The Lone Bamboo Kingdom was an ancient civilization in the southern foothills of the Yan mountains in the northern region of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties of China. At the end of the Shang Dynasty, the allusions of the Lone Bamboo Boyi ShuQi Rangguo, the Persecution of horses, the shame of Eating Zhou Su, and the Hunger of Shouyang were widely praised by future generations and have been passed down for a long time. The Lone Bamboo Country is also famous all over the world. Although Guzhu was located in the northern province, it had a very close relationship with the Central Plains Dynasty. The in-depth study of the rich cultural connotation of the Lone Bamboo Country is of great historical significance to the understanding of the formation and development of the pattern of pluralism and integration of Chinese civilization, so it has long been concerned by the academic community.
Clarify the time and space range of the lone bamboo country
The Shang Dynasty was the beginning and flourishing period of the Lone Bamboo Kingdom. "Lone Bamboo" is also known as "Yao Zhu", which was first seen in the Yin Shang Oracle. The activities of the Guzhu clan are also recorded in the Oracle Bone Buci. Scholars have a variety of interpretations of the name of the lone bamboo country. It is generally believed that the "Yao" is a wine vessel made of bronze, which is an important ceremonial instrument representing the status of the royal family and nobility; "Bamboo" refers to the bamboo jane used for memorization. "Yao Zhu" is collectively called the name of the country, which shows the noble and elegant meaning. However, the carriers of Shang Dynasty chronicles have mainly seen oracle bones and bronzes, but no bamboo Jane. Therefore, the above views have yet to be confirmed by excavated cultural relics. In addition, there are also national surnames and family names. "Lonely" is a national surname, generally used as an abbreviation for ancient emperors. In the "Book of Rites and Wang Zao", there is the saying that "the king of a small country is lonely", and later there is a saying that "meritorious deeds are exhibited, and the founding of the country is called lonely"; "Bamboo" is a family name, used as a surname for the people.
Regarding the location of the capital of the Lonely Bamboo Kingdom, scholars have quoted the "Chronicle of The Ancient Bamboo In the Ancient City of Guzhu" according to the "Chronicle of History and Zhou Benji": "The ancient city of Lonely Bamboo is in the southern twelve miles of Lulong County, Pingzhou, and the princely states of Yin Shi are also there." Therefore, Lulong County in Hebei Province should be the seat of the ancient lone bamboo state capital. However, on closer inspection, the lone bamboo country can be divided into two phases in time, and the construction site is not one. In the early days, the ruins of the capital city were in the old city of present-day Luan County, and in the later period, they were moved to Lone Bamboo City. The records of "Lulong" in previous dynasties mostly refer to the "ancient Lulong County" rather than the "present-day Lulong County".
Wu Ding was the 23rd monarch of the Shang Dynasty, and at that time the national strength was at its peak, and the history was called "Wu Ding Zhongxing". Wu Ding used troops in all directions, the territory was greatly expanded, and his subordinates were enfeoffed. According to the regulations, the fief must have a fief. The "Chronicle of Unity" records: "Wu Ding analyzed the yellow luo of the lonely bamboo to seal the princes." Therefore, Huangluo City was also divided into "Yin Shi Princely States". The Lone Bamboo Kingdom chose another capital city, that is, the former site of the ancient Lone Bamboo City. This area has long belonged to Gululong County, located on the west bank of the Luan River, north of Sun Xueying Village, and was assigned to Luan County in July 1946. The city survived before 1957 and was demolished in 1958 for the construction of water conservancy works.
The "History of Yin Benji" records: "Qi is a sub-surname, and then it is divided into feudal titles, with the state as the surname, including the Yin, Lai, Song, Kongtong, Zhi, Beiyin, and Muyi clans." This is in line with the "Tongzhi Clan Sketch" cloud "ink tire clan, sub-surname". "Muyi Clan" is also known as "Mo Ti Clan" and "Mo Tai Clan", indicating that Gu Zhu should be a Yin Shang clan.
Explore the reasons for the decline of the lone bamboo country
According to the "Records of History" and other documents, during the Shang Tang Dynasty, the lone bamboo state was established, and the rise and fall of the lone bamboo country was about a thousand years until the Qi Huan soldiers cut down the mountains and returned the lone bamboo. The academic circles have explored in depth the reasons for the rise and fall of the lone bamboo country. The Mo Tire clan and the Shang Ancestor Qi, to which Gu Zhu belongs, are both sub-surnames, with the same root and the same sect, and the water and milk are blended. Although Guzhu was far away from the Yin capital, it still had considerable influence on the Shang Dynasty. The Lone Bamboo Monarch was given the post of Second Rank by the King of Shang, that is, a position second only to that of the King. In the early Shang Dynasty, the Rong Di in the north gradually became stronger, and repeatedly took the trend of advancing south. The existence of the Lone Bamboo State set up a strong barrier for the Shang Dynasty to defend against invasion from the north, and thus made a significant contribution.
In the oracle bones, it is often seen that the words "women's bamboo", "wife bamboo", "bamboo concubine" and so on are common, which is the title of the lone bamboo woman who marries the shang royal family as a woman. The "mother bamboo" indicates that the "female bamboo" gave birth to heirs for the Shang royal family. This kind of blood marriage relationship made Guzhu more extraordinary in the Shang royal family. Scholars believe that the territory of the Lone Bamboo State is in the area of present-day Beijing, Tianjin and Tang, which belongs to the center of the power of the Lone Bamboo State, but in fact, the influence of the Lone Bamboo State has reached as far as western Liaoning. The cultural relics with the characteristics of the lone bamboo country that have been unearthed frequently in western Liaoning are conclusive evidence. Two adjacent bronze cellars have been found in Beidong, Kazuo County, Liaoning Province, and a paisley copper scroll has been excavated, which belongs to the late Shang Dynasty from the perspective of shape. The inscription "Father Ding Lone bamboo Yawei" preserves the precious information about the lone bamboo king of the late Shang Dynasty for future generations. According to research, Boyi's grandfather is the father, that is, the ink fetus. Among them, Ya is an honorific title, which is synonymous with "Ya Father" in ancient texts, indicating honor.
The node of the transformation of the Lone Bamboo Kingdom from prosperity to decline occurred at the time of the Zhou Wu King's cutting. At the end of Yin, the emperor was absurd and unscrupulous, and the heavens were angry and resentful. King Wu of Zhou complied with the will of the people and led the princes to cut down the silk. However, the lone bamboo kingdom boyi and Shuqi remained loyal to the Shang king, thus causing the historical tragedy of percussion, not eating Zhou Su, and starving shouyang to death. Since the Shang Yin Dynasty was destroyed, the princely states of its concubines would of course be implicated, and the so-called "under the nest, will there be a complete egg"? Since then, the lone bamboo country has begun to decline, and it is expected.
King Wu enfeoffed Yu Yan, the duke of Zhao, who was also surnamed Ji, with the capital at present-day Fangshan Liulihe in Beijing, and his son Ke was in charge of the state. The territory of the Yan state was in present-day Hebei and western Liaoning, and it was also the area controlled and influential by the Lone Bamboo State. Yan and Guzhu have great interests, and contradictions and conflicts of interest are intensifying day by day. Unwilling to be subordinate to the Yan state, Gu Zhu allied with his old enemy Shanrong to oppose the Yan state. "History of the Qi Taigong Family": "Twenty-three years, the mountain Rong cut down Yan, and Yan was anxious to Qi. Qi Huan saved Yan, cut down the mountain rong, and returned the lone bamboo. "The lonely bamboo country is dead."
Bo Yi and Shu Qi were royal nobles of the rank of crown prince of the Lone Bamboo Kingdom, and their deeds had a great impact on future generations. Regarding the words and deeds of Boyi and Shuqi, there have always been mixed reviews and criticisms, but most of them have praised them. The story of Boyi and Shuqi rangguo was widely praised by future generations. Their acts of humility, courtesy, loyalty and filial piety, honesty, pursuit of justice, and advocating integrity have laid the foundation of the etiquette state of the Chinese nation, and are the ideological backbone of the excellent traditions of Chinese civilization, which still has positive significance even today. However, as for King Wu of Zhou, who led the army to cut down the army, they "tapped the horse and advised" and simply regarded King Zhou Wu's righteous actions as "exchanging violence for violence, not knowing whether it was right or wrong", but they obviously misjudged the situation, failed to conform to the trend of history, and should be abandoned. The ancients were limited by historical conditions and were not perfect. In this regard, we should make an objective and comprehensive analysis and inherit its positive factors.
Locate the archaeological culture of the Lone Bamboo Country
During the Xia and Shang dynasties, the material cultural relics in the Yanshan area were archaeologically collectively referred to as the lower xiajiadian culture. In recent years, with the continuous enrichment of archaeological data, the understanding of the lower culture of Xiajiadian and the related archaeological culture of Yanshan area has gradually deepened, and the academic views have become clearer. "Chinese Archaeology • Xia Shang Volume" (edited by the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China Social Sciences Press, 2003 edition) pointed out that the lower culture of Xiajiadian is distributed in the north of Yanshan Mountain. The archaeological culture of the Southern Xia Shang period of Yanshan is the Datuotou culture and the Weifang Phase III culture. Therefore, the cultural relics of the Lone Bamboo Country, located in the southern foothills of Yanshan Mountain, do not seem to belong to the category of xiajiadian lower culture. In the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the State of Yan was officially enfeoffed as a prince. Since then, the vast area south of Yanshan and present-day Jingjintang has been under the actual control of the Yan State, and the Lone Bamboo State has become a vassal of the Yan State.
The Datuotou culture and the Weifang Phase III culture are distributed in the Jingjintang area at the southern foot of Yanshan Mountain. In terms of chronology, the Datuotou culture is in the front, and the Weifang Phase III culture is followed. The similarity between the two cultures is that the excavated pottery has mane, 甗, zun, jar, bowl, etc., and all of them are popular trumpet-shaped copper or gold earrings; There are also differences between the two, the mane of the large tump head culture has two kinds of folded shoulders and drum belly mane, while the mane of the third stage of the weifang does not have a shoulder folder, and the collar of the drum belly mane is higher. The third phase of the Weifang culture also appeared in the drum belly mouth pot, mouth bowl and other new instrument shapes. The biggest difference between the two cultures is that ritual vessels such as copper dings and copper grates have been seen in the burial items of the third phase of the Weifang tomb.
The factors that have similar cultural connotations between the Datuotou culture and the Weifang Phase III clearly indicate the inheritance relationship between the two, while the difference in cultural connotations indicates the development of the Weifang III culture itself and the changes that have occurred due to the strong influence of the Yinshang cultural forces. After the chronological sequence and inheritance relationship between the Datuotou culture and the Weifang Phase III culture in the southern foothills of the Yanshan Mountains, the above-mentioned archaeological cultural nature that is roughly consistent with the temporal and spatial scope of the Culture of the Lone Bamboo Country is basically clear, that is, the Datuotou Culture and the Weifang Phase III Culture are in the initial and prosperous period of the Lone Bamboo Country.
Northern cultural factors have far-reaching implications
The Datuotou Cultural Site is most typical of the tombs of Xiaoguanzhuang in Tangshan and Liu Lidian in Fangshan, Beijing. The 6 tombs found in Xiaoguanzhuang in Tangshan are all rectangular sarcophagus tombs, facing east and west. Some sarcophagi have foot boxes attached to the foot ends to place the funerary items. The funerary items are mainly pottery, and their combinations are mane, zun and pot. Trumpet-shaped copper earrings have also been unearthed in a few tombs. The Datuotou cultural tomb found in Liu Lidian, Fangshan, is a rectangular earthen pit vertical cave tomb. The pottery with the funerary products is combined into a guise and a jar, both of which are placed at the end of the foot. Tomb No. 2 also contains trumpet-shaped copper earrings and copper rings.
Although the Weifang Phase III cultural tomb found in Liujiahe Village, Pinggu, Beijing, has been destroyed, the excavated burials are still very rich, with more than 40 pieces of gold, copper, jade, pottery, iron and other artifacts. Among them, gold, copper and iron are treasures, and they are the earliest cultural relics of the middle and late Shang Dynasty that have been discovered in Beijing so far, with important historical, scientific and technological value. Among the 16 bronzes, the craftsmanship level of the three sheep and the bird pillar turtle and fish pattern plate is the highest, which can be called a masterpiece in the bronze ware of the same period. In addition, bronze ware also has square ding, string pattern round ding, mane, 甗, jue, 卣, 斝, 罍, 瓿, plate, 盉 and Danglu, human face ornaments, etc., gold ware has earrings, arm bracelets, etc., jade has handle-shaped utensils, huang, etc., as well as precious iron blade copper cymbals. The weapon is made of natural meteoric iron, forged into a thin blade after heating, and then cast with bronze, which is the earliest proof of iron in China.
The shape and ornamentation style of the bronze ceremonial vessels produced by the Liujiahe Tomb in Pinggu have obvious characteristics of bronze ware in the middle and late Shang Dynasty. The shape and pattern of the small square ding of the cloud thunder pattern are similar to the 2 large square dings excavated in Zhengzhou; The shape of the string pattern ding, mane, gourd and bird and beast fish tail plate and cup is basically the same as that of the artifacts excavated from the lijiazui tomb in Panlongcheng, Hubei Province; The Gluttonous Pattern Ding has the characteristics of the upper level of Zhengzhou Erligang; The SanyangMu is similar to the copper from the second tomb of Baijiazhuang in Zhengzhou; The iron-bladed copper-bladed copper-plutonium is basically the same as that excavated from Taixi Village, Gaocheng, Hebei Province; The copper ornament with human face pattern is similar to the copper ornament with human face pattern excavated from northwest Gang in Anyang. Along with the above-mentioned Shang cultural factors, there are also artifacts belonging to the cultural factors of the northern steppe. For example, the golden arm and golden earrings are obviously similar to similar artifacts of the lower culture of Xiajiadian in Inner Mongolia.
The analysis shows that the remains of this batch of bronzes in Pinggu Liujiahe contain at least two cultural factors, but the cultural factors of the Central Plains Shang are the mainstay. According to the overall characteristics of the bronze ceremonial vessels produced in the tomb, it is presumed that it is a remnant of the Culture of the Lone Bamboo State in the middle and late Shang Dynasty, which generally belongs to the category of Shang culture. According to the exquisite gold arm and gold earrings unearthed, as well as the iron blade copper cymbal symbolizing power, and the analysis of 16 bronze ceremonial vessels in groups, the owner of the tomb should be a monarch-level figure who holds military power in the Lone Bamboo Kingdom.
Bronze ceremonial vessels excavated from the Houqianyi site in Luan County, Hebei Province, were reported to include 3 dings and 1 gui. The dings are all deeply drummed abdomen, with both ears symmetrically placed on the rim of the mouth, and the three solid column feet are attached vertically to the ventral base. Among them, 1 piece is decorated with cloud thunder pattern and oblique checkered pattern, 1 piece is decorated with gluttonous pattern, and the other piece is a plain face, and the upper abdomen is decorated with protruding and convex edges. The walls are covered with milky tingles. The Shape and Ornamentation of dinghe gui excavated from the Houqianyi site have typical bronze characteristics of the same kind of Yin Shang culture, and are the late remnants of the Weifang Phase III culture. The Houqianyi site also unearthed a triangular bronze weapon, which is a bronze weapon that appeared in the northern grassland culture under the influence of the Yin Shang culture.
A large number of rich pottery artifacts excavated from the Datuotou Culture and weifang Phase III cultural sites have typical characteristics of sedentary farming culture, while trumpet-shaped copper or gold earrings, as well as golden arm and triangle aided by Jingo, are representative artifacts of the northern steppe nomadic culture. Archaeological data show that the farming culture is the main body of the culture of the Lone Bamboo Country, and at the same time it is strongly influenced by the culture of the ethnic minority areas in the north.
China is an ancient civilization with a long history, and the continuous traditional Chinese culture has never been interrupted. Since the beginning of the Xia Shang, the Central Plains has been the mainstream area of ancient Chinese culture, and its cultural connotation is actually the culmination of pluralism and integration. The culture of the Lone Bamboo Country is the epitome of the integration of the farming culture of the Central Plains and the nomadic culture of the north, so it occupies an important position in the formation and development of ancient Chinese civilization.
Original title: Lone Bamboo Seeking Sound - The Intersection of Farming and Grassland
Source: China Social Science Network - China Social Science Daily
Author: Li Jianmin
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