The History of the Eka People in China

The world knows that China is one of the few countries in the world where there is a multitude of different ethnic groups, with the Han, Zhuang and the Manchus consisting of the highest numbers. There are a number of smaller groups, including the Yi people, which some Westerners may have heard of in passing, but many do not realise that there are dozens, sometimes even hundreds, of smaller minority groups which are counted in these larger ethnicities.

The Eka people are one of these. With a population of around 3,000 people, the Eka have been placed in the larger Yi minority group, along with over 100 other groups. Although a relatively small group, they are the largest Yi people to live in Shuangjiang County of Yunnan Province in southwest China. This village is in a largely inaccessible mountainous region where you can only reach via foot. There are a few other Eka people living in nearby villages.

Around 300 years ago, the Eka people moved to this location from the surrounding areas of Kunming City. When they moved here, most of the land was unclaimed but as soon as they started working the land and cultivating it, there was an increased migration of Han and other people into the area. They drove off the Eka people who retreated into the mountains where they made their home.

The Eka people are polytheists, worshipping a great many of deities and spirits. They share many similarities with the other Yi tribal beliefs in the surrounding areas. For three years after someone has died, an effigy made from wood, the root of a lotus or hemp of the deceased, is kept in a box or placed under the roof. This effigy is infused with magical protection and after three years it is thrown away since it is then that the soul of the deceased is judged by either the gods or one singular deity.

The Eka people have their own dialect, which is a Lahu language. Some, due to the close contact with the Han population, speak Mandarin Chinese. An alternative name for the Eka is Menghuaren.

A History of the Afar People

The Afar people are one of the nine officially recognised ethnic groups of Ethiopia, although there are numbers of Afar in the Ste of Eritrea and the Republic of Djibouti in the Horn of Africa. There are an estimated 1.5 million Afar in these regions, and have played an important part in the territorial politics of the Horn of Africa.

'Afar' is the name the peoples in this article give themselves, rather than 'Danakil' or 'Adal' by which their traditional adversaries know them. Danakil is used specifically for the northern Afar while Adal (or Adel) is used for the southern Afar. Although a number of this ethnic group have migrated to the cities, the majority have remained true to their nomadic pastoralist roots.

One of the Afar’s claims to fame is due to an anthropological find in the Afar Depression. In 1974, anthropologists discovered a ‘new species’ of man at Hadar in the Awash Valley in Ethiopia. This new species was termed Australopithecus afarensis ("afar ape-man"), and is believed to have walked around Eastern Africa between 2.9 to 3.8 million years ago. The body was found to be female and named Lucy. Lucy was able to walk upright on a human-like body but still retained a small ape-like head and primitive teeth.

Despite their decentralized political structure, the Afar have remained cohesive in their culture. One important aspect of such unity has been the custom of cross-cousin marriage, with a son being required to marry a maternal uncle's daughter as his first wife (Harbeson, p.483). Both boys and girls are required to undergo circumcision.

The first non-African presence with the Afars was with the Islamic world, as early as the 10th century CE. Today, the religion of the Afars is Sunni Islam.

Today, the Afar have not forgotten the loss of grazing lands or the invasion of highland agriculturalists. At least partly for that reason they have responded with ambivalence to Ethiopian government pressures to participate in rural modernization programmes (Harbeson, p.479).

Bibliography:

Flood, Glynn (1975) Nomadism and Its Future: The ‘Afar, RAIN, Royal Anthropological Institute for Great Britain and Ireland.

Harbeson, John. W. (1978) Territorial and Development Politics in the Horn of Africa: The Afar of the Awash Valley, African affairs, Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal African Society.

Science News (1974) New Species of Man: Ancestors from ‘Afar’, Society for Science and the Public.

A History of Korean Funerary Rites

In all cultures across the world, funerary rites and traditions are very important once someone has died. In Korea, from antiquity to today’s contemporary society, the rites associated with death and funerals make up a very important element. This article will discuss the funerary rites surrounding the concept of ancestral belief in Korea.

In Korea, when a person is just about to die, he is taken to the warmer part of the house and into his deathbed. He is then dressed into a clean cloth called ch'ongo chongch’im and his family gather at his side. The Koreans believe that the time and place are important in the afterlife, just as the date and time of birth are important during a person's lifetime, and they go to great lengths to determine these as accurately as possible. If the dying individual has any last words, it is the child’s duty to record these.

Once the individual has died, all ornaments from the body are removed, the hair is loosened and the family weeps for the death of their loved one. One of the family members will then take the white upper garment that the deceased was wearing and then, facing north, climb onto the roof of the house. They will call out the name of the deceased in a loud voice, followed by the word ‘pok’ (which literally means ‘return’). After calling out in this way, they will pull the white cloth up onto the roof. This ritual is known as the “ko bok”, the calling back the spirit of the dead.

After this rite has been completed, the family will then prepare a feast for the messengers (saja) who will escort the deceased to the other side. Traditionally, this meal consists of three bowls of rice, vegetables, soy sauce, money and three pairs of straw shoes. It is positioned either in the middle area of the inside garden or outside the main gate of the house of the deceased.

The body of the deceased is then moved from his deathbed and onto a board known as the chilsong-p’an. The board “is the board of the deity of the seven stars, who controls the life of men”. The head is turned to the north and the thumbs are tied together with string, as are the two big toes. One of the children will then put on one sleeve of the upper garment – the right side if the deceased was his father, the left side if his mother. “A person experienced in these matters will make a spirit, called the honbaek with string or paper. If string is used three strings of different colours will be knotted together in a fixed form, and if the material is paper it will be a white paper folded in a fixed form. This knot, or folded paper as the case may be, is placed in a small box called the honbaek box, or “spirit box."

The word "hon" refers to the spirit or soul, and “baek" has the same meaning. Sometimes one of these words will be dropped, with either "hon" or "baek" appearing alone, and sometimes both words are used”.

The most important ritual is that of washing the body, known as “sup”. One of the mourners will bring a bowl of warm water mixed with mugwort or juniper and while either two or four people hold the corners of a blanket covering the deceased, the body is washed thoroughly with a piece of cotton or cloth soaked in the warm water. After this, the hair and fingernails will be cut and placed into four small bags known as choballang that are later placed into the coffin.

The deceased is then dressed in his funeral clothes. The person who is performing this rite will put “wet rice to the mouth of the deceased with a willow spoon, saying loudly, "a hundred sacks of rice" at the first spoonful to be held up, "a thousand sacks of rice" with the second spoon and "ten thousand sacks of rice" with the third”. After this a coin will be placed into their mouth. The body is then bound in a a long cloth known as yom. Relatives and friends of the deceased will place money into the twisted sections of the yom as it is believed that the paper money will be used when the deceased passes through the twelve gates of the otherworld.

The body is finally placed into his coffin and is covered with coverlets. “The corpse is laid on top of one of these, called the "coverlet of earth," and is covered with another, called the " coverlet of heaven." The deceased's old clothes will be put into the coffin next to the head and legs to fill the empty spaces. When the cover of the coffin is nailed down with wooden nails the offspring will weep loudly. The coffin itself is now bound with a straw rope around its upper, middle and lower parts”.

The last rite that is practiced is done when the coffin is taken out of the room. Four men will take the coffin and shake it slowly up and down toward the four corners of the room. When it is taken from the room a gourd will be destroyed in front of it, in the attempt to drive away evil spirits.

There are a number of different rites and rituals that are practiced in Korea when someone has died. The ritual of washing the body is the most important, as it is a rite of purification, cleaning the polluted body whereas the act of binding is one that symbolises separation. These rites have been practiced for generations and continue to be practiced, for it is believed that they will aid the spirit of the deceased to pass through the twelve gates of the otherworld and arrive in heaven.

Bibliography:

Lee, Kwang Kyu (1984) The Concept of Ancestors and Ancestor Worship in Korea, Asian Folklore Studies, Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture.

The Role of the Chinese Dynasties

For over two thousand years, various dynasties ruled over China. No other government system in the world lasted as long as the imperial Chinese rule. Dynasties, or ruling houses, were said to be given the Mandate of Heaven, the right to rule by the gods. When the emperors fell out of favour (shown by natural disasters, rebellions etc), then the gods would send a new ruling house to govern China, ensuring the empire would continue.

Each dynasty became a role for the Chinese people – the achievements and accomplishments that occurred during its rule were something for the people and the emperor to learn from. The traditional picture for most people is a united country unchanging through the centuries. Unfortunately, this reality is flawed – China’s history is fractured by reality.

The Xia Dynasty (c. 2200 – 1600 BCE)

Long thought a mythical dynasty there is increasing archaeological evidence to confirm that the Xia dynasty did actually exist. The founder of the dynasty, Yu, is still shrouded in myth. Legends state that he was given the authority to rule by Shun “who also received rule non-hereditarily and without violence; but the Xia were overthrown by the Shang and all subsequent dynasties were founded by overthrow and continued hereditarily”. The last ruler of the Xia dynasty was Jie who was overthrown by Tang, the founder of the Shang dynasty. This dynasty was said to be a time of peace and prosperity.

The Shang Dynasty (c. 1600 – 1122 BCE)

The Shang dynasty was founded by Tang who asserted his claim to rule by stating that the Xia had lost the favour of the Lord on High, thereby losing the Mandate of Heaven. Around 30 emperors ruled and in this time bronze manufacturing became a hallmark of their dynasty (although it should be stated that bronze work was probably developed before their rule). The worship of ‘The Lord on High’ was introduced; he presided over all the other gods and humans on earth. Human sacrifices were no longer performed and the foundations of Chinese writing were established.

The Zhou Dynasty (Western Zhou 1122 – 770 BCE, Eastern Zhou 770 – 255 BCE)

The Zhou Dynasty can be divided into two periods, the Western Zhou and the Eastern Zhou. The Zhou had rose from the west and had violently overthrown the Shang dynasty, asserting their claim by “citing the precedent of a Xia Dynasty overthrown by the Shang and arguing that the mandate of Heaven is not constant”. They adopted the administration methods of the Shang and their way of life including their writing techniques. However, instead of ruling over a united country, they ruled over several less powerful kingdoms and developed something similar to that of a feudal system. It was this period that saw the introduction to the god Tian (heaven).

The Eastern Zhou period begins with the transfer of the capital eastwards to Luoyang (in Henan Province) were new cities were established. This was due to increasing pressure from nomadic raiders and internal pressures. This period can be further divided into two periods – the Spring and Autumn Annals (770 – 480 BCE) and the Warring States Period (480 – 221 BCE). Despite the constant warfare, this dynasty saw the development of agriculture, irrigations and ironworking.

The Qin Dynasty (221 – 207 BCE)

The first imperial dynasty, Qin Shi Huangdi united China under his firm and tyrannical rule by establishing a series of victories over the Warring States. On his death, he was buried in his mausoleum and guarded by the famous terracotta warriors. His dynasty ended 14 years after its foundation, ending with his weak son. One Confucian writer stated the dynasty fell “because it failed to display humanity and righteousness, or to realise that there is a difference between the power to attack and the power to consolidate”. The truth is that the dynasty fell because it tried to do too much too soon and Shi Huangdi’s son was not as strong as his father. Although Shi Huangdi has been vilified by later dynasties, he has always remained the epitome for the power needed to rule over China.

The Han Dynasty (The Western Han 206 BCE – 9 CE, Wang Men Period 9 – 23 CE, The Eastern Han 25 – 220 CE)

The Han dynasty can be broken into three parts; the Western Han, the Wang Mang period and the Eastern Han period. Overall, this was the longest imperial dynasty. It was founded by a peasant man named Liu Bang and under the rule of Wudi the Silk Road was opened up which allowed for international trading from Europe across Asia. The period under the rule of Wang Meng has long been considered a time of usurpation by Chinese history. However, the facts are that he was a practical and well-meaning ruler but his policies led to problems with the establishment of the elite from the Han.

The Eastern Han period begins with the crowning of the rebel leader Liu Xiu who was renamed Guang Wudi. He moved the capital from Chang’an to Luoyang and established Confucianism as the foundation of his society. New crops were introduced and paper was first created in this period but the dynasty fell due to internal fighting.

Era of Disunity (220 – 581 CE) (This period includes the Three kingdoms Period, the Jin Dynasty, the Sixteen Kingdoms period and the Southern & Northern Dynasties).

Three Kingdoms Period (220 – 280 CE)

This era was part of the era known as the Era of Disunity. It saw the rise and fall of several kingdoms and was a time of great hardships, war, division, and economic distress. It also saw the mass movements of refugees from the north to the south to escape the constant wars and power struggles between the kingdoms. The three kingdoms were Wei (220 – 64 CE), Wu (222 – 80 CE) and Shu Han (221 – 63 CE).

The Jin Dynasty (265 – 420 CE)

The Jin dynasty was founded by Emperor Wu who offered a brief respite from the disunity experienced; however, it was not to last for the country soon delved back into chaos. The Jin dynasty can be divided into two periods; the Western Jin (265 – 316 CE) and the Eastern Jin (316 – 420 CE).

The Sixteen Kingdoms Period (304 – 439 CE)

This period saw the rise and fall of 16 kingdoms or states. It is known as one of the most devastating periods of time in Chinese history due to the constant warfare and hardships. Despite the foundation of the Northern Wei kingdom, it is not classed as part of the 16 kingdoms.

The Southern & Northern Dynasty (420 – 589)

The last in a series of divided rule, the Southern and Northern dynasty continued to be a period of political and civil chaos. Despite the constant disunity, this era also saw the spread of Mahayana Buddhism and the flourishing of arts. This period marks of the end of the Era of Disunity.

The Sui Dynasty (581 – 618 CE)

The Sui dynasty, founded by Duke Yang Jian (renamed Wendi) led to the reunification of China but only lasted for 40 years. During its reign, the emperors exhausted the treasury and experienced the disastrous attempts to annex Korea. It fell due to revolts and internal pressures.

The Tang Dynasty (618 – 908 CE)

Known as the Golden Age of Chinese history, the Tang period embarked on a series of expansion campaigns that stretched from Central Asia to Korea. Neighbouring countries acknowledged the strength and power of China and used their government as a model for their own. This was the period that saw its only female ruler, Wu Zetian. Porcelain became a speciality and was in demand all over Asia. However, the golden age did not last; during the mid 8th century there was a long rebellion that weakened the dynasty and growing internal pressures led to its downfall.

The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Dynasty (907 – 60 CE)

China fell into chaos once again. In this period of turmoil and pandemonium, there were a series of kingdoms and dynasties that quickly followed after each other. Five dynasties ruled north China and the south were carved up into ten kingdoms. Despite this, much of the social and administrative organization remained the same.

The Song Dynasty (The Northern Song 960 – 1126 CE, The Southern Song 1127 – 1279 CE)

The country was reunited once more under a dynasty that would also be divided in two. This period saw a reduction in the area under imperial rule but also saw the advancement in certain areas. These included agriculture, tea cultivation, textiles, urbanizations, and the spread of printing. The wealth achieved in this time was probably unequal to any other country on earth at the time. However, it could not withstand the armies of Genghis Khan and Kublai Khan.

The Yuan Dynasty (1279 – 1368 CE)

The Mongolian dynasty was founded by Kublai Khan, the grandson of the great Genghis Khan. He managed to legitimise his rule by balancing out the foreign influences with Chinese terms. Arts flourished during the Mongolian rule but there was constant warfare, disease and natural disasters that led to its decline.

The Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644 CE)

The last Chinese dynasty, the Ming era was marked by prosperity, especially in its early era. There was a huge population growth, literacy increased and the establishment of neo-Confucianism provided the foundation of a stable society. Later on, the fine arts would reach new heights. However, the extreme addictions of some Ming emperors cost China, both in administration and monetary wise. There were constant power struggles in the later Ming period and a series of floods, droughts, crop failures, natural disasters and invasions from the north led to the fall of the ruling house.

The Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1912 CE)

The Qing dynasty was founded by the Manchus, a nomadic people from the north. Theirs would be the last imperial dynasty but it was under them that some of the greatest Chinese works of art were produced. The Manchus adopted many aspects of Chinese government and formed a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural realm before the end of their reign. However, the Chinese saw their rulers as barbarians and there were serious social unhappiness. The dynasty ended with a series of mass humiliations caused by the Japanese and Europeans and the abdication of Puyi, the last emperor of China, by the empress dowager Cixi. This marks the end of over 2,000 years of imperial rule in China.

Who are the A-Hmao?

The A-Hmao is one of the hundreds of different ethnic groups in China who are grouped together with others to make a larger minority group. The Miao people, or Hmong as they are known in other parts of Asia, are made up of nearly 100 of these little groups, one of them being the A-Hmao.

The A-Hmao has a population of around 410,000 scattered across northwest Guizhou Province and northeast Yunnan province. There is also a small pocket of A-Hmao who live in the Panzhihua area in southern Sichuan province.

There is much that we don’t know about the A-Hmao. However, we do know that the A-Hmao were essentially slaves to the Nosu Yi who stole their land and imposed outrageous taxes on them before seizing large amounts of A-Hmao as slaves. It has even been recorded that the Nosu Yi would use the backs of A-Hmao as a stepping stool when mounting their horses. Samuel Pollard recorded in his diary that the A-Hmao used to be cannibals; after battle, they would remove the hearts from the fallen and cook them in a fire before consuming them. However, Samuel Pollard was a Christian missionary and it is unclear as to whether he actually made this up since he was highly critical of the A-Hmao, including the women.

Around 70 – 80% of A-Hmao today are Christians, having been converted by Samuel Pollard who visited the region in 1904. Others still practice the religion of their ancestors, believing in a pantheon of spirits known as bidlang.

The different Miao sub-groups all speak a different dialect including the A-Hmao. Each dialect is so different that the A-Hmao, who are also known as Big Flowery Miao, cannot communicate with the Small Flowery Miao who near them in Guizhou province.

The A-Hmao are one of those ethnic groups westerners never hear about due to incorporation into a larger minority group. However, it is important to learn as much as we can about them before their history and culture fades into obscurity.

Archaeological Sites: Beinan

The archaeological site of Beinan in Taiwan is one of the most important sites of the island. Covering more than 99 acres, the village site is one of most remarkable sites and offers us great insight into the history and the culture here.

Discovered in 1980, the site has revealed the remains of 50 dry stone house foundations and over 1500 burials. The majority of these graves have been given a date of between 1500 to 800 BCE. Beinan is the largest prehistoric burial site on the Pacific Rim, at which archaeologists’ unearthed earthenware for general use, jade ornaments, stone objects, residential areas, and slate coffins.

The houses were built on rectangular stone pavements in rows, with adjacent rows of dry-stone walled storehouses. The floors of the houses sealed slab-lined burial cists, an arrangement indicating an interest in ancestor veneration (Bellwood & Hiscock, p.286). A number of these houses were divided by boulders acting as walls. This has been suggested by scholars that the boulders acted as lineage divisions of some kind within the village plan.

It is of great interest that the most complex burial forms in Taiwan occur on the east coast, in distinctive, non-mainland burial treatments such as the use of slate coffins. The burials have yielded a mass of artefacts; these included beautiful pieces of jade in the form of long tubular beads, bracelets and penannular earrings in the form an almost complete ring (Bellwood & Hiscock, p.287). Other items found included clay spindle whorls, stone reaping knives, anthropomorphic earrings, projectile points, stone bark-cloth beaters and pig and dog figurines.

The pottery belonging to the Beinan culture is very distinctive. It is mostly a fine orange ware, sometimes red-slipped, with no other means of decoration. A jar with two vertical strap handles and a ring foot is the most common form of pottery found at the site. It has been compared to the Yuanshan pottery in the Taipei basin.

The site of Beinan on Taiwan has given archaeologists and scholars a mass of rich information relating to Taiwanese, Chinese and Austronesian history. Today, Beinan is classed as a Class III site and has not yet been fully excavated. However, continual research here will continue to shed light into the fascinating history of these people.

Bibliography:

Bellwood, Peter & Hiscock, Peter (2005) The Human Past – Australia and the Austronesians, Thames & Hudson, London.

Pearson, Richard & Underhill, Anne (1987) The Chinese Neolithic: Recent Trends in Research, American Anthropologist, Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the American Anthropologist Association.

Who Are the A’ou?

China can be classed as one of the richest countries in the world due to the amazing wealth of ethnicities it holds. There are 56 officially recognised ethnic groups in China including the Gelao. Within this ethnicity is the A’ou sub-group.
Although the A’ou are considered to be part of the Gelao group, they do not share the same cultural identity. In addition to this, the A’ou speak a language which does not correspond to any of the many languages and varieties of languages that the Gelao speak.

The history of the A’ou can be found in Guizhou Province. According to Jacob Lee, there were numerous tribes living in the southwest of China who were each ruled by their own ruler and lived according to their own customs. The largest tribe were the Gelao, who were known then as the Liao, and called their kingdom Yelang. During the Han Dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE), armies and ambassadors were sent to Yelang Kingdom and the king peacefully submitted. Because of this, most of the tribal leaders lost their power save the Yelang king.

Guizhou is one of the poorest provinces in China and the A’ou scratch a meagre living from cultivating rice. Because of this many young A’ou have now moved to larger cities to search for work. There are 2,500 A’ou who live in three counties across Guizhou Province, these include Longjiazhai District of Zhijin County; in the Shawo, Lannigou, and Xinkaitian districts of Qianxi County; and in and around the town of Pudi in Dafang County.

The A’ou are polytheists although around 15% claim no religious affiliation. Most A’ou, especially the older generation, worships a number of gods and spirits and makes regular sacrifices to them. Honouring ones ancestors is equally important to the A’ou.

The A’ou are just one of the hundreds of minority groups which makes up the larger ethnicities in China. Because of this, their history, culture and identity are mostly unknown to foreigners and even the Chinese themselves.

Bronze Musical Instruments from the Shang and Zhou Periods

Excavations in south China have revealed a large amount of bronze musical instruments dating from the Shang (c. 1600 – 1046 BCE) and the Zhou (c. 1045 – 256 BCE) Dynasties. Each of these music instruments display pronounced regional characteristics and are important artefacts as they can give us great insight into Chinese history at this time.

One type of instruments found were large bells named ‘nao’. These large bells were different from the southern bells as they were set on a stand and hit upright, instead of being grasped in the hands and struck downwards. The tops of the bells are fashioned quite wide and narrow at the bottom with a curved rim and a cylindrical shank (yong). The player can produce two different types of tones with these bells by striking at the ‘gu’ and the ‘sui’ sections. These are called the sui-tone and the gu-tone. The nao are sometimes called yong, zheng, duo, zhong or early period yongzhong.

There have been 73 bronze nao found in south China which are grouped into 6 main categories and 15 sub-categories. The first main type is made up of 21 examples of bells which feature animal-mask motifs and have been found principally in Hunan Province. The second group consists of 12 examples where the principal animal-mask motif is embellished with a cloud pattern design. The third category is made up of 3 examples where the cloud motif has almost completely replaced the animal-0mask motif. Only the eyes remain visible. The fourth group consists of 8 examples where the body of the nao is embellished with the cloud design and the animal mask has completely disappeared and 36 nipple-bosses appear on the zheng section of the bell.

The fifth category consists of 28 examples where the zhuanjian central panel is in the process of forming. Finally, the sixth category is made up of only 1 unusual nao which was unearthed in 1988. The primary design is a dissolved animal-mask. The two C-shaped panels which shape the animal-mask are framed with altering numbers of tooth-shaped protuberances. The eyes of the pattern are composed of two small turtles. The gu sections are decorated with 4 dragon images.

The bo was one of the most important musical instruments in China which were first seen in the late Shang period and prevalent during the Zhou period. The characteristics of the bo are a nui loop, a short mei and a narrow mouth and a straight rim. The body of the bo is thin, elongated and elliptical or almond-shaped in cross-section.

There are, however, only 17 officially published bo that have been found dating to these periods. These have been separated into 4 different categories; the first is made up of 9 examples of Bird-bo, where a bird design is embellished onto the lateral flanges and the animal-masks decorating the zheng sections. The Bird-bo is the earliest example, being dated to the late Shang period. The second category consists of the Tiger-bo, of which there are 6 examples. On these, the flanges are decorated with 4 flat-bodied tiger motifs with an imposing animal-mask on the zheng section and flattened circular nipple-bosses as decorative panels.

The third category is made up of 1 example where a cloud design is most dominant. Excavated from Zixing, Hunan Province, the zheng section of this instrument has cloud-pattern decoration as its principal motif, and dates from around the early Western Zhou Period (c. 1046 – 771 BCE). The fourth category consists of 1 example excavated at Qishan, Shaanxi Province. Dragon motifs decorate the niu suspension loops at the top and the lateral and central flanges are decorated with twisted dragons. Sixteen rhomboid mei adorn the bell above and below the zheng segments. The primary design is an animal-mask made up of dragon designs. On the gu section of the Ke-bo there is an inscription of 79 characters long which dates to the reign of King Yi of Zhou.

The bronze musical instruments were not merely instruments to create beautiful sounds; they were items that could express one’s religious beliefs and artistic talents. Studying these instruments has allowed scholars to gain new insight into early Chinese history. For example, it is clear that Shang and Zhou period bo from the south have been influenced by Shang and Zhou culture. The bronze bo originated in the area of the Xiang River basin and neighbouring regions, the homeland of the Yue people. In the north bo did not appear until the late Western Zhou period but they had a strong influence on the popularity of later bo.

Bibliography:

高 至 喜 (1992) Shang and Zhou Period Bronze Musical Instruments from South China, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African studies, Cambridge University Press on behalf of School of Oriental and African Studies.

Who Are the A Che?

The A Che are one of the hundreds of minority groups which make up the Yi ethnic group in China. With a population numbering 39,000 they are often confused with the Azhe people, who also make up the Yi people. Dispute the similarity of their names, the A Che people are a distinctly separate group.

The A Che and the Azhe people share a common ancestry. Both groups migrated to Jianshui County in Yunnan Province during the Sui and Tang Dynasties (581 – 907 CE) where they enrolled in the Luodian kingdom’s armies. After a period of time, a group moved into Yimen and Shuangbai counties where they eventually settled and became known as the A Che.

The A Che are polytheists and have always been so. Worshipping their creator god, they claim that the relationship between their creator and themselves was once much closer, but over the years they have become separated and they cannot communicate with the creator, thus they cannot enter heaven.

Like most groups belonging to the Yi ethnic group, the A Che celebrates the Dragon Festival which is held on the second day of the second lunar month. In Shuangbai County, the other great important festival is the Open Street Festival. Held on the eighth day of the first lunar month in Damaidi District, the entire community comes together is a blaze of colour and gaiety.

The A Che lives in the southern province of Yunnan, most of who live in the eastern counties of Chuxiong Prefecture with others in Yuxi Prefecture. Those who live in Shuangbai County live in rural and extremely isolated villages, which is perhaps why most foreigners have not heard of them before.

An Introduction to Ancient Indian Religions

The immense Indian subcontinent is home to some of the world’s oldest, fascinating and diverse religions to ever come out of the ancient world. This subcontinent is as diverse as the cultures – the rugged Himalayan region lies to the north, around the river Ganges there are the vast agricultural plains. In addition to this, there are vast desert regions, low-laying coastal areas, rainforests and high plateaux.

The climate of these regions go from one extreme to the other; the people experience scorching heat, drenching monsoons and at times, freezing temperatures. The varied, and many times, unpredictable, climate has inspired and affected the rich mythology and religious belief systems that have emerged from this region.

The two major religions that have emerged are Hinduism and Buddhism. Each of these religions shares certain similarities and values. One of the key features is to reach nirvana, spiritual truth. To gain this, one must transcend the chaos and unpredictability of the world and only after this can one find enlightenment.

From reliable and archaeological sources, mediation has been one of the ways in which one may reach this state of being. For example, archaeological excavations in the Indus Valley region, which reached its highest peak during the middle of the third millennium BCE in modern day Pakistan, unearthed evidence that the ancient people of this region venerated a deity that was linked with mediation.

Sometime around the second millennium BCE, the Indus Valley region collapsed due to the incursion of the Aryans, a group of Bronze Age tribes known as the ‘Noble Folk’. With the coming of the Aryan people, came their deities; there were many gods and goddesses. The most important of these was the warrior and weather god, Indra, as well as Yama (the king of the underworld), Agni (a fire god), Varuna (the god who maintained order and morality) and Surya (a sun god).

These were some of the deities that would be part of what was later known as the Hindu pantheon and are still worshipped today in India and many other countries in the world. Indeed, the Hindu religion is the oldest organised religion in the world. However, some of these gods were modelled on the earlier deities worshipped before the Aryan invaders. For example, the god Shiva has been suggested to be modelled on an earlier Indus Valley god who is sometimes known as ‘proto-Shiva’.

Buddhism is the second and just as famous religion that emerged from the Indian subcontinent. This new faith arose sometime around the sixth century BCE and was centred on the teachings of a prince called Siddhartha Gautama who later became known as ‘the Buddha’. His teachings were dedicated to the use of mediation to aid the individual to release themselves from the endless cycle of life, death and rebirth to reach enlightenment.

One of the most interesting facts the history of Buddhism is the rich mythology it has; although Buddhism, like Jainism, denies the existence of a creator god, Buddhism has many different deities incorporated from the Hindu, Chinese and other native Asian pantheons.

At the time that Buddhism travelled from India to Tibet and then onwards throughout Asia via the Silk Road, the new faith was not always welcomed with open arms. The adoption and then adaption of native deities helped pave the way for Buddhism, whose new followers were used to worshipping deities and objects to symbolise their deities. In addition to incorporating the native gods, Buddhism also promoted the worship of bodhisattvas (buddhas-to-be) which great helped it flourish. Because of this, Buddhism created somewhat of a confusing, although extremely interesting, pantheon of gods and goddesses.

There were several other ancient religions that emerged from the great Indian subcontinent; Jainism and Sheikism were two that still hold great numbers of believers even today, but it is the Hindu and Buddhist faiths that have had the most impact on this part of the world.

Who Were the Juan-Juan

The Juan-Juan were an ancient nomadic race from Central Asia who had a great impact on ancient Chinese society. Portrayed as barbarians, the Juan-Juan (also spelt Rouran) were a confederation of powerful nomadic tribes who dominated modern Mongolia and northern China during the fifth and first half of the sixth centuries.

The origins of the Juan-Juan (who are considered the ‘real’ Avars from Byzantine sources according to some scholars) lay with a young slave boy. The myth states that at the end of the reign of the T'o-pa emperor Li-wei (pht. Shen-yuan, 174-220-277 CE), some T’o-pa raiders caught a young boy who could not remember his name nor his clan. His master nicknamed him Mu-ku-lu. When he got older, he was able to free himself from his master’s service and join the T’o-pa as a rider. Late for duty one day, he was faced with execution and so fled to Mongolia. There he assembled a band of fugitives like himself and created the foundation of what later became known as the Juan-Juan confederation.

The confederation was originally named Jou-jan, chosen as a designation for the horde by Mu-ku-lu’s son Ch'e-lu-hui. There is much that we do not know about the society; for example, scholars still do not know what language they spoke. One scholar, Professor Pelliot, believes that they spoke Mongol. However, “scanty evidence that we get from Chinese transcriptions of names and titles cannot be taken as conclusive in forming an opinion as to the language of the masses comprising the federation and can serve only as a clue to the speech of the ruling clan”.

The Juan-Juan were seen as barbarians by many of the Chinese rulers and from Chinese literary sources and archaeological remains, we know of many campaigns against them throughout history. The Chinese insultingly called them ‘Ruru’ which translates as the ‘squirming worms’.

In 424, around 60,000 Juan-Juan broke through the Great Wall of China and stormed Shengle. For two years the Wei campaigned against them and finally drove them far back into the desert. In 429, the Wei defeated the Juan-Juan further north and re-settled them on the grassy plains south of the Mongolian desert.

The end of the Juan-Juan came in the mid-sixth century CE. The Juan-Juan had enlisted the help of the Tujue, a powerful tribe, to crush the Gaoche (the ‘tall chariots’ people in western Mongolia). After securing victory for them, the Tujue khan requested a Juan-Juan princess to marry. The Juan-Juan sent envoys back to the Tujue saying no and that they were impudent slaves. In retaliation, the Tujue killed the envoys, secured a marriage alliance with the dynasty ruling over north-west China and led a campaign against the Juan-Juan. By 552 CE, the Juan-Juan were defeated, their leader drive to suicide and the Tujue became the new dominant power on the steppes.

Bibliography:

Boodberg, Peter A. (1939) Marginalia to The Histories of The Northern Dynasties, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Harvard-Yenching Institute.

The White Cloud Sect in Ancient China

Ancient China is home to some of the most diverse and fascinating people, traditions and faiths that the world has ever known. It has given to birth to some of the most intriguing faiths, including Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism that still impact the Chinese people all over the world today.

Like with many other great civilizations, religion has had a deep impact in the peoples everyday lives; it is as much cultural as well as political. The Buddhist religion was introduced into China around the 1st century BCE and quickly became the dominant faith; by the Sung Dynasty (960 – 1279 CE) Buddhist associations affiliated with monasteries flourished throughout China. During the Yuan Dynasty (1271 – 1368 CE) some of these groups became independent sects with their own forms of leadership, organization, and texts.

The White Cloud Sect is one of the most recognised Buddhist sects to emerge from this period. The school was founded by a monk named Ch'ing-chueh (1043 – 1121 CE) in around 1108 CE. Unlike the White Lotus Sect, the White Cloud school remained true to their Buddhist origins and practised within a framework of Confucian ethics alongside their Buddhist ideas. Taoism was only mentioned in passing and then only to mention the concern of Taoist philosophy with spiritual stillness and the rejection of desires.

The school was first active in Chekiang (Zhejiang Province) and stayed very much related to its monasteries and retreats there. Unlike that of the White Lotus, White Cloud members were not allowed to marry, at least not at the very beginning of its history.

The White Cloud sect was named after a retreat in Hangchow where Ch'ing-chueh had lived, where he began a long quest for enlightenment. He was able to gather several disciples who became the nucleus of a new school.

During the early reign of the Yuan Dynasty, the White Cloud enjoyed a long period of imperial favour and due to this it became dependant on the official sanction and political support. Although they started a new step in the assimilation of Buddhism with Chinese society, the White Cloud was considered to be more conservative when compared to the practices of other schools at the time. The sect was seen as a kind of halfway house between monasticism and autonomous well-liked sectarianism. As such it was at odds with the authorities without creating an adequately strong compensatory foundation in the general population.

Ch'ing-chueh’s writings clearly show the themes of salvation through Amitabha leading to rebirth after death as well as the T'ien-t'ai, the understanding of the interrelationship of all levels of reality in the ‘absolute mind’. Ch'ing-chueh was sought after for his accounts of the Hua-yen (Avatamsaka) sutra. In his Ch'u-hsueh chi (A Record of Buddhist Teachings for those Beginning Their Studies), he refers to the interrelationship between principle and event several times. Despite this, there was little philosophical discussion in Ch'ing-chueh’s writings. For Ch'ing-chueh, he intended to provide an explanation of advancements in religious life in an easy, step-by-step manner.

However, Ch'ing-chueh was accused to officials due to his criticism of contemporary Buddhism and exiled to the south. Not long after, some of his disciples went to the capitol and requested a pardon for him. The request was granted but Ch'ing-chueh died the following year aged 79.

Like with many independent groups, the White Cloud sect was repeatedly banned throughout its history, and although it did enjoy imperial approval for a time, it was firmly proscribed in 1320 CE in response to the hostile actions of its leader. By the early 14th century, the White Cloud died out without a trace.

The White Lotus Rebellions in Chinese History

In the thousands of years of Chinese history, it can be surprising to see the amount of peasant revolts against their masters and the similarities between each of them. Of course variations in demands, leadership, fighting strategy, and so on did occur in response to changing historical circumstances. Yet the overriding impression is “of a tenacious persistence of certain patterns of revolt in particular geographical regions” and we can see this with the White Lotus Rebellion.

The White Lotus was a syncretic sect, combining rudiments of Buddhism, Taoism, and Manicheanism. Its customs included medical healing, sitting and breathing exercises, martial arts, and the chanting of spells and charms. When we look at the social aspect of the sect, they were a sanctuary for the poor and dejected peasants of North China, providing not only material aid but spiritual aid as well.

Ideology speaking, they believed in equality and put this into practice. This tradition was based in the creation myth of this society, which stated that the Eternal Mother, Wu Sheng Lao Mu, created all life. The fact that all people were believed to be the children of the Eternal Mother unlocked the door for equality between men and women. In many White Lotus rebellions throughout the Ming and Qing dynasties, women were active fighters and group leaders. Indeed, the first notable White Lotus Rebellion was led by a woman from Shandong province, Tang Sai-er, in 1426 CE.

The White Lotus Society had considerable influence and made a deep impact on Chinese history. During the Yuan Dynasty (1279 – 1368 CE), it is recorded that a White Lotus devotee by the name of Han Shan-tang declared the forthcoming coming of the Maitreya Buddha. In the Huai valley, followers’ gatherer to Han's cause, publically announcing that he was the rightful emperor. “An army of red-turbaned peasants was raised and revolt broke out. While this initial uprising was quickly suppressed, other aspirants arose to lead the so-called Red Army. Finally a Buddhist monk, Zhu Yuan-zhang, succeeded in overthrowing the Mongols and establishing the Ming dynasty”.

This triumph proved a mixed blessing for the White Lotus Society, however. Soon prohibited by the new emperor, Ming Tai-zu, the White Lotus Society found themselves once again pushed into a role of resistance. Throughout five centuries of Ming and Qing rule, the White Lotus Society was constantly connected with popular uprisings in the Huai River valley.

Although the White Lotus sect was repetitively outlawed, it continued to grow, acclimatize, and transform, which became an advantage as it became the mainstream of the popular religious sectarian tradition from the Yuan dynasty on.

Bibliography:

Overmyer, Daniel L. (1982) The White Cloud Sect in Sung and Yuan China, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Harvard-Yenching Institute.

Perry, Elizabeth J. (1976) Worshippers and Warriors: White Lotus Influence on the Nian rebellion, Modern China, Sage Publications Inc.

The Worship of Aphrodite in Miletos

Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of physical love, is one of the few deities that is extraordinarily well known throughout the world. To the general public she was the beautiful Greek goddess who was the cause of the Trojan War and had dozens of mortal lovers. However, in recent decades scholars have determined that Aphrodite was in fact a Mesopotamian goddess brought to Greece by way of Anatolia (Modern day Turkey) who was better known as Astarte, Ishtar or Inanna.

In 1989, excavations in Turkey unearthed the remains of a sanctuary to Aphrodite at Zeytintepe, a low hill immediately adjoining the metropolis of Miletos. Before this discovery of this temple, the earliest reference to her worship in Miletos and her colonies was an inscription dating to the 3rd century BCE where she was called Aphrodite Ourania. Scholars found that evidence for her worship was abundant during the Classical period but earlier evidence was sorely lacking. However, the discovery of the temple confirmed that Aphrodite had been worshipped during the archaic period.

Although known primarily as the goddess of physical love (her son Eros as the god of romantic love), Aphrodite had a strong sea connection which we can see by her epitaphs found at Miletos and her colonies. These included Eupoia (‘good sailing’), Pontike (‘of the open sea’), Nauarchis (‘mistress, or guardian, of ships’), Aphrogenia (‘foam-born’) and Ourania (‘celestial’). It is easy to see Aphrodite as a fertility goddess but even during the centuries of Greek worship she never lost the marine aspect of her character – she was constantly depicted with sea creatures around her.

It was this aspect of her character, the marine element, which was worshipped in this location. In Mesopotamia, where the goddess was more widely recognised as Astarte, Ishtar or Inanna (the Sumerians, Babylonians and Akkadians all had their own names for this goddess), she was known as the protector of seafarers.

The destruction of the temple is believed to have occurred in 494 BCE when Miletos was sacked by the Persian army. The temple was thoroughly destroyed, making it extremely difficult for scholars to make a detailed architectural reconstruction of the building.

The excavation of the temple of Miletos is of great importance to scholars. The information gathered at Miletos and her colonies shows that Aphrodite was worshipped as a sea goddess rather than a fertility goddess. It also shows that her epitaphs and her cults were adopted and adapted to suit local practices.

Bibliography:

Greaves, Alan M. (2004) The Cult of Aphrodite in Miletos and Its Colonies, Anatolian Studies, British Institute at Ankara.

The Songze Culture

In the Yangzi River Valley during the Neolithic period of Chinese history, there emerged a series of different cultures including the Songze, the Majiabang, the Chengbeixi, the Daxi and the Yangshao. At this time, these early cultures interacted with each other, and through these exchanges new cultures prang up one after another, each expanding and evolving in their turn.

The Songze culture was a later stage of the Majiabang culture (which emerged around c.5000 BCE) and materialized in the lower Yangzi region around c.4000 BCE and was given its name after the site of Songze in Shanghai. The general dates in which the Songze culture flourished is usually given is between 3400 – 3300 BCE and it was these people that are considered to be one of the ancestors of the Shanghai people.

The site has been able to give us great insight into the weather conditions during the time that the Songze culture flourished. Scholars have determined from pollen samples that indicate that in the sixth millennium BCE temperatures w ere 2 -3 degrees C higher than at present and that the Yangtze delta was at an early stage of formation. In the fifth millennium BCE (which has been determined as the middle cultural layer of Songze) the climate was slightly cooler and deciduous tree species had replaced an early forest dominated by broadleaf evergreen oak trees (Castanopsis and Quercus glauca). By the middle cultural layer, the final period of the Neolithic (third millennium BCE), the annual mean temperature is believed to have been 1 – 2 degrees C higher.

The site of Songze has given us some remarkable insights into the lives of the Neolithic people. The cemetery that was excavated revealed an increase of mortuary offerings from those found at Majiabang sites. Archaeologists uncovered bodies that were laid out in rows or clusters. The women were found to be buried with pieces of jade placed in their mouths and often wearing other jade ornaments.

Some individuals were buried more lavishly than others; for example, at the Beiyinyanying site in Nanjing, 225 burials were uncovered. There were some which wore exceptional agate and jade ornaments. There were pottery vessels and stone axes placed above the head and below the feet. When examining the vessels and the pieces of jade at this site, scholars noticed that the quality of these pieces were far higher than that of those found at Majiabang sites.

The Songze culture represents an important stage in Chinese Neolithic history. One of these stages was the creation of the quality and quantity of jade and the ritual element of upper-class graves which signalled the early stages of state formation.

Bibliography:

Higham, Charles (2005) The Human Past – East Asian Agriculture and Its Impact, Thames & Hudson, London.

Pearson, Richard (1981) Social Complexity in Chinese Coastal Neolithic Sites, Science, American Association for the advancement of Science.

A History of Ancestral Worship in Asia

Religions have shaped the lives of people for countless centuries; not only have they explained the natural occurrences that happened around us, but they have comforted us in our darkest times and given us hope. Religion has also played a dramatic role in art, literature and politics.

Throughout history, a vast array of religious beliefs have emerged to affect people and nations; some of these religions have disappeared entirely, some have disappeared only to be re-introduced with some variations, and some have stood the test of times. Today, the main religions are Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and Paganism.

In Asia, a number of religions have emerged in her long history. One of the earliest belief systems was that of ancestral worship. In countries such as Korea, China and Japan, ritual services for ancestor worship have been practiced for centuries and still play an important role in traditional village life. It was not only in the family home that this belief system had influence; the reverence of one’s ancestors had considerable repercussions on political forms. Although ancestral worship was practiced throughout Asia, there were several differences on how each country worshipped.

In China, ancestor worship was modelled on Confucian ideals; the philosophy of Confucianism consists of an exceptionally organized, hierarchical establishment within the social order in which the family was the basis of social stability. The reverence for one’s ancestors and propitiation of their spirits had been practiced before the Shang Dynasty, although it was not believed that many ancestors were thought to survive into the spirit world. It was most likely thought that only the spirits of important people would be lucky enough to survive.

After the Warring States Period (475 – 221 BCE), Chinese society became more complex and there were distinct differences between how the common people was treated from the nobility. For instance, the nobility were not subject to punishments such as mutilation that were inflicted on commoners. In addition, it was only the nobly born that could participate in the cults which were the heart of the Chinese notion of kinship. Only the nobility belonged to a family, which meant that only they had ancestors.

The patriarchal heads of the families were considered to be the intermediaries between the mortal world and that of the spirit world as they held the authority over the household. A family was a ritually constructed social unit and was in itself a moral act, and the ability to do so successfully was a demonstration of the moral superiority of the family member. In time, these practices came to identify those people who were entitled to hold offices or possess land, especially those who led and ruled clans, as religious superiority was the heart of the ruling house’s claim to power.

We can see this when the Chou (otherwise known as Zhou) displaced the Shang – the idea was introduced that a god superior to the ancestral god of the dynasty and that from him there was derived a mandate to rule. Now, it was decreed by Chou, that the mandate was required to pass into other hands.

The Four Rituals (sili) of capping, marriage, funerals and ancestral sacrifice were the rituals that were practiced within the family. It was the last ritual that was of great importance. These sacrifices were made at the ancestral altar or temple (zongsi) at which these ancestral rites were conducted. As one scholar states, “Requiting one's progenitors for giving one birth is the first precondition for proper human conduct (rendao); collecting together as a lineage to worship one's founding ancestor is the usual and proper way to honour one's roots”.

However, since only the nobly born were considered to have ancestors, the common people turned to the worship of nature deities; the worship of the personifications of mountains and rivers were highly popular with commoners, although it should be stated that they received some attention from the nobility as well.

In Korea, ancestral worship had great influence on the lives of the everyday people and many performed rituals in order to pay respect to one’s ancestors. For example, a direct descendant must carry out such rituals eight times each year on the death remembrance days of all his ancestors from the fourth generation beyond that of his parents, as well as four other annually rituals performed on seasonal festivals and several rituals which are carried out at the graveyard.

In the Korean ancestral belief system, there are two types of spirits, namely the good or benign ancestor and the evil spirit or ghost. A spirit becomes either one of these spirits by the manner of their deaths. Evil spirits or ghosts are created when a person dies either by suicide or by an accident, usually outside the home, who then go on to haunt the world and perform malicious acts. A benevolent spirit was produced when someone died of natural causes in the home after a long life; the spirits of these individuals would then become the ancestor spirits who would protect their descendants and families.

Funerary rites are an important aspect in Korean ancestral worship. When a person is about to die in their homes, his family brings him to the warmer part of the home and placed on his deathbed. He is dressed in a clean cloth named ch'ongo chongch'im. The children of the person are required to watch their parents at the end and if they speak any last words, to write them down at the head of the deathbed.

Once the individual’s death is confirmed, all ornaments are removed from their heads and hands, then their hair is loosened and tears are shed. After this, a member of the family would take the cloth and go outside and climb onto the roof. Facing north, they call out the name of the deceased repeating the word ‘pok’ (which means ‘return’) and pulls up the garment onto the roof. This ritual is named kop ok, calling back the spirit of the dead.

Looking at the worship of one’s ancestors in Japan, there are some similarities and differences to that of China and Japan. In one village in Okinawa, it is believed that the patrilineal descent group (munchuu) should not die out or, if it does, that the house should not be demolished. If the house does fall down then the site should not be built upon by another family as it is taboo for anyone but patrilineal descendants to build a house on it.

Ancestor spirits (gwansu) who have no descendants to pay them homage are given extra ancestral tablets in the ancestral table often separated by a board from the tablets of the proper ancestors of the household. They are considered to be unhappy and restless spirits, known as the ‘cold ancestors’ (hijuru gwansu). An heir is often looked for them if possible as ancestors who lack a suitable heir are believed to be pitiful and dangerous, as well as abnormal and inappropriate.

For the Japanese, to revere one’s ancestors he is supposed to honour them by offering them prayers, incense, foods, etc. In return, his ancestors are expected to protect him. When an unmarried woman dies, she is worshipped by the patrilineal descendants of her family, but her ancestral status in her maternal household is nonessential. For a married woman, her bones are placed in the same urn as her husband’s, thus nearly obliterating her own identity. Her ancestral significance is totally dependent on that of her husband’s. After her thirty-third death anniversary is celebrated, she is only worshipped as the wife of her husband.

Ancestor worship has given Asia a religious belief system that has been individually adopted and adapted by each country and given it their own colourful stamp. When looking at this belief system in Asia, it is surprising to see the similarities between each country as well as the universal meaning and message behind the faith – that family is the most important thing in the world.

Bibliography:

Lee, Kwang Kyu (1984) The Concept of Ancestors and Ancestral worship in Korea, Asian Folklore Studies, Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture.

Masako, Tanaka (1977) Categories of Okinawan “Ancestors” and the Kinship System, Asian Folklore Studies, Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture.

Rowe, William T. (1998) Ancestral Rites and Political Authority in Late Imperial China: Chen Hongmou in Jiangxi, Modern China, Sage Publications Inc.

The Zhou Dynasty

The Zhou Dynasty was the longest in Chinese history, lasting 806 years between 1045 – 256 BCE and is generally divided into two periods – Western Zhou and Eastern Zhou. Eastern Zhou is itself divided into two further periods – the Spring and Autumn Periods (770 – 476 BCE) and the Warring States Period (476 – 221 BCE).

The Zhou Dynasty is well-known for its religious and philosophical contributions, as well as its beautiful and highly skilled bronze-ware.

King Wu of Zhou was the first ruler of the Zhou Dynasty, whose overthrew the last king of Shang, Zhou Wenwang. The challenge of establishing the chronology of the early Zhou dynasty, especially the date of the Zhou Conquest of Shang, regularly stimulates the interest of scholars. The establishment of a precise date is particularly hard as research on historical chronology languished from the Tang dynasty until the first half of the present century when both Western and Chinese scholars again took up the question of the historical evidence for the early dynasties.

Chronological research focusing primarily on the Shang inscriptions made it possible to close in on the date of the founding of Zhou from the perspective of the preceding dynasty and pointed strongly toward a date in the middle decades of the eleventh century for the overthrow of Shang (Parkenier, p.358).

During the late Western and early Eastern Zhou periods, members of the Ying clan formed the ruling classes of several small states - such as Jiang, Huang, and Xu - that occupied the lower Yangzi and Huai River valleys. Constant pressure from the Zhou court caused Xu to push south into the lower Huai River valley, and eventually by the mid-seventh century B.C., into the land between the Huai and Yangzi Rivers in southern Anhui and Jiangxi Provinces (So, p.200).

The fall of the Zhou Dynasty can be attributed to a number of different reasons, but one aspect was that from the time of Ping Wang (770 – 720 BCE), the nobles held the real power. After some time, the nobles declared themselves rulers and paid no allegiance to the Ji family. When King Nan of Zhou died, his sons did not take the title of king. Soon after this, the Qin Shi Huang united China into one country.

Bibliography:

Pankenier, David (1992) The “Bamboo Annuals” Revisited: Problems of Method in Using the Chronicle as a Source for the Chronology of Early Zhou – Part 1, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Cambridge University Press on behalf of the School of Oriental and African Studies.

So, Jenny F. (1994) An Inscribed Early Eastern Zhou Fou in the Arthur M. Sackler Collection, Artibus Asiae, Artibus Asiae Publishers.

The History and Significance of the god Triton

Triton was the son of Poseidon and the sea goddess Amphitrite, although there are other sources that he was the son of Hermes. He was a fish-tailed man (perhaps one of the first examples of mermaids/mer-men) and the herald of Poseidon.

Depictions of him vary; at times he is pictured as a bearded man, others he is shown more youthful. Again, he is either shown with a single fish tail or a double pair, as well as being given a pair of small horns, green-tinged skin and a pair of equine forelegs. As the herald of Poseidon, he is frequently shown holding a conch-shell trumpet and a winged brow.

He could calm the seas or cause storms by blowing on his trumpet. According to some sources, Triton was the king of Libya and when the Argonauts became stranded inland, he appeared as Eurypylus and dragged their ship, the Argo, across the land to the sea. Legends also tell that he gave Euphemus a lump of earth which, when he dropped it into the sea, became the island Calliste.

Later, Triton developed into the plural Tritons, the many attendants of Poseidon, the sons of Phorcus and Ceto. They can be identified as the underwater fauns in character.

Hesiod is the first to mention Triton, where he is given divinity. The reference to the god “which gives the deity a decent pedigree does, on face value, seem to bless him with a respectable antiquity also. The end of the Theogony however, has been considered a post- Hesiodic addition, perhaps of the sixth century BCE”. There seems to be no mention of him before the sixth century BCE.

Scholars believe that both the sea gods, Nereus and Triton, were in fact the same god. But by 560 BCE, they had separated into two distinct beings. His name is never found outside of Attic art. Initially, Triton was not a very popular deity (in literature, Theseus is not taken down by Triton as is believed, but by dolphins, and is not even mentioned), but as time went on, he became a more respect-able figure, painters clothing him in a chitoniskos and occasionally giving him a sceptre.

Triton had several children; Pallas (the nymph of Lake Tritonis in Libya), Calliste (the nymph of the island Calliste), Triteia (the Haliad nymph of town of Triteia in Akhaia), the Tritonides (sea-nymph goddesses) and the foster-father of Athena.

Triton is an interesting character in ancient Greek mythology and his history is just as appealing. His myths and nature can offer us great insight into the ancient Greek world and the history of Classical religion.

Bibliography:

Glynn, Ruth (1981) Herakles, Nereus and Triton: A Study of Iconography in Sixth Century Athens, American Journal of Archaeology, Archaeological Institute of America.