Changes in the Concept of “Jian” in the Pre-Qin Period: From Political Norm to Means of Acquiring Wealth

Cultura ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-182
Author(s):  
Xiao TAN

The conceptual changes of Jian in the pre-Qin period were the results of changes in the social and political structure. It originally referred to Jian virtue, which was a kind of political norm of clan states. This required the aristocrats to be moderate in accordance with the patriarchal hierarchy and generously share their wealth with their own clansmen. The opposite of Jian virtue is Tan ( greed) and Chi ( extravagance). In the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, many states formed their politics based on ministerial families. The aristocrats glorified greed and extravagance as Fu ( riches), and stigmatized Jian virtue as Pin ( poverty). After the collapse of the clan-based state order, the states in the Warring States Period gradually developed into territorial states, and the institutional political norm became a new, abstract concept, indicated by the compound Jian Yue ( economy) and was used to describe the consumption attitudes of individuals and families. Meanwhile, with the increase of social mobility, the pursuit of riches was highly popular in the ideological world. The new expression of “means-ends” advocated by Legalists, which stipulated that individuals and families acquire wealth through Jian Yue (economy), took shape and endures to this day.

2002 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-9
Author(s):  
Hao Shiyuan

When viewed from the perspective of history, China has not had a flourishing anthropology and ethnology. However, China's traditions of ethnographic-like perspectives have flourished for a long time. Since the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC) and Warring States Period (475-221 BC), multiethnic structure and social relations have been recorded in China's history. Ever since Sima Qian's Shi Ji (the Historical Records), the first general history of China compiled around 100 BC, the social history and cultural customs of ethnic minorities had been covered in each dynasty's history. Moreover, some special chapters had been dedicated to keeping the records of ethnic minorities. Of course such records were not completely unbiased.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-51

Abstract In the years 2015 through 2017, archaeological excavations were conducted to the Gujun Site in Xingtang County, which recovered burials, chariot-and-horse pits and sacrificial pits, house foundations, water wells, ash pits, kilns, ash ditches and other features, from which artifacts made of gold, bronze, jade, stone, bone, horn and antler, shell and cowry, pottery, etc. were unearthed. The date of this site was from the late Spring-and-Autumn Period to the mid and late Warring-States Period, in which the city site, burials and residential areas were existing together; their dates, locations and cultural connotations are all closely related to the Xianyu tribe and Zhongshan State, especially the chariot-and-horse and animal victim pits with unique form were the first archaeologically discovered remains of this type. The discovery of the Gujun Site reflected the convergence and evolutions of the cultures of the ethnic groups in the Northern Frontier Zone and the Huaxia System, and provided important materials for the researches on the processes of the Sinicization of the northern ethnic groups such as Rong and Di and the configuration of the Chinese nation as a pluralistic integration.


Early China ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
pp. 53-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivia Milburn

AbstractThe Xinian or Annalistic History is one of an important collection of ancient bamboo texts donated anonymously to Qinghua University in 2008. The Xinian covers events from the history of the Western Zhou dynasty (1045–771 b.c.e.), through the Spring and Autumn Period (771–475 b.c.e.) and into the Warring States era (475–221 b.c.e.). Since the first publication of this manuscript in 2011, it has been the subject of much research, though this has usually been focused on the sections which have important parallels within the transmitted tradition. This article proposes a new way of understanding the Xinian, as a compilation produced from at least five source texts, and provides a complete translation of the entire text. Furthermore, although the contents of the Xinian are frequently at variance with the transmitted tradition, in particular the account of events given in the Zuozhuan, in some instances it may prove the more reliable source. The Xinian also provides some information concerning the history of the early Warring States era that helps to explain events in this generally badly documented era.


2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-26

Abstract In 2014, Yunnan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and other institutions conducted large-scale excavation to the Dabona Cemetery located in Dabona Village and to its east of the Liuchang Town, Xiangyun County. The west zone of the Dabona Cemetery had widely distributed early cultural remains, including house foundations, postholes, ash pits, ash ditches, etc. The east zone consisted of two sections distributed in the north-south direction, in the north section of which 25 burials were recovered; among these burials, six were large-sized ones with lengths more than 6m, and the other were medium- and small-sized burials. The grave goods unearthed from these burials reflected that the dates of the remains and burials were roughly in the Warring-States Period to the Qin and Han Dynasties. The area where these remains and burials were located was the main inhabited area of the people of Kunming ethnic group; this excavation provided important materials for the researches on the features and the social situations of the bronze cultures in the Erhai Lake region.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 75
Author(s):  
Xiong Wen

During the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period, the ideology environment was severe. Hundreds of scholars competed and argued, and they all used their own musical concepts and aesthetic consciousness to influence social life. Confucius was one of them. As we all know, Confucius was the great pre-Qin period thinker, politician, and educator of etiquette and music. His achievements in music aesthetics are different from other schools of “contend of a hundred schools of thought”. Confucius’s aesthetic thoughts are actually the aesthetic thoughts he formed in the practice of ritual and music education. This article discusses his musical spirit, the aesthetic propositions of “benevolence”, “perfect perfection”, “neutrality”, and music education.


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