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Some Dualistic Phenomena in Shang Society

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

Kwang-Chih Chang
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Extract

“The study of ancient China, particularly from the historic period on, requires A the collaboration of historians, archaeologists, palaeographers, as well as specialists in other disciplines.“

Isolated phenomena of a dualistic nature in various Shang institutions have long been recognized (see below), but their interrelationship and their possible relevance to a coherent dualistic system generally prevalent in Shang society cannot be clearly understood unless the various specialists on ancient China break disciplinary boundaries and collaborate with vigor and mutual understanding. This paper attempts to bring attention to some of these phenomena and to define the probable areas of research for a highly important problem in Shang studies. To begin, let us examine some interesting features at the archaeological sites of Hsiao-t'un and Hsi-pei-kang.

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The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 24 , Issue 1 , November 1964 , pp. 45 - 61
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1964

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References

1 Lien-sheng, Yang, “Review of The Archaeology of Ancient China, by Kwang-chih Chang,” American Anthropologist, LXVI (1964), 202Google Scholar.

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5 The names of chao and mu generations are mentioned in Shih Ching, Shu Ching, and Tso Chuan, but descriptions of the system first appear in Li Chi.

6 See, for instance, Granet, Marcel, “Categories matrimoniales et relations de proximité dans la Chine ancienne,” Annales Sociohgiques, ser. B, fasc. 1–3, (Paris, 1939)Google Scholar; Tsung-t'ung, Li, The History of Ancient Chinese Society, (Taipei, The Chinese Commission for Cultural Publications, 1954)Google Scholar, in two volumes; Shun-sheng, Ling, “Origin of the Ancestral Temple in China,” Bulletin of the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, No. 7, pp. 141–184, (Taipei, 1959)Google Scholar.

7 Li Tsung-t'ung, op. cit., p. 10.

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21 For instance, see Ch'en Meng-chia, op. cit. (1956); Shigeki, Kaizuka and Michiharu, Ito, “Re-examination of the Principles of Dating the Bone Inscriptions with Special Reference to Tung Tso-pin's Attribution of Some Bone Inscriptions to the Era of Wen-wu-ting,” The Tōhō Gakuhō, No. 23, (Kyoto, 1953.Google Scholar)

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25 Karlgren, 1937, p.72.

26 Ibid., p.75.

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28 Karlgren, 1962, p. 18.

29 Karlgren, 1937, pp. 91–92.

30 This tomb was heavily plundered, and most of the “spectacular” pieces have presumably found their way into various public and private museum collections. We do not know what they were, and cannot speculate about their stylistic classes. On page 3 of the HPKM1001 report, the authors state that three ho vessels described in Umehara's, SuejiSelected Ancient Treasures Found at Anyang, Yin Sites (Kyoto, Kabayashi, 1940)Google Scholar, Plates 44–46, are known to be plundered from HPKM1001. All three of these vessels bear A-type elements, in contrast to the B-type decoration described above. Since we do not know whether these three vessels were indeed from HPKM1001, or which part of HPKM1001 they came from even if they were from this tomb, we can only disregard them in the present discussion.

31 Chi, Li, “Studies in Hsiao-t'un Bronzes,” Chinese Journal of Archaeology, No. 3 (Nanking, 1948)Google Scholar.

32 See footnote 18.

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34 Shih Chang-ju, op. cit.

35 Li Chi, op. cit. (in footnote 19).

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