The Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period was a period of great social change in Chinese history. It was then that China slowly transitioned from a slave society to a feudal society.
Before the Spring and Autumn Warring States period was the Xia Shang Zhou period, and the Slave System was implemented during the Xia Shang Zhou Period. But this kind of slavery system is very special, it is a combination of slavery and the transformation of the primitive society of the rural communes, the formation of a special slave society unique to China.
The rural communes that have degenerated from primitive society are actually manifested in the well field system, that is, the rural commune forms are preserved in the name of the state.
The peasants were members of the commune on the one hand, and slaves of the state and the nobility on the other, which was the main feature of the slave society of the Xia Shang Zhou.
Later, with the development of productive forces, the widespread use of iron, and the continuous improvement of agricultural technology, the nobles began to reclaim a large number of wastelands, and the phenomenon of "private enrichment over the public" emerged in an endless stream.
Until the Qin State Shang Martingale Transformation Method. In the records of the historical record, "The martingale is a field, and the territory is opened and sealed, and the taxes are flat." ”
The Shang martingale transformation law gradually disintegrated the rural communes, abolished the national ownership of land in slave society, and began to implement private land ownership, and the Qin state also slowly changed from slavery to feudalism. Under the influence of the Shang Martingale Transformation Law, great changes have taken place in the economic, political, military, and even social atmosphere and people's consciousness of the Qin State.
With the gradual disintegration of the slave society based on the rural communes, industry and commerce gradually developed, and the official handicrafts, private handicrafts and cottage industries began to develop further. The situation in which the government monopolized industry and commerce was gradually broken. In the Warring States period, the princes competed with each other for hegemony, which further promoted the development of industry and commerce, and made industry and commerce achieve unprecedented prosperity.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the prosperity and development of industry and commerce was mainly manifested in the rise of metropolises, the transnational activities of merchants, the circulation of multinational currencies, and the diversified division of labor in handicrafts.
In addition, during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the princes' wars were frequent, among which iron tools played a great role.
In fact, as early as the Western Zhou Dynasty, a small number of systems had already appeared on the mainland. However, at that time, the technology was not yet mature, and people did not have the ability to forge iron ore, so they could only train meteorites in the sky into iron tools.
Until the late Spring and Autumn Period, iron smelters invented a new technology, the leather bag blower.
Under the blowing of dozens or even hundreds of people, the leather bag blower can quickly increase the temperature of the iron smelting furnace to 1200 ° C. At this temperature, the iron ore can be completely dissolved, and the iron smelters can get pure liquid molten iron.
After the craftsmen get the pure liquid molten iron, they can pour the molten iron directly into the poured mold, and directly form it after the molten iron is cooled, which greatly improves the production efficiency of the iron, and also makes the iron appliances more refined and complex.
With the abolition of the state ownership of land, the rise of industry and commerce, the continuous improvement of iron smelting technology, and the changes in the economic foundation, the entire social structure and class relations also changed during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
For example, the decline of the old aristocratic class.
Before the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the country's political economy was monopolized by hereditary clan aristocrats, but with the gradual disintegration of the national ownership of the country's land. The economic foundations of these old aristocrats were already very unstable.
In addition, with the development of industry and commerce, frequent transactions between regions and countries continued to stimulate the greedy desires of the nobles and drive them to pursue a luxurious and eroded life. But it also brought them poverty.
In order to be able to maintain this luxurious and corrupt life, the nobles had to increase the exploitation of slaves and peasants on the one hand, borrow money from the loan sharks of the time, and on the other hand, urge the monarch to launch a war to plunder the land.
It was in such a chaotic and extravagant life inside and outside that the lives of the old nobles decayed day by day. At the same time, the slave society on the mainland also began to gradually decline and disintegrate.
Another example is the rise of the new landlord class.
The new landlord class has a wide range of sources, and some may be the original old aristocracy, after using the surplus labor of the peasants, more private land has been multiplied, and has broken away from the old aristocratic status and stepped into a new area of private land ownership. Some may be merchants who continue to do business, speculate in various countries to get rich, and then annex a large number of lands under the condition that the state allows free trade.
It is also possible that after the collapse of the national ownership of land, the peasants will adopt land through various means to liberate the shackled agricultural productive forces and thus promote their own development.
The disappearance of the old system and the emergence of the new system are often accompanied by the emergence of new classes. As we have just said, the new landlord class is a new class that emerged with the disappearance of the national ownership of land and the emergence of private ownership of land.
After understanding the changes in political, economic, and private ownership of land during the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States Period, let's talk about furniture and jade during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
In the Western Zhou Dynasty, the class system was strict, so that the creativity of craftsmen was limited, most crafts can only show a formula, utensils all present a process of standardization, with consistent utensil beauty, people can not say bad, can not pick out the brilliance. For example, the bronzes of the Shang Zhou and Western Zhou Dynasties all embody the characteristics of eternity, majesty and solemnity.
At that time, bronzes were mainly used for sacrifice, so craftsmen had to reflect the ritual sense of sacrifice when making them.
Until the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the class system was not so strict, and the craftsmen began to exert their own uniqueness and creativity, creating light and lively, good-looking, and playful utensils, such as the Lihe bronze square pot.
For example, during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, craftsmen began to try and create freely, and even began to make utensils not for use, but for beauty.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, craftsmen even invented hollowing, gilding, gold and silver mistakes and other techniques that were praised by posterity. Craftsmen also invented a new method in bronze making, the lost-wax method.
Craftsmen even began to use the panlong pattern (which had a great influence on later generations), the lotus pattern, and the cartoon animal pattern as decorative patterns on bronzes.
At the same time, human shapes began to appear on bronze utensils, which also showed that people's self-consciousness was getting higher and higher. People's sense of self begins to sprout. There is a saying that the awakening of art is actually the awakening of man. This is evident in bronzes.
The advent of bronze tools must have also promoted the further development of woodworking skills. Speaking of which, we have to mention the mortise and mortise structure in the ancient architecture of the mainland.
As early as the Hemudu period, more than 7,000 years ago, people have begun to use mortise and mortise structures when building houses based on dry column buildings.
Many of the wooden structures excavated at the Hemudu site have tenon and tenon structures – the earliest tenon and tenon structures ever found. This also marked the development of the primitive handicraft industry and the outstanding achievements of wood making technology at that time.
The woodworking skills of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period have reached a more exquisite point, and the tenon structure has gradually been applied from architecture to furniture, and the structural form has gradually changed from simple to complex, from light to dark, and there are dozens of types, such as silver ingot mortise, lattice mortise, edge mortise, ming mortise (used for the intersection of the wall panel), swallowtail mortise (used for splicing between the board and the board surface) and so on.
At that time, the carpentry skills were not yet free from the limitations of class hierarchy. From most of the Warring States tombs excavated, we can see that the burial chambers still maintain the shape of the Shang And Zhou Dynasties, with strict class hierarchy differences. From the perspective of the tenon structure, the higher the class, the finer the woodworking process.
It is no exaggeration to say that the tenon and tenon craftsmanship with strong vitality, high scientificity and exquisite tenoning technology also created the most outstanding lacquered wood furniture in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, which had a great influence on future generations.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, it still retained the living style of sitting on the floor inherited from the previous generation. The variety of furniture has only increased a little, but the furniture that appeared in the descendants such as mats, beds, beds, cases, several, boxes, etc. has begun to take shape at this time. The furniture of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period is most represented by the lacquerware furniture of the Chu state culture.
bed
In Xinyang, Henan, a painted wooden bed from the Warring States period has been unearthed. The shape of this bed was basically the same as today's bed. The bed is surrounded by checkered railings, and the railings on both sides leave room for getting on and off the bed, and the bed panel is a box made of nine wooden strips, and the bed will be covered with a bed surface arranged with bamboo strips.
Trick
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there were many textures, including wood, copper and pottery. From the perspective of form, the prototype of the table and the case has been preliminarily available. Henan once unearthed a trick forged from bronze, this trick, the two ends are wide and narrow in the middle, the middle is concave downwards, and the two ends are slightly upward. This form follows the form of the Western Zhou Dynasty.
table
A piece of wood was unearthed in Jiangxi. Here, we can see the shape of the case in the Spring and Autumn Period - the case surface is made of a whole piece of wood. Due to the difference in the functions of the case and the trick at that time, from the perspective of decorative techniques alone, the case was much more vivid and lively than the trick. For example, the paint case unearthed in Henan and the lacquer case excavated from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng. The body is all black paint, but the panels and sides are carved with ornaments and painted with vermilion paint. The black and red are commensurate, very appropriate, and the case foot also adopts animal form.
Let's take a look at the Warring States Dragon and Phoenix square copper case unearthed in Henan. Despite the passage of time, the overall shape of the Dragon and Phoenix square copper case, including color and texture, still exists, only the lacquered wood case panel has not resisted the destruction of time and has decayed.
The dragon and phoenix square copper case is surrounded by gold and silver clouds, and the base is well preserved. The top of the faucet also has a dark side that carries a square, and each of the four faucets has a door arch on it. The head and crest are followed by a round chassis. This copper case, the overall production is exquisite, the shape is vivid. It can be said that it is a historical breakthrough in the history of ancient furniture creation in the mainland.
This Warring States Dragon and Phoenix Square Copper Case is the first copper case to vividly reproduce the shape of the warring states period in a physical appearance.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, which transitioned from a slave society to a feudal society, there were great changes in politics, economy, bronze craftsmanship, carpentry craftsmanship and furniture making.