Research Articles

 

Historical Studies (Chinese Edition)

No.2, 2019

 

Feng Xu Zhi Ming(封许之命) and the Western Zhou System of Outer Domains (Abstract)

 

Shao Bei

 

The Qinghua bamboo slip Feng Xu Zhi Ming provides new material for the study of feudal lords and the waifu system of the Western Zhou. The Western Zhou system of neifu (内服—the royal domain) and waifu (外服—the outer domains) was a comprehensive political and geographical system inherited from the Shang Dynasty. The rulers of the outer domains included the feudal lords and regional rulers who had not been enfeoffed. The former comprised the those with the titles of hou, tian and nan (侯, 田, 男), while the latter included the rulers of the state of Song, descendants of Shang Dynasty, respectfully called gong (公) by the Zhou; rulers of the four non-Zhou polities of the Man, Yi, Rong and Di, who were called zi (子); rulers from the house of Zhou, who were called bo (伯); and 伯 ruling other non-Zhou states. Some neifu fiefdoms of the king’s servants and as yet unidentified weiguan were distributed throughout the waifu. So gong, hou, bo, zi and nan (公, 侯, 伯, 子, 男) were all found in waifu areas. Having an audience with the Zhou ruler and participating in royal household gatherings were among the important services they rendered to the house of Zhou. Such audiences and participation entailed different levels of ritual for the different rulers of the outer domains. These levels were an important reference for the rankings in gatherings of the feudal lords in the Spring and Autumn Period; they were recorded by historians and served as an important source for scholars studying the Warring States’ construction of the five ranks of nobility.