair.^ ^

The identity of the donor of these three bells is disputed. Some authorities have suggested that he was one of the early rulers of Chu documented in Sima Qian's 5] (ca. 145-86 B.C.) Shi ji ^ii,^^ and have for this reason posited a southern con- nection. But while we know nothing about where the Chu Gong Jia[l} yongzhong were originally discovered, all provenanced inscribed Western Zhou bells known, as well as all sets of chime-bells dating to that period (inscribed and uninscribed), have been excavated in the Zhou metropolitan area of Shaanxi. They were most probably made there, perhaps in a royal workshop. Moreover, whether the polity of Chu that is mentioned in Western Zhou inscriptions was at all related to the later Chu state in Hubei is unclear,-^^ and even if it were, it would seem quite possible that Chu was at that time located in the vicinity of the Zhou capital. The high quality of the Chu Gong Jia[l] yongzhong confirms the notion that they are of Zhou metropolitan manufacture. This is also suggested by the fact that they were part of a chime; contemporary yongzhong of southem provenance almost invariably occur as single pieces.

Early Bells from South China

In spite of the uncertainties surrounding the geographical origin of the earliest in- scribed Chu bells, it is certain that bells of the yongzhong type were known during Westem Zhou times in the Chu core area of south-central Hubei and northem Hunan. Along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangzi, beyond the direct political reach of the Shang and Westem Zhou dynasties, vigorous local bronze industries flourished throughout much of the second and first millennia B.C., producing bronzes stylisti- cally and typologically distinct from those made at the metropolitan centers in north China.^"^ In particular, the south was important in the early history of Chinese musical bells. It was here, at a time contemporary to early Westem Zhou, that the yongzhong were invented. The typological ancestors of the yongzhong are the nao which were mounted with their mouths facing upwards (fig. 3). Small nao, first manufactured at the Shang capitals in north China, were probably diffused to south China during the Anyang period (ca. 1300-1050 B.C.). Southem casters enlarged those northem nao, changed their mode of hanging, and proceeded to refine their acoustic properties (fig. 4).^^ In the process, the "standard" bell decoration scheme with its triple symmetrical rows of bosses came into being, and the "two-tone phenomenon" was discovered.

Some yongzhong that may be contemporary with Westem Zhou have been found

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Chu Ritual Music

Fig. 3. Nao from Nihequ, Lujiang, Anhui. Fig. 4. Yongzhong from Malong, Height 49.5 cm. Mttr Anhui 1987, no. 10. Xiangxiang, Hunan. Height 46.3 cm.

After Gao Zhixi 1984a, pi. 7.4.

in the area of the later Chu state north of the Yangzi: the seven pieces from Leijiashan "Ir^ J-i, Dawu ;^'[#, northeastern Hubei (fig. 5),^'^and the five pieces from Huashan ^tdA, Zhongxiang central Hubei;^^ both these finds, however, are inadequately

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published, and we know too little about their stylistic and acoustic attributes to place them with any certainty. The Leijiashan pieces, at least, are clearly not of metropolitan Zhou manufacture. On these bells the zhuan are demarcated by mini- ature studs (a characteristic of some of the earliest yongzhong], and the decoration is executed in bands defined by raised lines. The omament extends into the central zheng ii. panel — generally a provincial feature in early yongzhong. The gu omament consists of three groups of spirals, different from the more usual two symmetrically- aligned groups of spirals. The report dates the Leijiashan bells to the tum of the Spring and Autumn period. Other items from the same context seem to be of earlier date, however. Given their primitive features, the bells may well date to a time contemporary with Westem Zhou. Highly abstracted bird-shaped B-tone markers indicate that they are two- tone bells. Whether the report is right in claiming that five of these bells belonged to a chimed set seems quite doubtful; if this were true, the Leijiashan yongzhong would be the only early set of two-tone bells of southem provincial manufacture.

The overwhelming majority of southem nao and early yongzhong have been excavated south of the Yangzi in the Xiang >^ river valley of Hunan and further downstream, in Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Fujian provinces.^^ Whether the people who made these bells were in any way ancestral to the Chu of Eastern Zhou cannot at present be averred; I would be very skeptical about taking such bell types as indicators of a hypothetical ''proto-Chu culture," not to mention as evidence for early forms of ''Chu" music.

Metropolitan Zhou Innovations

In north China, particularly in the metropolitan area of Westem Zhou, small nao of the type used at Anyang continued to be used during the early part of the period.^^ Here yongzhong suddenly show up in the archaeological record around the middle of Westem Zhou, apparently part and parcel of a thoroughgoing restructuring of the entire Zhou ritual-political complex.'^° These bells had undoubtedly been diffused from the south. Almost as soon as they had become known in Shaanxi, yongzhong were manufactured locally. In a sharp break with the usages of southern casters, the metropolitan Zhou bronzesmiths made chimed sets of such bells (fig. 6), doubtless in analogy with the previously existing sets of nao. By the end of Westem Zhou, such sets, which were restricted to high-ranking notables in the entourage of the Zhou kings, usually seem to have comprised eight pieces. They were commonly ornamented with dragon motifs reflecting the iconography commonly seen on contemporary metropolitan bronzes (fig. 7).

In late Westem Zhou, sets of yongzhong began to be used in conjunction with other types of chime-bells, one of which was, like the yongzhong, of southem origin: the bo it (fig. S].'^^ Niuzhong iiit (fig. 9) came into being at the very end of Westem

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Chu Ritual Music

Fig. 6. Set of three yongzhong from Puducun, Chang'an, Shaanxi. Heights 38 cm, 44 cm, and 48.5 cm. After Beijing 1962, pi. 38:2.

Fig. 8. Bo. Height 41.9 cm. Arthur M. Sackler Fig. 7. One of the Guo Shu Lii yongzhong, now Gallery, Si 98 7.36. Courtesy of the Arthur M. in the Shanghai Museum. After Rong Geng Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.

1941, vol. 2, fig. 947. Washington, D.C.

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Zhou, apparently in north China.'^^ All three kinds of bells were manufactured as chimed sets by the end of Westem Zhou; they are ancestral to the chime- bell types current in Eastem Zhou times, when it became usual to assemble chimes of bells of different types into veritable choirs of bells. ^

Fig. 9. Niuzhong. Height 21.2 cm. National Palace Museum, Taibei. After Taibei 1958, vol. 2 xia, p. 431, pi. 479.

Spring and Autumn Period Bells The Earliest Chime-bells in Chu

It is only in the mid- to late Spring and Autumn period that we find, for the first time, chime-bells unquestionably pertaining to the state of Chu that is known from the historical records. Most presently known Chu chime-bells date to the sixth to fifth centuries B.C., a time when bronze manufacture greatly flourished throughout the Zhou cultural sphere. Probably the earliest specimen known so far is the Chu Wang Gan niuzhong ^J.'ifiistii , now in a Japanese private collection (fig. 10).'^'^ Its deco- ration may be termed conservative for preserving the motif of two addorsed dragons seen in the gu portions of many late Westem Zhou yongzhong (fig. 7|; but the ex- ecution of that motif, as well as the paired triangular dragon configurations in the zhuanjian registers, speak for a date in the mid-Spring and Autumn period. Specifi- cally southem stylistic attributes cannot, however, be discemed. The donor men- tioned in the bell's inscription is a king of Chu of somewhat uncertain identity; in view of the stylistic attributes. Gong Wang (reigned 590-560 B.C.] appears the most likely candidate."^^

One of the most important Chu-related finds from the mid-sixth century excavated to date are those from the cemetery of a local aristocratic lineage at Xiasi T^r, Xichuan W^}^, Henan. Stylistically, the nine niuzhong from Tomb No. 1 (fig. 11) are the earliest among several sets of bells found at that site. As the name of their donor has been deliberately effaced from the inscription, it may be concluded that these bells were acquired as war booty,- the text of the inscription makes it

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Chu Ritual Music

appear likely that the original donor was a faithful subject of the Zhou king."^^' Tone measurements have been reported/^ Al- though those data are only approximate, they show that the distribution of tones in this chime is essentially similar to, though somewhat more elaborate than, that of Westem Zhou yongzhong chimes. Even more interestingly, this tone distri- bution pattern corresponds to that on a roughly contemporary set of niuzhong excavated close to the capital of the important northem state of Jin."^^ This interesting homology may point to northern influences on bell music, and, perhaps, on bell manufacture in mid- sixth century Chu.

The decorative style of the nine niuzhong from Tomb No. 1 at Xiasi resembles that of the Chu Gong Gan niuzhong, especially in the upper portion of the bell-face. The addorsed dragons in the gu portion have multiplied: there are now four dragons facing each other in two tiers. This motif persists in the gu portions of all later Chu bells, though the manner in

Fig. 10. Chu Wang Gan niuzhong. Height 17.2 cm. Private collection, Japan. After Rong Geng 1941, vol. 2, p. 964.

Fig. 11. One of a set of nine niuzhong from Tomb No. 1 at Xiasi, Xichuan, Henan. Heights 21.1-11.5 cm. T^fter KG 1981.2, pi. 6.2; rubbing: p. 123, fig. 5.

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which it is executed varies. With the dragon bodies marked by sunken contour hnes and surrounded by the undecorated bell surface, the decoration on the niuzhong from Tomb No. 1 at Xiasi represents what I call the ''flat variant" of the bronze orna- mentation style of their time."^^ Again, the dragon motif on these bells is not yet distinctly Chu in style, and the bells are perhaps not of Chu manufacture. Nevertheless, this set of niuzhong is significant in its Chu-related context as an indicator of possible northem connections near the beginnings of Chu's own tradition of bell manufacture.^^

The Wangsim Gao yongzhong and the Wangsun Yizhe yongzhong

The twenty-six Wangsun Gao yongzhong i:J$:^(= i^) ^ If from Tomb No. 2 at Xiasi (fig. 12) constitute the largest single chime of bells in the Chinese archaeological

Fig. 12. Set of twenty-six Wangsun Gao yongzhong from Tomb No. 2 at Xiasi, Xichuan, Henan. Heights 122-24.9 cm. After Thorp 1988, p. 62, cat. no. 9.

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Chu Ritual Music

Fig. 12a. One of the set of twenty-six Wangsun Gao yongzhong from Tomb No. 2 at Xiasi, Xichuan, Henan. After Thorp 1988, p. 61, cat. no. 9; rubbing of inscription after Thorp 1988, p. 60, fig 7.

record, and they are undoubtedly the most splendid Chu bell-chime preserved to- day.''^ They were made for a member of the Chu royal lineage, and should date to the third quarter of the sixth century.^^ Eight bells were suspended from the lower tier, eighteen from the upper tier of a bell-rack, as reconstructed from their positions in situ. The bells display an excellent quality of workmanship and are, for the most part, preserved in near-mint condition! fig. 12a). Tone measurements have shown, how- ever, that their acoustic quality is by no means on the same level as their visual appearance: the tones on the eight bells on the lower tier do not seem to be tuned to the same pitch as those on the upper tier, and within both groups, there is no apparent pattem of tone distribution repeating through several octaves. This is quite unlike what may be observed on Westem Zhou yongzhong chimes, or on the niuzhong from Tomb No. 1 at Xiasi. One is tempted to conclude that, while by the mid-sixth century Chu bell-casters were adept at casting bronze vessels and bells that looked just like those of their northem neighbors, they had not yet completely figured out how to master the acoustics of graduated chimes of bells. Perhaps, at the time, visual appearance was regarded as more important than accuracy in tuning.

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Fig. 13. Wangsun Yizhe yongzhong. Height 57.2 cm. Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, The Avery Brundage Collection, 60 S552. Courtesy of Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.

The Asian Art Museum in San Francisco possesses a single unprovenanced yongzhong that is closely related to the Wangsun Gao yongzhong: the Wangsun Yizhe yongzhong St (fig. 13). This is almost certainly also a Chu bell, its donor

being a member of Chu royal line similar in status to the donor of the Wangsun Gao yongzhong.^^ The inscribed texts on the two chimes coincide to over 65 percent; they are written in exactly the same style. Moreover, the ornamentation of the bells is identical; it is characterized by a pattern of relief hooks, formerly known in the West as "Huai 'j% style." Such relief hooks were employed to accentuate the joints and the extreme points of the bodies of animal motifs, mostly of dragons. They enhance

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Fig. 14. Ling bo. Height 67 cm. Museum of Chinese History, Beijing (on loan from the Shanghai Museum). After Shanghai 1964, vol. 1, p. 85.

these time-honored decoration patterns three-dimensionally without actually depicting animals in molded relief.

This type of ornamentation is by no means unique to bronze-casting technology; nor had it been invented in Chu. Relief hooks are also seen on sixth-century bronzes from elsewhere in China, e.g. from present-day Shandong (fig. 14).^^' Nevertheless, the specific manner in which relief hooks of different sizes are deployed on the Wangsun Gao yongzhong and Wangsun Yizhe yongzhong remained unmistakably character- istic of Chu bronze bells of the Spring and Autumn period. This Chu style strongly contrasts with that of the sixth- and fifth-century Jin bronze workshops near Houma

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Fig. 15. Bo. Height 41.8 cm. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, S1987.287. Courtesy of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

j^Mj, Shanxi, with their more varied patterns and their banded dragon decoration that sometimes appears to be more "reahstic" than the decoration of southem bronzes from the same period (fig. 15). On the other hand, the technique used for casting bells in both Jin and Chu workshops was virtually the same. In both, the use of relief stamps led towards mass-production of bronzes with identical designs. For instance, repeated impressions obtained from the same pattem-block could be fitted into the molds of several bells in one chime, even though the bell bodies were of different sizes.

All over the Zhou cultural sphere, through the end of the Spring and Autumn period, relief omamentation coexisted with flat renderings of the same motifs, as observed, for example, in the bells from Tomb No. 1 at Xiasi (see fig. 11). Sometimes

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Fig. 16. Two of the Zhejian yongzhong, an unprovenanced chime, now dispersed. Left: recto side of a bell with relief decoration. Height 28.8 cm. Shanghai Museum. After Shanghai 1964, vol. 1, p. 77. Right: verso side of a bell with flat decoration. National Palace Museum, Taibei. After Taibei 1958, vol. 2 shang, p. 240.

both the flat and the rehef variants occur within the same set of bells, for example, in the now-dispersed Zhejian yongzhong from the southeastern coastal state

of Wu(fig. 16).5«

Other Spring and Autumn Period Chu Bells

A number of extant Spring and Autumn period bells from sites located in states neighboring Chu, or linked by inscription with the rulers of such states, are stylis- tically extremely similar to the Wangsun Gao yongzhong and Wangsun Yizhe yongzhong. Moreover, the inscriptions on these bells — even on bells belonging to individuals from different states — exhibit astonishing similarities, sometimes appar- ently being variations on the same model text.^^ Items related to the state of Xu, Chu's northeastem neighbor in the Huai valley, are especially numerous. Specimens include:

( 1 ) the Zi Zhang niuzhong ^^^iiii from Xu {terminus ante quern 512 B.C.) (fig. 1 7), with decoration executed in the "flat variant;

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Fig. 17. One of the set of Zi Zhang niuzhong. Fig. 18. One of the chime of Chou[l]er niuzhong.

Height 21.3 cm. After Shanghai 1964, vol. 1, Height 22.5 cm. Shanghai Museum. After

p. 84. Shanghai 1964, vol. 1, p. 79.

Fig. 19. Rubbing of one of the Shenlm[l] niuzhong from Beishanding, Dantu, Jiangsu. After WW 1989.4, p. 52, fig. 1.

(2) the Xu Wangzi Zhanll ] niuzhong ^^^^ iiii in the Palace Museum, Beijing, from Xu, hkewise with decoration of the "flat variant;

(3) the Chou[^]er niuzhong from Xu, with decoration executed in rehef hooks and featuring an unusually elaborate suspension device (fig. 18);^^

(4) the already mentioned Shenliu[?] bells, from Xu, recently excavated at Beishanding "h^iXiTM, Dantu Jiangsu: five ho and seven niuzhong with matching relief decoration (fig. 19);^^

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Chu Ritual Music

Fig. 20. One of the set of four yongzhong from Jiulidun, Shucheng, Anhui. Greatest height of set 100 cm. After Anhui 1987, no. 55.

(5) the Yun'er bo from Xu, apparently no longer extant, with decoration in the "rehef variant;

(6) four uninscribed yongzhong with decoration of relief hooks from Tomb No. 1 at JiulidunyL:^i|L, Shucheng if^^ , Anhui (fig. 20);^^

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Fig. 22. One of the eight Cai Hou Shen bo from Ximennei, Shou Xian, Anhui. Heights 40.5-28.5 cm. Aher Anhui 1987, no. 78.

Fig. 21. One of the twelve Cai Hou Shen yong- zhong from Ximennei, Shou Xian, Anhui. Heights 79^8 cm. After Tokyo 1973, cat. no. 4.

Fig. 23. One of the nine Cai Hou Shen niuzhong from Ximennei, Shou Xian, Anhui. Heights 28- 16.5 cm. Alter Anhui 1987, no. 77.

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Fig. 24. Yongzhong. Height 54.7 cm. Shanghai Museum. After Hong Kong 1983, no. 47.

(7) the bells of Marquis Shen#{^ ^ of Cai (died 491 B.C.) from his tomb at Ximennei ^Pli^, Shou Xian #11, Anhui(figs. 21-23 1;^^

(8) an unprovenanced yongzhong in the Shanghai Museum (fig. 24), which is unu- sual in that both the outside and the inside are decorated.^^

Over time, the dragon ornaments gradually became unrecognizable under the vibrant pattems of relief hooks characteristic of the southem bronze manufacturing traditions. In the various yongzhong just enumerated (figs. 20, 21, 24), we can observe a gradual lengthening of the shank [yong], whose cross-section changes from round to octagonal. On the whole, however, specifically Chu features are few in number. Spring and Autumn period bells from the area of Chu remained conservative in both form and iconography.

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Warring States Period Bells

Bells from the Zeng Tombs at Leigudun

The bells from the two tombs of rulers of Zeng at Leigudun embody the culmination of the typological developments just traced. The tomb of Marquis Yi (died ca. 433 B.C.) yielded sixty-five bells (fig. 25): forty-five yongzhong, nineteen niuzhong, and one bo, arranged on a three-tiered rack.^^ This is the largest assemblage of bells so far found anywhere in China, and it includes the largest known bells of the Chinese Bronze Age. Their unprecedented music-related inscriptions have opened up a new perspective on the history of ancient Chinese music; as we shall see, they also throw significant light on Chu musical theory.^^ In fact, the single bo on the lower tier was donated to Marquis Yi by King Hui of Chu 4^ i (reigned 488-432 B.C.). It is undoubtedly a Chu product; ^° that may also be true of other components of the assemblage.

One must realize that Marquis Yi's bells do not constitute a single chime, but a composite assemblage in which parts of several heterogeneous chimes, probably made at different times, are jumbled together in an apparently haphazard, yet pur- poseful, way. The inscriptions on the first and third chimes of yongzhong on the middle tier document two different and complementary modes of conceptualizing tones (referred to below as "System A" and ''System B"); each of these two chimes appears originally to have been part of a much more extensive chime-bell assemblage. The lower-tier chime comprises bells from both these assemblages, and, in addition. King Hui's single bo, remnant of yet another assemblage of bells. As to the second yongzhong set on the middle tier, which differs from the other two in its decoration, it can be shown that it was posteriorly manufactured so as to mediate between the two principal yongzhong chimes now suspended from the Zeng rack, and to comple- ment the tone distribution in the assemblage as a whole.

Fig. 25. The Zeng Hou Yi bells from Tomb No. 1 at Leigudun, Suizhou, Hubei: forty-five yongzhong, heights 146.9-37.2 cm.; nineteen niuzhong, heights 39.9-20.2 cm.; one bo, height 92.5 cm. After Hubei Sheng Bowuguan 1989, vol. 2, pi. 27.

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Juxtaposing the tone names in the inscriptions with the tone measurements, it becomes evident that the forty-five yongzhong were tuned with admirable accu- racy/^ This is all the more astonishing when we realize that the bell pitches must have been calculated prior to casting, because the inscriptions were cast at the same time as the bells. While visually the Zeng bells present no significant advance over the Wangsun Gao yongzhong dating to one century earlier, the difference in acous- tical quality is striking. The tone ranges of the various constituent chimes overlap considerably; even so, an impressive variety of tones can be played on the Zeng bell assemblage as a whole. On the yongzhong chimes of the lower and middle tiers, one can produce a continuous chromatic scale over more than two octaves. The regular tone distribution pattem in these chimes repeats through several octaves. Despite its sophistication and richness, this pattem tums out to be, under closer scrutiny, an amplified version of the traditional type of tone distribution first observed in eight- part sets of yongzhong of late Westem Zhou.

An innovative approach to tone distribution in chimes is seen in the niuzhong on the upper tier of Marquis Yi's bell rack, which are separate in origin from the yongzhong and tuned to a different pitch standard. Though now rearranged in three groups, they originally belonged to two kinds of bell-chimes, each designed in such a way that the full range of twelve tones could be accommodated according to a mathematically regular pattern. The larger of the two chimes (groups Nos. 2 and 3) comprises only bells in which the interval between the A- and B-tone is a minor third (thirteen of the original four- teen bells are preserved), whereas in all six bells of the other chime (group No. 1 ), the respective interval is a major third. Perhaps because designing bell-chimes according to such a mathematical princi- ple was a new idea at that time, the inac- curacy in tuning — the deviations of the measured tones from those to be expected according to the inscriptions — is some- what more pronounced than in Marquis Yi's yongzhong.

Tomb No. 2 at Leigudun, which is a generation or so later in date than Mar- quis Yi's tomb, yielded an assemblage of thirty-six yongzhong (fig. 26)J^ They constitute two chimes, which may have

Fig. 26. One of the eight lower-tier yongzhong from Tomb No. 2 at Leigudun, Suizhou, Hubei. After Hong Kong 1984, pi. 67.

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been suspended from a single two-tier track originally. As in the Wangsun Gao yongzhong, there were eight larger bells on the lower tier; the twenty-eight smaller bells on the upper tier in turn may fall into two or more subgroups. Tone-naming inscriptions are lacking. Tone measurements show that this large assemblage of bells was much less expertly designed than the chimes found in Marquis Yi's tomb, no regular pattem being perceptible either among the lower- or among the upper-tier chimes. It has even been conjectured that the bells from Tomb No. 2 may have been made as funerary items {mingqi On the other hand, their omamentation is

quite spectacular, especially the yongzhong on the lower tier, which on the gu portion feature a fierce, demon-like monster (fig. 27)7^ Like the Wangsun Gao yongzhong, the yongzhong from Tomb No. 2 at Leigudun were certainly more than adequate for display purposes.

The shanks of the yongzhong from both tombs at Leigudun are about as long as the bell-bodies (fig. 28), with the effect that, when a bell is suspended, it tilts forward further than earlier yongzhong. This facilitates playing. The omamentation of these bells points into new directions, which stand out especially clearly when one com- pares them with the Wangsun Gao yongzhong (fig. 12). First, in contrast to the presence of fairly extensive unomamented surfaces on the latter, the entire bell surfaces, except for the portions featuring inscribed text, are now covered with relief

assemblage. After Sui Xian 1980, fig. 14.

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Fig. 29. One of the twelve yongzhong from the second set on the middle tier of the Zeng Hou Yi bell assemblage. After Hubei Sheng Bowuguan 1989, vol. 1, p. 98, fig. 49; rubbing: p. 100, fig. 50.

hooks and curls And while on the Wangsun Gao yongzhong the dragon motifs in the center of the lower portion of the bell (gu) are still fairly clearly recognizable as such, this is no longer the case on the Zeng bells. Here it is only the contours of the trapezoidal ornamented portion that still hark back to those of the ''L-shaped dragon''''^ seen in the same place on Westem Zhou bells (fig. 7): the downward-bent lower edges have their origins in its "tails," and laterally protruding portions close to the upper edges correspond to its "trunks." However, the dragon's body parts can no longer be distinguished inside the omamented area, which has become a configura- tion of two symmetrically arranged winding units covered with amorphous decor. In the yongzhong of the second group on the middle tier of Marquis Yi's bell-rack (which, it may be recalled, postdates the other yongzhong of that assemblage), the striking-point of the A- tone is marked in the center by a relief whorl (fig. 29). And in

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Fig. 30. Chu Wang Xiong Zhang bo on the lower tier of the Zeng Hou Yi bell assemblage. After Hong Kong 1984, pi. 1.

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Suizhou, Hubei. After WW 1985.1, pi. 3.1.

the larger bells from Tomb No. 2, the dragons have metamorphosed into volutes surrounding the central demon figure already noted.

We may also note, in various places on the Zeng bells, a tendency to tum away from the time-honored standard bell decoration scheme transmitted from Westem Zhou times. On Marquis Yi's ho (fig. 30| and on the upper-tier yongzhong from Tomb No. 2 (fig. 31), the two symmetrically arranged triple rows of three elongated bosses have been replaced by two symmetrical fields of five flat bosses on an uninterrupted surface covered with a uniform pattem of relief hooks. On the bells of Marquis Yi's second middle-tier chime, no bosses whatsoever appear (fig. 29), though there are still two enclosed surfaces covered with relief hooks. And finally. Marquis Yi's niuzhong (fig. 32) are notable for a complete absence of decor.

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The Jingli niuzhong and Other Warring States Period Chu Bells

If the Zeng bells represent the culmination of the southern bell-making tradition of Eastern Zhou times and embody great progress, especially in the acoustic realm, the abandonment of traditional ornamentation patterns may adumbrate an incipient decline. Bells from the Chu area dating from mid- to late Warring States bear out such a notion. They are virtually restricted to the comparatively tiny niuzhong, while yongzhong and bo seem to have gone out of use.^^ It is true that the numbers of niuzhong per set increased somewhat; yet the mid- to late Warring States niuzhong chimes can in no sense measure up to the much more elaborate assemblages of earlier times. As in the mid- to late Spring and Autumn period. Warring States bells from Chu and adjacent regions constitute a stylistically and typologically cohesive group. The thirteen fingh niuzhong V % [=^^>#] iiiihom Tomb No. 1 at Changtaiguan, Xinyang, Henan (fig. 33), dated to the mid-fourth century B.C., are the best known.^^ Their decoration still follows the standard bell decoration scheme that goes back to the Western Zhou yongzhong. The ornament in the gu portion, however, has become even more abstracted than in the Zeng bells. Any intimations of bodies are gone. Instead, unarticulated sundry pieces of animals densely cover the decorated surface in an agitated, jagged pattern.

Only the first of the fingh niuzhong contains an inscription, which is not a com- plete text and probably continued on other bells of a chime, now lost. Tone measure-

1986, pi. 8.1; rubbing: p. 16, fig. 18.

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Fig. 34. Set of nine niuzhong from Yangmei, Liuyang, Hunan. Heights 22.8-14.8 cm. After WWZLCK 5 (1981), pi. 8.4; rubbing: p. 104, fig. 3.

ments confirm that bell No. 1 does not fit in very well with the others from the same tomb, suggesting that it was prob- ably added to an originally separate set of niuzhong, which in turn appears to be incomplete as presently preserved.^° The tone measurements also show that, while the A-tones yield a regular pattern repeated throughout two octaves, the B-tones make no sense at all. One is led to conclude that in this time, the Chu bell-casters had abandoned the practice of designing chimes of two-tone bells.

Other bells to be mentioned here include:

(1) the set of nine niuzhong from Yangmei , Liuyang 'S] f%, Hunan (fig. 34),^^ which are similar in most respects to the Jingh niuzhong;

(2) the Jing zhong j^ii found at Xinhua iJf^, Zhijiang Hubei, a single, typologically abnormal bell (fig. 35] similar in both decoration and in- scription to the Jingli niuzhongf'^

Fig. 35. Jing zhong (morphologically abnormal bell) from Xinhua, Zhijiang, Hubei. Height 38 cm. After WW 1980.10, pl.3:4.

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Fig. 37. Bell-rack with four niuzhong excavated at Tianxingguan, Jiangling, Hubei. After KGXB 1982.1, pi. 20.1.

(3) the four niuzhong from Tomb No. 1 at Tianxingguan ^^IfiL, Jiangling, Hubei, (dated to ca. 340 B.C.) (fig. 36)/^ which have omamentation only in the lower part of their bell-faces, while the upper part of the bell-faces is blank. These bells differ from one another in virtually all details of their decoration, suggesting that they are not from one set; the oddity of their decoration as well as the way in which they are suspended from much too large a rack (fig. 37) pose a number of presently unsolvable enigmas.

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(4) The fourteen inlaid niuzhong from Tomb No. 1 at Xiaotianxi >]-^'/$r, Fuling }#|^, Sichuan (fig. 38), the tomb of a ruler of a non-Zhou polity in Ba territory. Dating to a time shortly before the conquest of the area by Qin in 316 B.C., these are the most ornate chime-bells so far known. Undoubtedly they were made at one of the Chu workshops, for the layout of the bell-faces and the gu ornament is virtually identical to that of the fingli niuzhong. An asymmetrically stamped pattem in fine relief adorns the entire upper portion of the bell-face. The rest of the bell is wholly covered with an elegant inlaid gold pattem of lines and scrolls, replicating elements of the relief design on a two-dimensional plane. The pleas- ant aesthetic effect of these bells is the result of the opposition of areas of agitated relief decor, now covered with green patina but originally dark and shiny, and flat areas inlaid with golden lines standing out from the dark red polished bronze surface. Inlaid Chu bronzes were welcome import items in the areas further to the south and southwest, which were inhabited by unacculturated non-Zhou populations.

In summary, while considerable care was still being expended on the outside of musical bells in late Eastem Zhou Chu, the tone measurement data from the fingli niuzhong suggest that their acoustic sophistication declined. Similar tenden- cies seem to have prevailed in the north also: here, too, niuzhong were virtually the only kind of chime-bells still made, and even though tone measurements are not available, the rounded profile of late Warring States period specimens made it impos- sible to exploit the ''two-tone phenomenon. "^^ Throughout the Zhou cultural sphere, bell-chimes were, by mid- Warring States times, technologically well past their prime.

Musical Ensembles

So much for the stylistic and typological range of Chu chime-bells. Before proceeding

Fig. 39. Zither {se] from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng. After Hong Kong 1984, pi. 71.

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to draw some conclusions, I shall now briefly digress on other types of musical instruments from southem archaeological contexts, for chime-bells were, of course, only one component of entire ritual orchestras.

Our best evidence for the composition of such orchestras in late Zhou times is the two assemblages of musical instruments from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng.^^ By far the largest number of instruments were found in the central chamber of the tomb. Here, besides the chime-bell assemblage already described, archaeologists found seven large zithers {se (fig. 39), three mouth organs {sheng II) (fig. 40), two sets of panpipes [paixiao ^^^) (fig. 41), two transverse flutes {di ^ or chi M ) (fig. 42), three drums of different types (figs. 43, 44), and a lithophone of thirty-two chimestones {qing #) (fig. 45). These instruments seem to constitute a fairly orthodox Zhou-style ritual orchestra: they encompass the full range of idiophonic, chordophonic, and aerophonic instruments occurring in pre-Qin texts. In particular, we see in Marquis Yi's tomb almost all the musical instruments mentioned in the Shi jing, probably our most authentic and complete textual source on music in the first two-thirds of the

Fig. 40. Mouth organ (sheng) from the tomb of Zeng Hou Yi. After Hong Kong 1984, pi. 75.

iiiiiiiiliiiM^^^

HMlMllllMiiilillAllhii!!!

Fig. 42. Transverse flute from the tomb of Zeng Hou Yi. After Hong Kong 1984, pi. 73.

Fig. 41. Panpipe from the tomb of Zeng Hou Yi. After Sui Xian 1980, fig. 34.

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Chu Ritual Music

Fig. 45. Lithophone of thirty-two chimestones from the tomb of Zeng Hou Yi. After 5i2i Xian 1980, fig. 23.

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Fig. 46. Zither [qin] from the tomb of Zeng Hou Yi. After Hong Kong 1984, pi. 74.

After Beijing 1972, p. 74.

Fig. 47. Hanging-drum from the tomb of Zeng Hou Yi. After Hong Kong 1984, pi. 70.

Zhou dynasty; the only omissions are clay flutes {xun or ), tiger rasps {yu S or 4k], and wooden striking boxes {zhu ^Z].^^

Besides the ritual orchestra in the central chamber (which was a subterranean equivalent of the central temple compound of his palace), the coffin chamber of Marquis Yi's tomb also yielded a smaller and quite different assemblage of musical instruments. Here archaeologists found five large zithers, two small zithers {qin ^) (fig. 46), two mouth organs, and one small, tambourine-like drum (fig. 47). As their location within the tomb corresponds to the ruler's private chambers, these in- struments, unlike those in the central chamber, may have been made for musical entertainment in a more informal setting. In that connection the heavy, prestigious sets of bronze bells and chimestones do not seem to have played a role,- instead, we find melodic instruments of lesser noise-intensity, which may very likely have accompanied human singing.

Most instruments found in other archaeological contexts may be interpreted as remains of musical ensembles of one of the two kinds found in Marquis Yi's tomb.

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Fig. 49. One of thirteen wooden bells from Tomb No. 2 at Changtaiguan, Xinyang, Henan. Heights 23-11 cm. MteiXinyang 1986, pi. 80:3.

When they occur in association with chime-bells and lithophones, the chances are that they were probably part of a ritual orchestra; virtually all constellations of this type predate the mid-War- ring States period. One such example is the large zithers from the fifth-century B.C. tomb of the ruler of a Chu vassal statelet at Hougudui j^-^^^, Gushi Henan, which seem to be the earliest specimens so far found anywhere in China.^^ The earlier Chu Tomb No. 2 at Xiasi is also said to have yielded indirect evidence for the presence of zithers, which had probably existed in China for a long time previously.^^ Another wonder of Chu musical archaeology is the set of twenty-five beautifully painted chimestones from Ji'nancheng fZ^^^, Jiangling >Ji|^, Hubei (fig. 48);9o they probably date to the early to mid- Warring States period and may have been used in ritual perform- ances at the Chu court.

Most assemblages of musical instruments from the fourth century and later, on the other hand, resemble the one from Marquis Yi's coffin cham- ber. Chime-bells are but infrequently encountered in the hundreds of Chu aristo- cratic tombs from the Warring States period that have recently been excavated in the vicinity of Jiangling.^ ^ This does not mean, however, that members of the Chu elite at the time had become indifferent to music. Thanks to the waterlogged soil of central Hubei, zithers, drums, and occasional wind instruments are frequently pre- served in these tombs. How typical such finds are for Chu in particular cannot, however, be determined as comparable archaeological evidence is completely lack- ing in the north, due to different underground preservation conditions. Instrument assemblages similar to those found in Chu aristocratic tombs also prevail in Han dynasty tombs and pictorial records.

Whether or not it was exclusively (or mainly) a Chu phenomenon, the apparent Warring States period shift in the musical instrument repertory embodies the adop- tion, by the elites of the time, of a different kind of music: one that emphasized the entertaining rather than the ritual aspect. All over the Zhou cultural sphere, the traditional Zhou ritual-ceremonial complex was increasingly relegated to the realm of pro-forma representation. In the process, bells and chimestones, as well as ritual vessels, were often replaced by non-functional replicas [mingqi] of reduced size and/ or inferior materials (fig. 49). These developments mark a major break in Chinese musical history.

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Some Comparisons and Conclusions

In attempting a preliminary assessment of the material remains of Chu music, we must now again tum to bells. Except for some items adduced for purposes of com- parison, the Eastem Zhou bells from Chu and neighboring states presented above form a fairly unified group, both stylistically and typologically,- moreover, they fea- ture inscriptions closely related in structure and content and written in a uniform style. I should be inclined to take them all to have been products of the same work- shop tradition, quite possibly even of a single workshop located at the Chu capital of Ying (Ji'nancheng), in present-day Jiangling, Hubei. That a bronze workshop really existed at that location is strongly indicated by the excavation, at Ji'nancheng, of some bronze architectural fittings for wooden palace structures, which are omamented with relief hooks executed in the style characteristic of many Chu bronzes (fig. 50);^^ it stands to reason that such objects, which were bulky and used in large numbers, would not likely have been imported from far away. The Chu bronze foundry sites remain to be located. One may speculate that the demise of these workshops in the Warring States period was connected to the hasty removal of the Chu capital after the conquest of central Hubei by Qin in 278 B.C.

I hesitate to extend my hypothesis of a uniform metropolitan workshop tradi- tion to the entirety of Eastem Zhou period southem bronzes,- but with respect to bells it seems to have some plausibility, especially when one considers that design- ing and casting harmonically- tuned chimes of them required highly specialized skills over and beyond the mastery of ordinary foundry techniques. A centralized bell- manufacturing industry may have resulted in some form of quality control. Techno- logical improvement occurred, especially in the acoustic realm. This is particularly evident when comparing the mid-sixth century Wangsun Gao yongzhong (which is undoubtedly of Chu manufacture) with the mid-fifth century bells from Marquis Yi's tomb. Indeed, Marquis Yi's bells, unrivalled in their splendor, seem to represent the best the Chu bell manufacturers could do.^^

Archaeological finds and inscriptions document a fairly wide geographical distri- bution of these Chu bells, both in the late Spring and Autumn and in the Warring States periods. Beyond the area of Chu itself, its chime-bells are also encountered in connection with allied or subject states of Chu all over southem China. Although one might speculate on possible commercial implications of such a distribution (especially in the later part of the Eastem Zhou period), it seems more likely that in most cases bells were gifts bestowed by Chu rulers on neighboring potentates. In some cases, as in that of Cai the political context is fairly well known from the historical records.^^ One implication of my hypothesis of a unitary bell-manufactur- ing tradition is that the pervasive textual as well as calligraphic similarities among inscriptions on Eastem Zhou bells from different southem states can be explained as resulting from the use of model texts generated at the Chu capital.

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Chu Ritual Music

Fig. 50. Rubbing of bronze architectural fitting from the south- eastern section of Ji'nancheng, Jiangling, Hubei. Height 10.5 cm. After Ji'nancheng 1980, p. 123, pi. 15.4.

The Chu monopoly on these ritual items was part and parcel of Chu political dominance over the south. In presenting ritual paraphemalia to subordinate rulers, the Chu kings may have consciously imitated models of political interaction first established by the Zhou kings during the Western Zhou. The accounts of Chu his- tory in Zuo zhuan and Guo yu^i§ suggest that the Chu kings were intent on setting up their own federation of states conceived as, in many ways, analogous to the Zhou tianxia (All under Heaven) in the north. By way of presents of bells from the Chu workshops, subordinate rulers were invested as vassals {zhuhou Iki^] under Chu suzerainty. Other kinds of ritual musical instruments, their players, and indeed the entire system of ritual music, including musical theory, may all have been manipu- lated as well in the course of these politically-charged exchanges.

On the other hand, we must not lose sight of the fact that the musical apparatus thus diffused from Chu was essentially Zhou in nature. The virtual identity of ritual orchestras in both areas has already been pointed out. Again, bell typology provides a particularly useful perspective in assessing how close Chu ritual music is to that of

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the northern states. It turns out that the typological features of southern bells dating to Eastern Zhou times, as well as the iconography of their decoration (which consists almost exclusively of dragon motifs), are virtually contiguous with late Westem Zhou metropolitan models from north China; these are also ancestral to Eastem Zhou bells manufactured in the northem states of the Zhou cultural sphere. Differ- ences are essentially on the order of decoration style. Tone measurements on southem bells tend to confirm the impression of overall adherence to a northem, royal Zhou model. It is true that available tone measurement data on Eastem Zhou bell-chimes from outside the Chu sphere are hardly sufficient at present to allow sustained comparison or generalization,^^ yet the tone distributions in the most ex- cellent southem chimes — the yongzhong from Marquis Yi's tomb — clearly reflect the enduring tradition of models established in late Westem Zhou bell-manufacture in Shaanxi. New departures, as perceptible on the niuzhong from the same tomb, may not be specifically Chu; perhaps they should be seen, rather, in the context of intel- lectual developments spanning the entire Zhou cultural sphere.

Chu's use of Zhou ritual music was part of its desire to be on the same footing as the Zhou royal house. By and large, the adaptation of Zhou musical blueprints in Chu and areas under its influence seems to have been fairly thorough, and we may reasonably hypothesize that, at least by the mid-fifth century, the audible results clearly approximated ''mainstream" Zhou ritual music. The apparent decline of Chu bell manufacture after mid- Warring States times probably reflects the diminishing relevance of the royal Zhou model, resulting in a thorough reorientation of music and ritual. However, there are indications to the effect that Zhou musical patterns may not have been consistently pursued even in earlier times. The bells from Tomb No. 2 at Leigudun provide a sobering example of bells of much less excellent musical quality existing simultaneously with those from Marquis Yi's tomb; they are stylis- tically similar enough to have been made at the same workshop as Marquis Yi's bells, but evidently with different objectives in mind. If there is some cultural signifi- cance to their divergence from established models, it would seem to point to a preponderance of the display aspect of bells over the musical one. In other words, sometimes the prime objective of Chu potentates and their vassals may have been to possess the visual trappings of Zhou court ritual music, while acoustical or more narrowly musical considerations may have been secondary.

Even so, one will appreciate the similarity between Chu and the north when contrasting Chu musical bells to contemporary specimens from the southeastern and far southem areas of the Zhou cultural sphere, which, throughout most of the dynasty, remained but incompletely affected by Zhou political and cultural he- gemony.^^ The indigenous non-Zhou populations had, as mentioned, developed a highly distinctive bronze manufacturing industry over many centuries. In the time contemporary to the Spring and Autumn period, we find, in the lower Yangzi region and further south, a peculiar type of yongzhong (fig. 5 1 ) which differs in the following

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Chu Ritual Music

Fig. 51. Recto and verso faces of one of a set of five yongzhong from Tomb No. 1 at Matougang, Qingyuan, Guangdong. Heights 38.5, 28.8 (fragment), 33.6, 29.1, 26.3 (fragment) cm. After KG 1963.2, pi. 1:4, 7.

ways from contemporary chime-bells from both north Chinese states and Chu:

( 1 ) their decoration usually covers only the recto face;

(2) they are never inscribed;

(3) while they sometimes feature dragon decoration, it most frequently consists of geometric scroll omament, similar to that of much earlier types of bells from the south;

(4) the decoration on members of what seem to be graduated sets of such bells is frequently not entirely uniform;

(5) some specimens have thick flanges running on their shoulders;

(6) these bells are usually less well made than comparable specimens from further to the north or up the Yangzi.^*^

Even though no actual tone measurements on bells of this type are available at present, it is fairly safe to assume that they were acoustically vastly inferior to Zhou and Chu pieces from further north. The objective in making them could have been nothing but display. Such local-style yongzhong are not, incidentally, the only type of apparently deviant chime-bells manufactured in the southeastem area. There were also goudiao ^Jf and chimed chunyu #-f", both of which had grown out of

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Fig. 52. One of the set of five bo excavated from Tomb No. 2 at Chengqiao, Liuhe, Jiangsu. Heights 21.5-19 cm. After KG 1974.2, pi. 4:3.

signal-giving bells used in warfare, which were locally transformed into Zhou-style chimes.

We need not now decide whether to interpret these bells as primarily indicating distinct local forms of music or as constituting yet another attempt, less successful than that of the Chu bell-casters, at imitating merely the visual trappings of Zhou ritual music. Undeniably, much of what we see in the lower Yangzi and further south arose as a creative response to Zhou stimuli from the north. Nevertheless, the local bell types do represent a fairly idiosyncratic non-Zhou bell-manufacturing tra- dition that can be archaeologically defined. Chu of the Eastem Zhou period does not, by contrast, seem to have possessed a similarly distinctive tradition,- its bell-casters hardly deviated from the Zhou mainstream.

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Fig. 53. One of the set of nine Gongsun Zang niuzhong from Tomb No. 1 at Chengqiao, Liuhe, Jiangsu. Heights 22.5-14.5 cm. After KG 1965.3, pl.1.11; rubbing: p. 109, fig. 8.

Indeed, from about the beginning of the fifth century onward, Chu seems to have acted as a conduit for "orthodox" Zhou musical instrument types into the southeast- em area. Chu-style bells came to replace the local bell types in the lower Yangzi area. In the fifth-century tombs at Chengqiao ^1^, Liuhe Jiangsu, for instance, we see inscribed bells very much resembling those from the tomb of the Marquis of Cai (fig. 52),^°^ and others representing the "flat variant" of Chu-style bell omamentation (fig. 53).^°^ Specimens of the aforementioned southeastem yongzhong type as well as chimed sets of goudiao did, however, continue to be made in areas further south until the Han dynasty. ^^"^

Chu Musical Theory in the Zeng Inscriptions

Recent discoveries of epigraphic materials have for the first time provided insight into the theoretical conceptions underlying music in China before it became suffused with correlative cosmology in the fourth and third centuries B.C. The

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Fig. 54. Inscriptions on one of the ten yongzhong of the third set from the second tier of the Zeng Hou Yi bell assemblage. After Sui Xian 1980, figs. 15 (A-tone) and 17 (B-tone).

Fig. 55. Inscribed bamboo tubes

(fragmentary) from Tomb No. 21 at Yutaishan, Jiangling, Hubei. After WW 1988.5, pi. 5:2.

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Chu Ritual Music

inscriptions on the bells and chimestones from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng (fig. 54) systematically record the names of the tones emitted by these instruments. Inscriptions recording a similar tone nomenclature have since been found on a par- tial set of very fragmentary bamboo tubes in Tomb No. 21 at Yutaishan, Jiangling, Hubei (fig. 55).^°^ Unfortunately, it can no longer be established whether these are pitch-pipes (as claimed in the original report) or the components of a panpipe or mouth-organ — a potentially important distinction. ^^-^

In a not at all self-evident parallel to Westem music, ancient Chinese music distinguishes twelve tones per octave. Music theoreticians of the mid-fifth century were aware of the musical potential of the twelve-tone gamut, and they designed the Zeng idiophonic assemblages with the intention of actualizing some of that poten- tial. The tone nomenclature in the inscriptions allows us to reconstruct a musical system in which tones are defined as movable notes {yin -f-) with respect to fixed pitch standards [lii #),- an approximate Westem analogue is that of do on A, which is equal to re on G, mi on F, and so on, where do, re, mi, etc. more or less correspond to the yin, and A, G, F, etc. to the lii. In this way, each tone can be theoretically expressed as twelve different notes, namely in terms of twelve different pitch standards.

In the two principal yongzhong chimes of the Zeng assemblage, the relationships between standard pitches and notes are conceptualized according to two slightly divergent systems too complicated to explain here.^°^ We should notice, however, that one of the two systems (System A, documented in the inscriptions on all the yongzhong of the first set and on most of those of the second set on the middle tier, on some of the lower-tier yongzhong, as well as the inscriptions on the Zeng chimestones) exclusively utilizes the Chu pitch standard nomenclature shortly to be discussed below; and that it is that system again that seems to be expressed, with minor changes, in the inscriptions on the bamboo tube fragments from Yutaishan.

While the names of the notes seem to have been the same everywhere, those of the pitch standards varied from one Eastem Zhou state to the next. A small number from among the Zeng inscriptions (System B, found only on yongzhong of the third middle-tier set, on a single member of the second middle-tier set, and on the majority of the lower- tier yongzhong) correlate and reconcile these different systems of stand- ard pitch nomenclature that were current in mid-Eastem Zhou China. The standard of reference is the tone nomenclature of an unnamed country, presumably Zeng. Most names of pitch standards in this so-called Zeng pitch standard nomenclature are identical to pitch standard names known from such late pre-imperial texts as Guo yu, Zhou h and Liishi Chunqiu. Very probably, these "transmitted" pitch standards have some connection with the musical tradition of the Zhou court; the occurrence of a similar nomenclature in Zeng may be a reflection of the fact that the marquises of Zeng were members of a minor lineage of the Zhou royal house.

The lii names of Chu, on the other hand, consistently differ from those of Zeng, with one possible exception. From the System B inscriptions, we may hope to glean

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Position of do in the octave	The six lii	The six "muddy" lii
12-6		zhuO-GUXIAN
11~A#	MUZHONGif^
10- A		zhuO-MUZHONG
9~G#	SHOUZHONG '4Kit
8~G		zhuO-SHOUZHONG M°4)L$i
7~F#	XINZHONG l/r^
6~F		Zhuo-XINZHONG /'^l^tli
5~E	WENWANG
4~D#		Zhuo -WENWANG y'^5Ci
3~D	PINGHUANG ^M.
2~G#		zhuO-PINGHUANG '^^M.
1~C	GUXIAN i^yt LUZHONG ^it

Fig. 56. The pitch standards of Chu.

some insight into the specifics of the musical theory of Chu. The inscription on yongzhong No. 2 in the third set on the middle tier of the Zeng bell assemblage reads, for example:

A-tone: gong t [= do] on YINGZI 4 9 , which is called XINZHONG l^r^ in Chu, LUYIN S-f-in Qi.

B-tone: gong on MUYIN^%^ , which is called MUZHONG #11: in Chu.^°^

YiNGZI and MUYIN axe standard pitches of the Zeng system, which are correlated with those of Chu and, in the case of YINGZI, of Qi. Collating the information from all inscriptions, we find that Chu musicians distinguished six principal pitch stand- ards, which, when arranged according to the pitch of their respective do, form a whole- tone set within one octave (fig. 56). The names of all six are documented in the inscriptions, a fact that probably reflects the importance of Chu musical theory in Zeng; for otherwise the inscriptions indicate the names of only one or two pitch standards per state. The only exception is the presumed Zeng nomenclature, which

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Chu Ritual Music

is used as the basis of reference in the System B inscriptions, and for which, hkewise, six positions per octave are documented. Basic sets of six pitch standards appear to have existed as well in those other states mentioned in the Zeng inscriptions.

As long as we consider only the System B inscriptions, the Chu set of six pitch standards seems to differ mainly in name from those of Zeng and the other states of the Zhou cultural sphere. However, when we look at the yongzhong inscriptions of the aforementioned System A, we find one feature that, in the Zeng inscriptions, is limited to the system of standard pitches that we know from the System B inscrip- tions to have been those of Chu. The System B inscriptions indicate, for each of the Chu pitch standards, a "muddy" altemate whose do was positioned a semitone below the pitch standard proper,- for instance, those of XINZHONG and MUZHONG, the two Chu pitch standards mentioned in the above example, are called zhuo- XINZHONG and zhuo-MUZHONG respectively {zhuo meaning "muddy," or, in a mu- sical sense, "flat"). These "muddy" pitch standards intervene between the six prin- cipal pitch standards, expanding the whole-tone gamut into a fully chromatic one. This sort of system appears to have been a novelty at the time of the Zeng bells, and it is possible that it was first devised in Chu. With its twelve rather than six pitch standards, the Chu tone definition system may have been somewhat more advanced than those used in the other countries documented. But this is not certain, for "muddy" pitch standards occur only in System A inscriptions, which to begin with make no reference to the nomenclatures of other states besides Chu. We cannot exclude the possibility that the concept of "muddy" pitch standards was also known in the north.

Moreover, even if Chu pitch standards were really more sophisticated than those of the other states, this may not have had much impact on the musical complexity of the pieces performed. Melodies were primarily conceived in terms of notes,- and a twelve-part gamut of notes was apparently available to all the various systems of tone nomenclature documented in the Zeng inscriptions, being in no way restricted to Chu. With twelve notes [yin], twelve-tone music could have been played with only six pitch standards available (in fact, one pitch standard would, theoretically, suffice); the presence of twelve pitch standards merely extended the scope of possible combinations. The importance of the expanded Chu set of pitch standards would have been mainly theoretical and conceptual in nature.

The development from six-part to twelve-part sets of pitch standards, finally, was not restricted to Chu. Not too long after the casting of the Zeng bells, the set of six pitch standards per octave that is used as the basis of reference in the System B inscriptions was transformed into a twelve-part set, which does not use the prefix zhuo, but instead features separated binomial names for all twelve positions. This is the twelve-part set of pitch standards documented in the late pre-imperial texts.

All things considered, then, the difference between the Chu system of musical nomenclature and the others documented in the Zeng inscriptions was not all that

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great. They each used the same gamut of notes; the general conception of tones was identical throughout, as was the overall musical system. However diverse the tone- naming vocabulary, the various Eastem Zhou musical systems appear to have been eminently compatible with one another,- converting musical data from one system to another appears to have been a simple matter. Indeed, the sundry locally-used tone nomenclatures were probably mere variations on one single system, which may have been historically ancestral to them all.

One is tempted to argue that regionally different systems in Eastem Zhou, including that of Chu, may have been devised to highlight the political differences between the states of the Zhou cultural sphere. It is telling in this connection that musical melodies were probably quite unaffected by the imposition of such systems,- differences were, instead, restricted to pitch standards, which were conceived as measuring devices for acoustical phenomena. Sets of pitch standards were similar to length, weight, and volumetric measurements, or to calendrical systems, which are also known, for similar reasons, to have differed from state to state. In all those cases one may perceive an underlying ritual unity going back to common historical roots. This is particularly true in the case of the pitch standards documented in the Zeng inscriptions,- there are reasons to believe that a uniform musical theory constituting the basis for their later diversity had first developed at the royal Zhou court during the mid-Westem Zhou period.

We have already noticed that, although Zeng may have possessed its own Zhou- derived musical system, it is the Chu standard pitch nomenclature that appears with by far the greatest frequency in the inscriptions. As the basis of reference in tuning the Zeng bell assemblage, moreover, Zeng had adopted the Chu principal pitch stand- ard: GUXIAN (also known in Chu as LUZHONG, which probably means "principal pitch standard") [do = C), a third above HUANGZHONG ^it (do = G#), usually considered to have been the principal Zhou pitch standard. Thus even the yongzhong chimes on whose inscriptions Zeng's own Zhou-derived pitch standard nomenclature was used, are keyed to that of Chu, once again manifesting the subservience of Zeng under the Chu hegemony. This bespeaks the deliberate, contrived nature of the differences between regional musical systems, which were skillfully manipulated for political purposes. The Chu system was set up to be equivalent to that of the Zhou in all respects, but to depart from it in certain telling points. It was imposed on Chu client states in the course of their investiture with Chu's Zhou-derived ritual and musical apparatus.

Conclusion

We have reached no final verdict on the originality of Chu culture per se, but it seems clear that some of the parameters that might be adduced to test it fail to prove it. The ritual court orchestras used in states under Chu suzerainty were essentially the same

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Chu Ritual Music

as those of the north Chinese states. Chu types of chime-bells, though recognizable as such by virtue of certain local stylistic features, closely adhered to northern proto- types; and the Chu musical system was a variant of that of the Zhou, from which it differed mainly in some extemals of nomenclature. From this we must conclude that the ritual music performed at the Chu court throughout most of the Eastem Zhou period had little local flavor,- it probably remained very much in the Zhou mold.

We observe the rise late in Warring States times of a new type of music which is characterized archaeologically by smaller assemblages of musical instruments and the absence of expensive chime-bells. This development is to be seen in conjunction with the thorough transformation of society during those turbulent centuries. There are textual indications that at that time, the ritual music of the old aristocracy became replaced by popular forms of musical entertainment. It is possible that these "new" forms of music, which endured into the Han dynasty, may have emerged from pre-existing local folk musical styles. But there is no archaeological material to document such a derivation. Moreover, it is known from textual records that teams of performers were exchanged between rulers of states; this makes it impossible to determine to what extent, for instance, archaeological evidence for the "bedchamber music" at the court of Zeng embodied indigenous Zeng musical traditions. From the Chu ci, it seems likely that members of the elite enjoyed performance programs comprising a variety of musical styles of different local origins, much as we may hear Bach's Italian Concerto performed in the same recital as polonaises and mazurkas by Chopin.

In conclusion, the distinctiveness of Chu music remains elusive, if not illusory. The court culture and ritual music of Chu appear to be essentially Zhou-derived. Perhaps an investigation of the lower social ranks would tell us an entirely different story; but none of the evidence so far available pertains in any sense to Chu folk customs. As long as archaeological work in China continues to concentrate exclu- sively on the remains of the elite, we shall know little about whatever it is that was special about Chu. If we are to leam more, research orientations will have to change.

Notes

1. Shi jing, p. 50, Ode 208, stanza 4. Translation after Karlgren 1950, pp. 159-61.

2. See the "Daxu ^Jf" (Great Preface) to "Guan ju W[^," Ode 1 of Shi jing (Shisan jing, vol. 2, p. 273.]

3. Hawkes, for instance, believes on the basis of some geographical names in these poems that the "Zhounan" and ''Shaonan" odes were from areas "south of Zhou" and "south of Shao," respectively; in his words, "they evidently emanate from an area that was subsequently part of the Southem kingdom of Chu" (Hawkes 1985, p. 24). 1 have not seen this explanation of Zhounan and Shaonan in any of the traditional sources.

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4. Arguing from this phonetic evidence, Professor Wilham G. Boltz suggests the possibil- ity of an etymological connection between nan (*n9m), which may have had a labial initial (*bn3m), and feng (*piw9m) (personal communication 1990). Phonetic recon- structions after Keiya 1978.

5. Namely by Zhu Xi ^.^ (1 130-1200) in his Shi jizhuann^i^.

6. Shisan jing, vol. 1, p. 467.

7. E.g. in the commentary to Li ji Aa.it , "Wen Wang Shizi ^i-fr^" [Shisan jing, vol. 2, p. 1405|. Identically in Hon Han Shu (see note 8). In the "Liyue #l^"section of Bai hu tong ^Jtik [juan 1, p. 9b), on the other hand, the name of the music of

the southern "barbarians" is specified as dou ^.

8. In Hou Han shu (p. 1685), the poem "Gu zhong" is quoted with a variant last line (perhaps from the Qi # or Lu * text of the Shi), in which "They wield their flutes without error" is replaced with an enumeration of the other three "Barbarian" musics besides nan. This is probably posterior in date to the extant Mao ^ text of the poem, quoted above. The earliest reference to the "Four Barbarian Musics" occurs in Zhou h J^^i: "Chunguan : Diloushi ^i^^", (Zhou h zhengyi, juan 47, p.la); see also "Meishi tl-^ ,"(ibid. 14b- 15a); full enumerations, however, are given only in the commentaries appended to that locus, as well as those quoted in the previous note.

9. Hou Han shu, "Li Chen Pang Chen Qiao liezhuan ^f^^kft^HW ," p. 1686.

10. WW 1989.4, pp. 51-56; Cao Jinyan 1989; see below, fig. 19. The inscription is trans- lated in full in note 63.

11. See Liishi Chunqiu, "ZhongxiajiftSl^i," juan 11, p. 7a; Li ji, "Zhong Ni Yanju #/?.,#,>|-" (Shisan jing, vol. 2, p. 1614); Huainan Zi, "Qisuxun ^i^M", juan 5, p. 10a.

12. Zuo zhuan, Xiang 29 (p. 327); Gongyang zhuan -f # Zhao 25 (p. 416); Zhou h, "Chun- guan: Dasiyue" (Zhou h zhengyi, juan 42, p. 8a); Li ji, "Mingtangwei ^H'^i^" (Shisan jing vol. 2, p. 1489); Bai hu tong, "Liyue," juan 2, p. 8a.

13. Zuo zhuan, Cheng 9, pp. 228-29.

14. Han Shu, "Liyuezhi #4^.^-," p. 1043. To my knowledge, the term chu sheng does not appear in the pre-Qin or Western Han literature at all.

15. I suspect that nanyin is actually the name of a pitch standard, possibly indicating that Zhong Zi Qi played music tuned to the principal pitch standard [LU ZHONG S ^i) of Chu (see below). But this is mere speculation. Incidentally, one of the transmitted twelve pitch standards [shi'erlii -h-^#) is called NANLU ^ S ("southem principal standard"); whether it bears any relation to "southem" musics remains unexplored.

16. E.g. Yang Yinliu 1980, vol. 1, pp. 52-74; Wu Zhao & Liu Dongsheng 1983, pp. 18-21.

17. P^7ce Picken 1977.

18. Cf. Hawkes 1985, pp. 25-26.

19. Chu ci, "Zhao bun" ( juan 9, pp. 10b-12a); translation: Hawkes 1985, pp. 228-29.

20. See Hawkes 1985, pp. 42-51.

21. Liishi Chunqiu, "Chiyue," juan 5, pp. 5a-6b. Gao You's commentary has it (ibid.) that mi (shaman) stands for "women," the implication being that Chu music — and thus, Chu politics — had suffered the proverbially perilous influence of women. Again, I would venture to speculate that wuyin may possibly have been the designation of a Chu pitch standard.

22. Cf. Chang 1983. For a textual reference to lewd "Shamanic airs" [wufeng iB-M.) in a text of north Chinese provenance, see Mo Zi "Feiyue ^Y^," p. 56. Another reference of somewhat doubtful authenticity occurs in the Old Text "Yichuan ^^'1" chapter of Shang shu '^-^ (p. 6j.

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Chu Ritual Music

23. Much of the material treated in this essay has been discussed at some length in my dissertation (Falkenhausen 1988|. The core arguments of that work have since been restated in a more concise form (Falkenhausen forthcoming). This essay takes up part of the evidence again under another angle, focusing on regional developments in Chu. An effort has been made to keep up with new finds, to update bibliographical refer- ences, and to provide translations of inscriptions for which renderings are not so far available. These translations are given without further commentary,- the philological underpinnings are, however, provided in Falkenhausen 1988 (chapter 3 with its attached tables, and the section on the Wangsun Gao yongzhong in chapter 5).

24. For a concise description of these events that takes into account archaeological materials, see Li Xueqin 1985a, pp. 170-88.

25. Umehara 1971, vol. 1, pp. 109-10, photo of No. 3 in vol. 2, pi. 67; Sen'oku Hakkokan 1982, cat. nos. 10-12 (photos of all three pieces]; cf. also Rong Ceng 1941, vol. 2, pis. 945^6. Further photos in Mase 1986, p. 88. The short inscription reads, on bells Nos. 1 and 3: "I, Jia[?], the ruler of Chu, on my own behalf made these precious great harmonically-tuned bells; may grandsons and sons forever treasure them," and on bell No. 2: "I, Jia[?], the ruler on my own behalf cast these harmonically-tuned bells; may grandsons and sons forever treasure them. " The genuineness of these bells or their inscriptions has been variously called into question, but Mase's (1986) careful analysis of the ornamentation leaves little doubt that the objects are genuine (they are accepted as such by Hayashi 1984, vol. 2, p. 384, sho 44, 45). Kane's impression

of "alarming crudeness" and "ineptness" of the calligraphy strikes one as highly subjective (Kane 1974, pp. 99-100); the anomalies she points to do not seem to be very pronounced, especially when considering that early bell inscriptions in general, possibly for as yet ill-understood technical reasons, tend to be somewhat gauche.

26. These scrolls adom (1) the zhuanjian %^fA registers between the rows of bosses, (2) the flat tops (wu #), and (3) the central part of the lower portion of the bell-face [guii.]. While the presence of scrolls usually bespeaks an early date, the fact that here the ridges [zhuan] surrounding the rows of bosses and the inscribed central panel are raised above the bell surface indicates a somewhat advanced stage of typological development. On the other hand, these yongzhong seem stylistically more primitive than most late Western Zhou metropolitan specimens, which typically feature zoomorphic ornament in the gu and zhuanjian portions (cf. fig. 7).

27. On bell No. 2, the scrolls decorating the gu resemble those on the two others, but they are flanked by two flaring lines adomed with hooks and spirals. The zhuanjian are divided diagonally and the two triangular fields filled with triangular dragon-like zoomorphs, executed in bulging raised lines. Although such motifs may be found on metropolitan ritual vessels of the late Western Zhou period, the only other time they occur executed in this manner on a bell is on the Qin Gong yongzhong im of the early seventh century B.C. {WW 1978.1 1, pp. 1-5).

28. Mase 1986.

29. The physical aspects of the "two-tone phenomenon" and the technical problems involved in manufacturing chimes of two-tone bells are addressed in Falkenhausen forthcoming, chapters 2 and 3.

30. Takahashi & Ueda 1986, p. 61; earlier measurements taken by Tanabe Hisao in the 1920s (Hamada 1924) only included the A-tones.

31. On the tone distributions in Western Zhou bell-chimes see Fiuang Xiangpeng 1978- 80, pt. 2; Jiang Dingsui 1984; Falkenhausen forthcoming, chapter 7.

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32. Guo Moruo, following Sun Yirang , identifies the donor of these bells with Xiong Yi l^kik, a.k.a. Ruo'ao ^4i, ruler of Chu from 790 to 764 B.C. (Guo Moruo 1958a, pt. Ill, pp. 164b-165a). Li Ling settles on Xiong Xuan (reigned 757-741) (Li Ling 1986, pp. 356-59). Such datings would put the bells a century or more later than the date that seems warranted on the basis of their stylistic features. It must be admitted that certain textual features of the inscription might also conceivably be taken as an indicator of an Eastern Zhou date: the formulation zizuo ti (made on his own behalf,) the use of the very character zhu ^ (to cast) in the inscription of bell No. 2, and the curious inversion of the usual zi sun (sons and grandsons). But this is quite uncertain. If the Chu Gong fia[}] yongzhong do date to the eighth century, they would almost have to be interpreted as deliberate copies of much earlier pieces. Although I find this hard to believe, it is not entirely unthinkable; the already men- tioned Qin Gong yongzhong (see note 27 above), representing a classical Westem Zhou bell-type even though clearly of early seventh-century B.C. date, constitute one possible parallel for such an archaism. In such a case it would be all the more remark- able that the early Spring and Autumn period Chu rulers chose to imitate the style of royal Zhou bells, rather than that of the local yongzhong types that for a long time had been manufactured in Chu territory.

33. In Westem Zhou bronze inscriptions, Chu sometimes seems to be a personal name (as on the Chu gui inscription, Shaanxi 1980-84, vol. 4, pp. 120-23), other times a place name (Creel 1970, pp. 233-36). Chu also appears in the Zhouyuan oracle bones (see Li Xueqin's paper in this volume). The material still awaits sorting out. In my view, the mere occurrence of the word ''Chu" may not be enough to point to a geographical connection with the south. It is conceivable that in Westem Zhou, the rulers of Chu may have resided in the vicinity of the Zhou court.

34. Kane 1974; Hayashi 1980; Bagley 1987, p. 32-36; Wu Hung forthcoming.

35. This process is described in Falkenhausen forthcoming, chapter 4.

36. fHKG 1980.2, pp. 95-96 and 90; rubbing: fig. 2. KG 1988.4, pp. 300-06 and 313, blurred photo: p. 306, fig. 8.

37. WWCKZL 1958.6, p. 76 (extremely blurred photo). As I was able to determine by personal examination in 1990, there are different omaments on each specimen. Hayashi takes these as bells of northem manufacture, imported into central Hubei in late Westem Zhou (Hayashi 1981, p. 29).

38. See Gao Zhixi 1984a, 1984b and 1986b, and 1984c.

39. This was formerly only assumed (e.g. by Hayashi 1984, vol. 2, p. 391, sho 21-28), but has recently been confirmed by the publication of Tomb No. 13 at Zhuyuangou ttlil^t, Baoji f 1^, Shaanxi (Lu Liancheng & Hu Zhisheng 1988, vol. 1, p. 49).

40. See Rawson 1988.

41. Gao Zhixi 1986a; Bagley 1987, pp. 537-51.

42. Falkenhausen 1989.

43. This is Asahara Tatsuro's metaphor (unpublished handout, 1984).

44. Rong Geng 1941, vol. 2, p. 964. An altemative modem pronunciation of the donor's personal name is "Jian;" I have previously (e.g. in Falkenhausen 1989, note 22) misromanized it as "Jin."

45. The inscription runs as follows:

Given on day dinghai in the first quarter according to the royal calendar. I, Gan, king of Chu, on my own behalf made these ringing bells, may they be deployed [as a set], may they be made to speak. . . . (Shirakawa

98

Chu Ritual Music

1962-84, vol. 40, pp. 532-34). The text probably continued on another bell of the same chime,- Shirakawa accepts the date proposed by Zhou Fagao 1951, pp. 1 13-18.

46. KG 1981.2, pp. 119-27, photo: pi. 6.1, rubbing: p. 123, fig. 5. The inscription is trans- lated and discussed in Falkenhausen 1988, pp. 1098-100.

47. KG 1981.2, p. 125. Rather than indicating the actual frequencies measured, the report provides those of the nearest tone on the modem equal-tempered scale.

48. These are the nine niuzhong from Tomb No. 13 at Shangmacun X>^^t, Houma i^^^, Shanxi, reported in KG 1963.5, pp. 229-45, photo: pi. 3.8, partial rubbing: p. 238, fig. 11.7; tone measurements in Huang Xiangpeng 1978-80, part 2, p. 142. The corre- spondence of the tone distribution pattems (in spite of the fact that the chimes are tuned to different pitches] was first observed by Asahara 1987. For more discussion, see Falkenhausen forthcoming, chapter 7.

49. Cf. Falkenhausen 1989.

50. Two similar sets of bells {bo and niuzhong) with decoration according to the "flat variant" have been unearthed from the tomb of the Lord of Fan #P, a Chu vassal, at Hougudui^^-^:^^, Gushi Henan (WW 1981.1, pp. 1-8, photos: pi. 3:2, 4:2,3; color photo of bo in Beijing 1987, cat. nos. 197-204; line drawing of niuzhong: ZYWW 1984.1, p. 76 fig. 3). The tomb probably dates to the first half of the fifth century. The inscription runs, as transcribed in the report:

Given on the day dinghai in the first quarter of the first month. I, □□, selected my auspicious metals and made on my own behalf these harmonizing bells. [They sound] □ □ cangcang. They are good when performing obeisance to the [four] directions; [with them] my sons will make their fathers and elder brothers rejoice. Ten thousand years without limit, may □ □ enjoy threefold long life, forever striking them [sc. these bells], □ good fortune [?] of a hundred years.

As on the bells from Tomb No. 1 at Xiasi, the original donor's name has been deliber- ately effaced and, in some specimens at least, replaced with the name of the Lord of Fan. Another stylistically similar chime of seven niuzhong, with an inscription partly erased and now for the most part illegible, was excavated at Jiuxian M dl, Ye Xian ^^rl-, Henan, also within the Chu area of influence [HXKG 1988.3, pp. 1-18, photo: p. 6, fig. 8.7, drawings: p. 9, fig. 10.1,2, rubbings: p. 9, fig. 10.3 and p. 10, fig. 11).

51. WW 1980.10, pp. 13-20; Zhao Shigang 1986, photos: p. 48, fig. 3, pis. 3.1-3,5, drawing: p. 49, fig. 4, rubbings: p. 47, fig. 1, and p. 48, fig. 2; Thorp 1988, cat. no. 9 (color photos). The transcription is translated in Falkenhausen 1988, pp. 1044-47. Another translation is in Mattos forthcoming.

52. For a preliminary discussion of the historical geography of Xiasi and the possible relationships between the various individuals mentioned in different inscriptions from that site, see Falkenhausen 1988, pp. 1076-116. Li Ling has since alerted me to the situation's considerably greater complexity than I could envisage on the basis of the scanty published information (personal communication 1989). For the time being,

I continue to believe it likely that Wangsun Gao, the donor of the twenty-six yong- zhong, was the son of Wangzi Wu, donor of a set of large ding found in Tomb No. 1. A royal prince, Wangzi Wu i-?*^ (a.k.a. Zi Geng served as chief minister of Chu from 558 to 552 B.C. The individuals buried at Xiasi, however, may not be close relatives of Wangzi Wu or Wangsun Gao. Their identity remains a mystery, and I have no idea how they could have possibly obtained bronzes of a Chu royal lineage.

99

LOTHAR VON FALKENHAUSEN

53. Zhao Shigang 1986; for further discussion see Falkenhausen forthcoming, chapter 8.

54. Rong Geng 1941, vol. 2, p. 502. This bell was allegedly found in Hubei province. The inscription is translated in Mattos forthcoming.

55. The previously proposed ascription of the Wangsun Yizhe yongzhong to the State of Xu is probably wrong; cf . Mattos forthcoming.

56. The object depicted here is the unprovenanced Ling bo a famous Qi bell on display at the Museum for Chinese History in Beijing (on permanent loan from the Shanghai Museum). Rong Geng 1941, vol. 1, p. 509, photo: vol. 2, p. 969; color photos in Shanghai 1964, vol. 1, p. 85 and vol. 2, pp. 88-89, and in Li Xueqin 1986, p. 22. The inscription is translated in Doty 1982, pp. 160-90. The set of six yongzhong in the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, D.C. (see cover), though somewhat later in date, may be a product of the same workshop tradition.

57. Weber 1973; and personal communication from Robert W. Bagley, 1989.

58. Two pieces are now in the National Palace Museum, Taibei (Taibei 1958, vol. 2 shang, p. 240, and vol. 2 xia, p. 464; the latter piece also in Rong Geng 1941, vol. 2, pi. 957). As only the recto face is depicted of the one, and only the verso of the other piece, it is not clear whether decoration according to the ''flat" variant is to be found on the verso of all bells of the set, or whether it is limited to certain members of the set. Other specimens are in the Shanghai Museum (Shanghai 1964, vol. 1, p. 77 and vol. 2, p. 74) and in the Palace Museum, Beijing (no illustration published). The inscription is translated and discussed in Falkenhausen 1988, pp. 1066-75.

59. One such case is discussed in Falkenhausen 1988, pp. 1083-86. Besides several bells discussed here, it also includes the Xu Zi zhong M>^^t, a bell from the State of Xu i^, whose inscription closely resembles those on other southem bells. The Xu Zi zhong is documented only in Song catalogues (see Guo Moruo 1958, pt. 1, p. 246; pt. II, p. 193; pt. Ill, p. 178).

60. Rong Geng 1941 vol. 2, p. 963. Seven members of the chime are known through rubbings. Three of the seven are now in the Shanghai Museum; one is published in Shanghai 1964, vol. 1, p. 84, vol. 2, p. 86f. The inscription runs as follows:

Given on day dinghai in the first quarter of the seventh month of the or- thodox calendar. I, Zhang, the grandson of Qun ^ and son of Jiang[?] )I)T, se- lected my auspicious metals and made on my own behalf these harmonizing bells. May they be used in feasting so as to rejoice, may they be used to make happy my fathers and elder brothers and the various gentlemen. May I enjoy - long life without limit, may sons and grandsons forever preserve and strike them [sc. the bells]. (Shirakawa 1962-84, vol. 40, pp. 576-78). Shirakawa has suggested that the donor might be identified as Zi Zhangyu the last ruler of the State of Xu who fled to Chu after the extinction of Xu by Wu in 512 B.C. (cf. Zuo zhuan, Zhao 30, p. 431).

61. Photo in Yang Yinliu 1980, vol. 1, pi. 21; rubbing in Zhao Shigang 1987. Because of the bell's small size, the design is slightly simplified by comparison to the Zi Zhang niuzhong, which it otherwise closely resembles. The inscription is very similar to those of the Wangsun Gao yongzhong and other fifth-century southem bells (see Falkenhausen 1988, pp. 1083-86 and Table 37, where the donor's name is romanized as "Jiong[?];" the present romanization follows a suggestion from Professor Li Xueqin). The text runs as follows:

Given on the first day in the first quarter of the first month. I, Zhan[?], son of the king of Xu, selected my auspicious metal and [made on my own behalf]

Chu Ritual Music

these harmonizing bells. With them I reverently attend to my bright sacri- fices. With them I make happy the fine guests, as well as my august ances- tors. With them I make my fathers, my elder brothers, and the various gentlemen rejoice. With them I feast so as to rejoice. When I strike them, they emit a long, drawn-out tone that makes one feel elated; their excellent sound is very grand. Their sound lasts long and may be heard in the four quarters. How blissful and brightly joyous! May I enjoy long life without limit, may sons and grandsons for ten thousand generations strike them. ( Yu Xingwu 1957, p. 4; Zhao Shigang 1987). The donor, evidently the son of a king of Xu, is otherwise unknown.

62. Only one of the four known pieces is properly published (Shanghai 1964, vol. 1, p. 79, vol. 2, p. 78f.). The inscription runs as follows:

Given on the day dinghai in the first quarter of the ninth month according to the orthodox calendar. I, the remote descendant Chou[?]-er, grandson of Fusiyu i4^-f" of Xu and eldest son of Zilu ii^^ of Xu, proclaim: 'Oh! How reverent! I am a good subject of Yichu ^ ^ of Xu ^ [= f^^], I am the kind father of Cheng ^. So as to regale[?] my son Cheng, I select[?] auspicious metals, bo # and lii ^ [alloys], so as to cast these harmonizing bells. With them I strive to perform filial piety to my former ancestors, to make happy my fathers and elder brothers when offering them drink, food, song, and dance. May my grandsons use them. Tell this to the people of later times.' (Shirakawa 1962- 84, vol. 40, pp. 582-84).

Yichu the second-last ruler of Xu, ascended the throne sometime before 536 B.C.

(See Zuo zhuan, Zhao 6, p. 362).

63. WW 1989.4, pp. 51-56, photos of ho: pi. 3 and p. 54, fig. 3, rubbings of niuzhong: p. 52, fig. 1 and p. 53, fig. 2. The inscription reads:

Given on day dinghai in the first quarter of the first month according to the royal calendar. I, Shenliu[?), grandson of the king of Xu, son of Xunchuhu ^^$k, selected my auspicious metals to make and cast these harmonizing bells. With them I present sacrifices to my former ancestors. As to metals, it is fu M and liu # [alloys] that I select; these indeed are auspicious metals to make and cast harmonizing bells. With them 1 perform the Xia and Nan. Their sound when they are struck, this is what I love. How blissful and brightly joyous! May sons and grandsons forever preserve and use them. (Cao Jinyan 1989).

Again the donor was evidently a junior descendant in the royal lineage of Xu, and the bells must predate 512 B.C. In the original report it is suggested that they may have found their way into the Lower Yangzi basin as war booty.

64. Guo Moruo 1958, pt. I, p. 239, pt. II, pp. 165-67, pt. Ill, p. 160; Shirakawa 1962-84, vol. 40, pp. 570-73. The appearance of the original object is only known through a distorted early twentieth-century line drawing, reproduced by both Guo and Shirakawa. The inscription is closely related to those of the other Chu and Xu inscriptions already mentioned; a translation appears in Mattos forthcoming. The donor of this bell was a younger son of the early sixth-century king Ceng ^^^ik (cf. Zhang Han Zhang Wanzhong 1963).

65. KGXB 1982.2, pp. 229-42, photos: pis. 17:2, 19:2; Anhui 1987, no. 55. The inscription on a drum-stand found in the same tomb associates these finds with the little-known state (or tribal federation) of Shu , which may actually be identified as Xu % (Chen

101

LOTHAR VON FALKENHAUSEN

Bingxin 1984|.

66. Shou Xian 1956, p. 10, photos: pis. 18-21, rubbings: pis. 22-23, 52-59; Tokyo 1973, cat. nos. 1^ [yongzhong]. Anhui 1987 no. 77 [bo] and no. 78 [niuzhong]} Hannover 1988, cat. no. 8 [niuzhong]. Tone measurements of the niuzhong and some of the bo (A-tones only| have been published in Li Chunyi 1973, p. 16. The inscriptions are translated and discussed in Falkenhausen 1988, pp. 1124-47. These bells were exca- vated together with two signal-giving bells for use in warfare: one chunyu i^'f and one zheng lit (cf. Falkenhausen 1989a).

67. Hong Kong 1983, cat. no. 47. Several Spring and Autumn period bell-chimes from the lower Yangzi basin that show similarities with the items enumerated above are discussed below.

68. Hubei Sheng Bowuguan 1989, drawings and rubbings: vol. 1, pp. 77-134; photos: vol. 2, color pis. 3-4; pis. 27-28 (assemblage), pis. 33-38 (individual bells), pis. 232-81 (inscriptions), pis. 294-98 (holographic interferograms). Previously reported in WW 1979.7, pp. 1-24; SuiXian 1980; Hong Kong 1984; Li Xueqin 1986, p. 69.

69. The Zeng bells are described and discussed here only insofar as they throw light on Chu music; for more information and extensive bibliography, see Falkenhausen forthcoming, chapter 7.

70. The bo inscription is translated by Thorp 1981, p. 68; another translation appears in Mattos forthcoming. The tone-naming inscriptions on the other bells are virtually untranslatable. Their vocabulary is extensively analyzed in Falkenhausen 1988 chapter 4, and in a more summary fashion in Falkenhausen forthcoming, chapter 8.

71. Two bells of that last assemblage, which was presented to Marquis Yi by King Hui of Chu in the second-last year of his reign, were discovered at Anlu ^1^, Hubei, in the twelfth century A.D. From this one may see that large assemblages of bells were not necessarily kept together, but could be interred at vastly different locations. Unlike the bo from Leigudun, the two bells from Anlu (whose typological affiliation remains uncertain) seem to have hosted tone-naming inscriptions, which for centuries, until the discovery of Marquis Yi's tomb, had mystified all exegetes. The text of the inscrip- tion is recorded in Xue Shanggong 1935, juan 6, p. 53a-b. A rubbing of uncertain origin is reproduced in Wu Zhao 1980.

72. Three sets of measurements are tabulated in Hubei Sheng Bowuguan 1989, vol. 1, pp. 110-15.

73. WW 1985.1, pp. 16-36, photos: pis. 2.1, 3; drawing: pi. 29, figs. 34, 35; Hong Kong 1984, photo: pis. 66-67a.

74. XuDinghuiet fli. 1988.

75. The demon is represented with his legs astride, perhaps sitting on the back of an animal whose face may be seen underneath him. In his hands, he holds two winding snakes, their heads facing towards the center. Similar figures holding two snakes are represented on various Warring States period objects of south Chinese provenance, e.g., on the Da Wu ge ^^X, a Warring States period ceremonial weapon of Ba ^ style excavated at Zhanghecheqiaovf Jingmen ^^f1, Hubei [WW 1963.1, pp. 64-65), on a duo ^ of alleged Jincun provenance, now in the Tokyo National Museum (Rong Ceng 1941, vol. 1, p. 489, vol. 2, p. 930), on the lacquered se from Tomb No. 1 at Changtaiguan-^4- Xinyang itf%, Henan [Xinyang 1986, color pi. 2:3), dating to the first half of the fourth century (Li Xueqin 1985b, p. 161), on the lacquered decora- tion of Marquis Yi's inner coffin from Tomb No. 1 at Leigudun (Hong Kong 1984,

pi. 39a,d; and Alain Thote's paper in this volume), and on the Warring States period

102

Chu Ritual Music

Chu Silk Manuscript from Changsha (Hayashi 1972, p. 148). They have been tenta- tively linked to creatures mentioned in Shan hai jing lUM^^ (Ma Chengyuan 1963, Yu Weichao 1964). Figures of this kind have been associated with the spirit cults and shamanistic practices of ancient Chu (cf. Chang 1983, pp. 65-68). At present, however, we cannot identify specific deities or be concrete about their religious significance.

76. These decor elements are executed in three degrees of density: the smallest ones may be seen in the zhuanjian-, medium-sized ones adorn the flat top, the shank, and the outer margins of the zheng; and the most widely spaced and most skillfully molded decorative elements adorn the central gu decoration motif. These large relief elements in turn are covered with fine striated and granulated patterns; similarly fine ornaments also adorn the three-dimensionally protruding zhuan ridges, which are ordinarily left unornamented on Zhou yongzhong.

77. So called by Hayashi 1986.

78. Falkenhausen 1989.

79. WWCKZL 1957.9, pp. 21-22; WWCKZL 1958.1 pp. 15-23, photos: pp. 4, 12, 13. Xinyang 1986, drawings and rubbings: pp. 21-29, photos (poor quality): pis. 6-12. Better photos of bell No. 1 are in Tokyo 1976, cat. nos. 28-40; color photos in Li Xueqin 1986, p. 69. The inscription seems to say: "In the quluan month of the Chu calendar, men from Jin rescued the Rong ^ barbarians within Chu territory..." The identification of quluan as the name of a month in the Chu calendar (Jingli, alternatively read as Gengli or Gengxi) follows that of Zhu Dexi 1979. The historical event referred to remains uncertain; those proposed by Guo Moruo (1958b) and Zhao Shigang (1983) are both too early to fit the bell's style.

80. Yang Yinliu 1959 (A-tones only); Chen Tong and Zheng Darui 1980, 1985; Ma Cheng- yuan 1981, p. 140 (A- and B-tones).

81. WWZLCK 5(1981), pp. 103-05, photo: pi. 8.4, rubbing: p. 104, fig. 3.

82. WW 1974.6, p. 86, photo: p. 86; JHKG 1980.2, pp. 55-59, rubbing: p. 55, fig. 1; WW 1980.10, pp. 31-41, photo: pi. 3.4. The mode of mounting as well as the musical function of this bell remain unclear. As the inscription does not constitute a complete text, the bell was probably part of a set, other members of which contained the rest of the document (Yu Weichao 1980, p. 27). A translation of the inscription is impossible at present; in an interesting parallel to the fingli niuzhong inscription, the subject matter seems to be the rescuing of certain "Rong barbarians of Qin ^A." As a "king of Qin is mentioned twice, this bell certainly postdates the year 325 B.C. when the ruler of Qin first assumed the title of king. This dovetails with the bell's stylistic features. Li Jin's (1980) dating to the aftermath of the war between Chu and Qin in 580 B.C. must therefore be rejected; Rao Zongyi (1981, p. 75) more plausibly suggests

a connection with the Chu campaign of Zhao Xiang Wang 93^-1. of Qin in 278 B.C.

83. KGXB 1982.1, pp. 71-116; photos: pis. 19.9 and 20.1; drawing: p. 96, fig. 19.

84. WW 1974.5, pp. 61-80, pis. 1, 2.4; Fong 1980, pp. 287-89, 315; Hiroshima 1985, pp. 28-29, cat. no. 40; color photo in Li Xueqin 1986, p. 141.

85. Falkenhausen 1989.

86. Hubei Sheng Bowuguan 1989, pp. 75-175.

87. None of these seems very crucial to the timbre of the ensemble as a whole. Whereas archaeological remains of clay flutes are abundant, especially in neolithic and early Bronze Age contexts (Zhuang Benli 1972; Lu Ji 1978, Pan Jianming 1980), tiger rasps and wooden striking boxes are so far undocumented archaeologically.

103

LOTHAR VON FALKENHAUSEN

88. WW 1981.1, pp. 1-8. See also note 50 above.

89. WW 1980.10, pp. 13-20.

90. KG 1972.3, pp. 41^8, tone measurements (useless because most specimens have been either broken or chipped) on p. 44. Also reported in WW 1972.1, p. 75; color photo in Beijing 1972a, pi. 74.

91. The only Warring States period specimens found in the area so far are the chime-bells from Tianxingguan (see note 83 above), and an empty bell-rack at Jiuli ^/^, Linli Pii' /'S , Hunan, the bells of which had presumably been looted [Chu wenhua 1984, p. 124). Those bells that do turn up archaeologically tend to be signalling bells, probably for use in warfare-related contexts (Falkenhausen 1989).

92. Finds reported through 1987 include: one drum with drumstick from Tomb No. 34 at Gebeisi U Hi^, Jiangling (WW 1964.9, pp. 27-30); one se and one drum from Tomb No.

at Paimashan ^^.-^ J^, Jiangling, Hubei (WW 1964.9, pp. 30-32); se and/or drums in various combinations from Tombs Nos. M2, 11, 16, and 21 at Paimashan [KG 1973.3, pp. 151-61); one se and two drums with drumsticks from Tomb No. 1 at Tengdian Jiangling, Hubei [KGXB 1982.1, pp. 71-116); se and drum stands from Tombs Nos. 1 and 2 at Wangshan ^ J-i, Jiangling, Hubei (WW 1966.5, pp. 33-55); single drums from sixteen tombs, single se from four tombs, combinations of se and drum from two tombs, a combination of drum and sheng from one tomb. No. 140, a combination of se and a warfare-related signalling bell from one tomb. No. 556, and a combination of se, drum, and sheng from one tomb. No. 394, at Yutaishan i^^J-i, Jiangling, Hubei {Yutaishan 1984, p. 105). The Tianxingguan assemblage is exceptional for comprising, besides the four niuzhong already mentioned, six sheng, four se, two drums of differ- ent sizes, and remnants of a sizeable lithophone.

93. Ji'nancheng 1984, p. 97, fig. 7:5 and p. 123, pi. 15:4. Similar architectural fittings dating to the latter part of the Spring and Autumn period have also been excavated in some number at Fengxiang Shaanxi, the former Qin capital of Yong M [KG 1976.2, pp. 121-28, Yang Hongxun 1976; Li Xueqin 1986, color photos: pp. 18-19); here, too, the style is identical to that of Qin regional ritual bronze vessels.

94. Falkenhausen forthcoming, chapters 2 and 3.

95. Even though only the single bo from Marquis Yi's tomb furnishes a direct epigraphic proof of its Chu origin, it seems more than likely that the entire bell assemblage was manufactured in Chu. Not only does it appear improbable from common sense that Zeng, a small state completely dominated by Chu, could have commanded the material and human resources to make bell-chimes of such quality and number, but the predominance of Chu-type tone nomenclature in their inscriptions (see below) also strongly bespeaks a Chu origin. It is impossible to estimate at present how many similar sets might have existed in the fifth century B.C.

96. See Falkenhausen 1988, pp. 1135-47.

97. See the inscriptions translated in notes 60-63, as well as the references to translations published elsewhere in notes 51-66.

98. The or.ly useful data are those from the Spring and Autumn period niuzhong from Shangmacun, Houma, Shanxi (see note 48), and from the late fifth-century Biao niuzhong f^mk from Jincun Luoyang, Henan (Takahashi 1984 and 1986).

99. Li Xueqin (in this volume) follows contemporary Chinese convention in naming these populations as Baiyue or "Hundred Yue-Tribes," but some caution is in order when applying ethnonyms from mostly later texts to archaeologically- known populations.

Chu Ritual Music

100. Finds from the lower Yangzi basin include: (1) two examples from Zoumashan

J^, Daye Hubei [WWZLCK 5 [1981], pp. 203-051; W two examples from Qingshan -f ^, Gaochun Jiangsu [WWZLCK 5 [1981], pp. 108-09; (3) one example from Tangjiashan T^flO^, Fanchang Anhui [WW 1982.12, pp. 47-49; (4| twenty-three examples (five sets) from Ya'erzhou Guangji Hubei [JHKG

1984.4, pp. 38-47); (5) one example from Yangcun #^t, Huangshan'^'J-i, Anhui [KG

1988.5, p. 465). Finds from the far southern region include: (6) one example from Luyu tif, Binyang tf%, Guangxi [WW 1978.10, pp. 93-96); (7) six examples (two sets) from Tomb No. 1 at Matougang ^, Qingyuan /"fit., Guangdong [KG 1963.2, pp. 57-61); (8) seven examples from Tomb No. 2 at Matougang [KG 1964.4, pp. 138- 42); (9) seven examples from Meicun ^l^^t, Boluo 14.^, Guangdong (mentioned in Guangdong Provincial Museum 1984, p. 69 and KGXB 1984.4, pp. 413-14); (10) six examples from Nanmendong i^n>i^, Luoding.^:^, Guangdong [KG 1983.1, pp. 43- 48, 29); (1 1) one example from Nanxiang f^^, Heng Xian ^m^, Guangxi [KG 1984.9, pp. 798-806); (12) six examples from Songshan Zhaoqing Guangdong [WW 1974.11, pp. 69-79; Guangdong Provincial Museum 1984, cat. no. 83, pp. 113, 266- 67; (13) one fragmented specimen from Supan Nanning i^^, Guangxi [WW 1978.10, pp. 93-96; (14) one example from Yangjia'f^^, Gongcheng^^, Guangxi [KG 1973.1, pp. 30-34, 41; Guangxi 1978, pi. 40).

101. Falkenhausen 1989.

102. These are the seven Zheshang niuzhong from Tomb No. 2 at Chengqiao [KG 1974.2, pp. 116-20; photos: pi. 4; rubbing: p. 117, fig. 3). Their inscription is largely illegible, apparently due to corrosion.

103. The nine Gongsun Zang niuzhong and a set of five ho were unearthed from Tomb No. 1 at Chengqiao (KG 1965.3, pp. 105-15; photos: pis. 1:3,6,11; rubbings: pp. 109- 1 1, figs. 8-10). Their donor was a member of a minor branch of the ruling house of Wu and their terminus ante quern must be the annihilation of Wu by Yue in 473 B.C. The gu decoration on these pieces is unusual for its intersecting dragon bands. Related examples are: (1) the eleven niuzhong from Baizhadi ^ Chao Xian Anhui [WWCKZL 1956.8, p. 73); (2) the nine niuzhong from the necropolis of the statelet of Teng S at Zhuanglixicun/t^^^t, Teng Xian Sll, Shandong (Zhongguo Kaoguxue Hui 1984, p. 121; no illustrations published, but I saw one specimen at the Teng Xian Museum in August, 1986, thanks to the kindness of the director Wan Shuying); (3) the unprovenanced Zhediao niuzhong ^ '/TJiiSi may also belong to this group. Their number is somewhat uncertain: eight examples in the Tohata Collec- tion, Hyogo (Asahara 1988a); two in the Sen'oku Hakkokan (Sen'oku Hakkokan 1982, cat. nos. 14-15); one in the Shanghai Museum (Rong Geng 1941, vol. 2, p. 963; Shanghai 1964, vol. 1, p. 78, vol. 2, p. 76f); one in the Palace Museum, Beijing (un- published); and one (?) in the Shandong Provincial Museum (mentioned in WWCKZL 1951.8, pp. 105-06). Their decoration most closely resembles that on the recently excavated niuzhong from Jiuxian, Ye Xian, Henan (see note 50). As the inscription gives a date in the Yue calendar, and the name of their donor, Zhediao, is typical of the southeastern area (Asahara 1988), it appears these bells were made for an aristo- crat from the State of Yue. A proposed dating to the reign of King Goujian (reigned 490-469 B.C.) has been tentatively accepted by Shirakawa (1962-84, vol. 40,

pp. 604-09).

104. See Falkenhausen forthcoming, appendix IV.

105. These inscriptions are authoritatively transcribed and commented on by Qiu Xigui

105

LOTHAR VON FALKENHAUSEN

and Li Jiahao in Hubei Sheng Bowuguan 1989, vol. 1, pp. 532-82; and further discus- sion on pp. 121-31; photos of the bell inscriptions: vol. 2: pis. 232-81. Previous transcriptions published in YYYJ 1981.1, pp. 3-16, and by Jao Tsung-i & Zeng Xiantong 1985a, pp. 129-48, must now be regarded as superseded. In this essay, the inscriptions are discussed only inasmuch as they bear on Chu music; for further explanations and references to additional literature, see my discussion of the Zeng inscriptions in Falkenhausen 1988, chapter 4, and in Falkenhausen forthcoming, chapter 8.

106. WW 1988.5, pp. 35-38 and Tan Weisi 1988.

107. Cf. Falkenhausen forthcoming, chapter 9.

108. See Falkenhausen 1988, pp. 829-41.

109. Hubei Sheng Bowuguan 1989, vol. 1, p. 545; YYYf 1981.1, pp. 10-11.

110. See Falkenhausen forthcoming, chapter 9.

106

Chu Bronze Work:

A Unilinear Tradition, or

A Synthesis of Diverse Sources?

Colin Mackenzie

By the Han period the ruHng house of Chu had been credited with a hneage of no lesser antiquity than that of the three earhest recorded dynasties, the Xia, the Shang and the Zhou.^ Like their genealogies, that of Chu fades imperceptibly from history into mythology. Records of campaigns directed against Chu in bronze inscriptions of the reigns of the Zhou kings, Zhao 9^ , Mu # and Gong were for long the earliest contemporary evidence for its existence.^ The discovery in the Zhouyuan ^J^. of oracle bone inscriptions from the early reigns of the Westem Zhou mentioning a Chu embassy apparently headed by the Chu ruler himself pushes the historical existence of Chu back even further.^ It is now no longer plausible to dismiss out of hand the claim recorded in the Shi ji ^il, that Yu Xiong^.#,, the first of the Chu rulers to be named according to the formula Xiong X, served Wen Wang of Zhou."^

The chronological span of Chu history is matched by its geographical scope and the richness of its culture, both artifactual and literary. At the period of its greatest extent, Chu territory stretched from the exit of the Yangzi gorges in the west to the east coast, and from central-southern Henan to the Nanling ^ range in the south.^ Even if Chu's control of all the regions nominally subject may have been in some cases tenuous, it still represents an empire which stands comparison with the terri- tory of the Shang or Zhou dynasties at their height. Its tremendous material wealth can be gauged by the huge number of tombs found within greater Chu territory, easily exceeding in quantity those which can be attributed to any other state of the Eastem Zhou period. Add to this the inspired visions of the Chu ci ^Sf, and the burgeoning interest among Chinese archaeologists and Westem sinologists in Chu needs no further justification.

The problem which confronts any scholar investigating the history of Chu cul- ture is that virtually all our evidence, both archaeological and literary, comes from the latter half of Chu's existence. Notwithstanding this dearth of early material, there has been a tendency among Chinese archaeologists and, to a lesser extent, among Westem sinologists to treat Chu culture as a monolithic unity, or at least to try and find a perpetual central strand or core running through the whole of Chu's

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Colin Mackenzie

Fig. 1. Ceramic 7i from Yangmugang, Dangyang, Fig- 2. Ceramic ii from Ji'nancheng, Jiangling, Hubei. Height 18 cm. After JHKG 1983.1, p. 48, Hubei. After JHKG 1982.1, p. 34, fig. 1:3. fig. 3:1.

cultural history, to which the peripheral elements gravitate. Underlying such no- tions is the assumption