Negotiating cultural and political control in North China: Art and mortuary ritual and practice of the Yan at Liulihe during the early Western Zhou period.

摘要

Yan was an essential vassal state established by the Zhou court in North China during the early Western Zhou period around late 11th c. BC. It was strategically located in an area that functioned as a buffer between the Central Plain, the “core of dynastic China”, and the Northern Zone, the peripheral of steppe land occupied by non-Chinese “barbarians”. This study attempts to understand how and why the Zhou were able to establish and legitimatize their control through the establishment of Yan state and how burial display confirmed the new political system in North China.; What we know about the Yan comes primarily from archaeological excavations at Liulihe, the capital of the Yan, southwest of Beijing. Highly decorated and inscribed bronzes and jades have been found exclusively in elite burials of the early Western Zhou period. The majority of the bronzes and jades from Liulihe are similar to those found in the Central Plain. Nevertheless, artistic styles typical of the local bronze cultures of the Chengdu Basin, in the middle reaches of the Yangzi River, and Northern Zone, were also discovered in the excavations.; Bronzes and jades were used by the Zhou nobles to signify individual's social position and political power in the Yan. A four-tiered social hierarchy consisted of Yan rulers, the upper aristocrats, lower-class elite and commoners and can be observed in the burial patterns and contents in the tombs. The layout of the burials strictly followed the Zhou zongfa system and indicated cultural and/or ethnic distinctions.; The style and use of the ritual objects at Liulihe were employed by the Zhou nobles of the Yan to reinforce their relationship with the Zhou court and legitimatize their control over local groups. This dissertation is an initial attempt to examine the interplay between the art and socio-political organization of ancient China. It will also employ a distinctive inter-disciplinary approach to the study of early Chinese art.