May the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva protect and bless me,
The gap between the two fields of enquiry is only partially bridged by a limited corpus of palaeographic inscriptions, too late and technical to supply any valuable biographical information, but good enough to perceive the relevance of the role assigned to Cheng Tang in the pyramidal structure of the late Shang pantheon. It implies on one side the careful unfolding of a tangled skein of multifaceted literary fragments embedded in a wide variety of texts (ranging from the earliest sections of the classics to Tang and Song encyclopaedias) on the other, the processing of an increasing number of archaelogical finds, excavation reports and academic essays. 4 A Research Group of Quan-zhou Museum for Overseas Communication History, 'Quan-zhou Chendai Ding-xing yan-jiu'' (A study of the Ding's family in Chendai) in Quan-zhou Hai-wai jiao-tong-shi hui-bian2 In such conditions, any attempt aiming at digging out the historical core hidden by centuries of layering of more or less canonical traditions is fatally bound to be a troublesome undertaking.
1 Eldest daughter of the Lord of Song (You Song 有娀 ), according to Lienü zhuan (Biographies of Eminent (.) Wang Qingzheng, Fan Dongqing & Zhou Lili, Ruyao de faxian/The Discovery of. Genealogy25), some of them identifiable through their inscriptions among pieces extant. Such a long rule contributed to the image of the Zhou rulers and their political and ritual institutions as examples and guidelines for all later dynasties, at least in theory.3 In spite of all these problems and limitations, close analysis of the available sources may nonetheless be a captivating scholarly exercise, as the following concise reconstruction will hopefully show. On the other hand, a third ethnonym of the inscriptions, Tabga.The Zhou Dynasty (11th cent.-221 BCE) was probably the dynasty that reigned for the longest period of time not only among all Chinese dynasties, but of the whole world.
13 Zou Heng, 1978 Zheng Jiexiang, 1983 Erligang dates are from Keightley, 1983, p. 12 See Xu Xusheng, 1959 Tan Qixiang, 1982, map 13. Having helped Da Yu 大禹 in regulating the overflown waters, Xie, founder of the royal Zi 子 Clan, 2 served with brilliant results under Shun 舜 and was therefore rewarded with the feud of Shang 3 , from which the future dynasty was bound to derive its name.5 To pay homage to his portentous birth, he was posthumously remembered as ‘Dark King’ (Xuan Wang 玄王 ) his distinguished deeds are thus synthesized in one of the ancestral hymns preserved in the Book of Odes: 3 The descent of the Dark Bird is mentioned in the “Shang song” 商頌 section of Shijing (Classic of Poe (.)4 According to traditional sources, Tang’s clan descended from the mythical ancestor Xie 契 , miraculously begot by a consort of Di Ku 帝嚳 named Jian Di 簡狄 , 1 who had become pregnant after swallowing the egg of a mysterious ‘Dark Bird’ (Xuan Niao 玄鳥 ).
West of Luoyang 洛陽 , dated 2300-1300 B.C.) 12 , and, successively, with the Erligang 二里岡 site in Zhengzhou 鄭州 , Henan (dated 1713-1433 B.C.). Chinese scholars have variously identified the town with the site of Erlitou 二里頭 (near Yanshi 偃師 , nine km. The exact location of Bo 亳 , eighth seat of the House of Shang and first dynastic capital. 1200-1181) brings us to circa 1 (.)9 From the archaeological point of view, the problem is strictly linked with another vexata quaestio, i.e. 524-525: “A count backward from Wu Ting 武丁 (ca.
Pankenier has placed the date of Tang’s dynastic founding in 1554 B.C. In the early 80s, basing himself on astronomical evidence, D. B.C.) and Thutmosis III (r.
202-2 (.)12 The earliest jiagu inscriptions, dating from period I, mention the founder of the dynasty with the styles Cheng 21 and Tang (1-2), that progressively fell out of use during the following periods and were finally superseded by the posthumous title Da Yi (3), 22 derived from the date of his birth 23 the coupling of Cheng and Tang (4) seems to be an early Zhou innovation, as shown by a famous shell fragment excavated in 1977 at Fengchucun 鳳雛村 (Shaanxi) and probably dating from the times of Wen Wang 文王 (period V early XIth c. See Guo Moruo, 1935, I, p. 25 Qi Hou bozhong 齊侯鎛鐘 (or Shu Yi zhong 叔夷鐘 ). “…inscription H11:1 probably dates to just before the conquest” a s (.) 24 See Shaughnessy, 1991, p.
GSR, 720z: “*t ’âng/t’âng/ t’ang: ‘hot liquid’ ( Lunyu ) ”. 29 See Jianshou 2.12 (Wang Guowei, 1917, p. “*d ’âng/d’âng/ t’ang: ‘great’ (Chouli)” Zhou Fagao, 1975, vol. 28 SW, IIa.21b see also GSR, 700a-b. 27 Shijing, ode 142 (“Chen Feng” 陳風 , Fang you quechao 防有鵲巢 I, p. 26 Martial ability is even more stressed by the styles Wu Tang and Wu Wang (12-13), used in the Shang (.)
29 Besides indicating ‘hot waters’( reshui 熱水 ), 30 tang (7) is also used to convey the idea of ‘amply-flowing’, 31 easily associable with ‘greatness’ the concept of ‘splendour’ is further suggested by the graphic affinity with yang (陽 ,暘 ). 149 A.D.) explains tang (1) as ‘great speech’ ( dayan 大言 ) 28 , and mentions a doubtful guwen variant representing a sort of missing link between the two graphs. According to Shijing and Erya, tang (1) indicated ‘the path leading from the gate to the hall of a temple’ ( miao zhonglu 廟中路 ) 27 Xu Shen 許慎 (c. 33 The graph appears for the first time in the Shang ancestral hymns ( Shijing, “Shang song”) and in th (.)13 Whereas Cheng (2) was certainly chosen to celebrate the successful military campaign against Xia Jie 夏桀 , 26 the two Tang styles (1, 7) seem to have been adopted to convey wider ideas, such as ‘greatness’ and ‘splendour’. 32 A possible link with solar myths is suggested in Shanhai jing , IX, p. 31 In this case the graph is usually doubled and is to be read shang GSR, 720z: “* śiang / śiang/ shang: (.)
1314: “Generic term for palace women ranking below principal wives (.) 46 Jiu Pin 九嬪 see Hucker, 1985, p. 45 The omission of the name of the first-born in the current version seems due to textual corruption, (.) 44 The variant You Xin 有莘 (You Shen 有櫬 ) is found in Mengzi, V A 7, p.
As the superior men say: ‘If the wife is enlightened, order will ensue’ ( Fei ming er you xu 妃明而有序 ). She controlled the Nine Concubines 46 and kept order in the harem, banning jealousy and rebellion, and supporting till death the king’s undertakings. The woman gave birth to Zhong Ren and Wai Bing, 45 and distinguished herself educating them and favouring the full growth of their abilities. 44 Yin Tang married her and granted her the rank of royal consort ( fei 妃 ). 21-22 Araki, 1969, (.)You Xin 有莘 , spouse of Tang, came from the house of the Lords of Xin.
54 See Chen Mengjia, 1956, p. 53 The identification with Nan Ren 南壬 , suggested by Dong Zuobin and Yu Xingwu, is seriously hindered b (.) 1387-1388 (32) Zhao Cheng, 1988, p. 52 See S 520 (27) LZ, III, p. 1382-1383 (128) Zhao Cheng, 1988, p.
62 A very similar version is found in Xinshu (New Historical Documents) VII, p. 61 The states were thirty according to a quotation preserved in Wenxuan zhu (Commentary on the Wenxuan (.) 53 The relevance of the cult payed to Da Ding is in sharp contrast with his supposed premature death, and shows on the contrary that he must have actually reigned 54 close study of sacrificial schedules has also questioned the reliability of traditional succession lists, suggesting the possibility that Tai Jia directly succeeded his father on the throne.
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