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A Study of the Pottery Inscription “Wen Yi 文邑 ”

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A Study of the Pottery Inscription “Wen Yi 文邑 ” A Study of the Pottery Inscription “Wen Yi 文邑 ” A Study of the Pottery Inscription “Wen Yi 文邑 ” Feng Shi* Key words: Bronze Age–China Taosi Site (Xiangfen County, Shanxi) Flasks Scripts (Writing) Since the publishing, the red ink-written inscription we know that this has close relationship with Xia Culture. (Figure 1; Li 2001) on pottery flask unearthed from Pit It is well known that the discovery of oracle bone script H4303 at Taosi Site, Xiangfen County, Shanxi Prov- was essential for the identification of the natures of Yinxu ince attracted much attention of academic field. This Culture; then, that whether the Taosi scripts have the flask was dated as the 20th century BCE, which was in same significance to the nature of Taosi Culture is a the chronological scope of the Xia Dynasty. Because of question to which we are eager to get the answers. the studies to the worshipping of God of Land of the The red ink-written inscription of Taosi Culture be- Xia Dynasty and the relevant history facts (Feng 2002a), longed to the same writing system with the oracle bone script of the Shang Dynasty, therefore they could also be seen as the prototype of Chinese characters (Feng 2002b); for this reason, we can decode the Taosi in- scription with the assistance of oracle bone scripts. As for the two characters 2 in this inscription, the first is identified Figure 2. The “Yang as “Wen 文”without disagreement ( )”as the among the researchers, but the decipher- Phonetic ing of the second character has many Component of contradicting results: for example, some 1 3 “Yang (饧)” scholars decipher it as “Yang (Luo in Bronze In- 2001)”, some scholars explained it as Figure 1. The Red Ink-Written Character of Taosi Culture scription 1. From Li, Jianmin 2001 2 and 3. Traced by (From Ling令 “Yao 尧 (He 2007)”. However, the form the Author Ding-tripod) of (Figure 2) in the Shang and Zhou inscriptions did not match the form of this character. On the other hand, the composition of Yao 尧 was that one or two “Tu 土 (Earth)”were set on top and a “Ren 人 (Human being)”was set below them (Figure 3). No matter in 1 3 5 2 4 oracle bone scripts or in bronze inscriptions, the“Tu 土”was all in the Figure 3. The Ancient Forms of the Character “Yao 尧” shape of “ ” or “ ”, like tumulus 1. From No. 9379 of Jiaguwen Heji 甲骨文合集 2. From the Inscription of piled up out of the horizon, because of Yao 尧 Pan 3. From Chu Silk Manuscript 4. From pt. 3 of the Qiong Da yi Shi 穷达以时 (Misery and Success Depend on the Age) Section of the which the “tumulus”could by no Guodian Chu Bamboo Slips 5. From pt. 7 of the Liu De 六德 (The Six means separate from the “horizon”. Virtues) Section of the Guodian Chu Bamboo Slips Therefore, the upper part of the second * The Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, 100710 170 Chinese Archaeology Feng Shi character was absolutely not“ Tu 土”and certainly the and Yi Yin 伊尹 ’s announcement quoted by the Chap- whole character could not be “Yao 尧”at all. ter Zi Yi 缁衣 (the Black Robes) of Liji 礼记 (Book of In my opinion, the second character of the Taosi pot- Rites), the capital of the Xia Dynasty was all mentioned tery inscription should be“ Yi 邑”. In the ancient scripts, as Xia Yi 夏邑 or Xi Yi Xia 西邑夏; in Chapters Mu Yi was combined by“口‘( Guo’, ideographic indica- Shi 牧誓 (King Wu’s Speech at Mu) and Duo Shi 多士 tor of an enclosing border or an enclosed scope)”and “人 ‘( Ren’, Human being)”, usually written like“ ”; and the prototype of this character was in a coarse shape. Hereby I select some cases from the bronze inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty (Figure 4). All of them were composed of“口” and“人” , but of the ones of the two Yi Jue-cups, the heads of the“人” part had been simplified from an imitation of human head into a dash, especially the first one (Figure 4:1, No. 7589 of Yin Zhou Jinwen Jicheng 殷周金文集成), 1 which had almost identical shape and composition with the second character of Taosi pottery inscription, what slightly different was that the dash (head) of the“人” part of Taosi pottery inscription was separated from the body because of the writing strokes. Both of the charac- ters on the Jue-cups were identified as“Yi 邑”in Jinwen Bian 金文编 (Dictionary of Bronze Inscription, by Rong Geng), which are correct. Based on these 2 3 evidences, the two characters of Taosi pottery inscrip- tion can be deciphered as “Wen Yi 文邑.” Figure 4. The Character “Yi (邑)”in Bronze Inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty The name “Wen Yi”has been seen in the oracle 1. Yi (邑) from Yi Jue-cup (No. 7589 of Yin Zhou Jinwen bone inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty (Figure 5). The Jicheng 殷周金文集成) 2. Yi (邑) from Yi Jue-cup (No. divination words were: 7588 of Yin Zhou Jinwen Jicheng殷周金文集成) 3. Yi 癸酉卜, 贞: 文邑[受]禾? (Cracked on the day guiyou, Yin (邑尹) from Yi Yin Gui-vessel, No. 83 of Liusan Ou tested: [Would] Wen Yi [get] a bumper crop? – No. Mei Yin Zhou You Ming Qingtongqi Jilu 流散欧美殷周 33243 of Jiaguwen Heji 甲骨文合集 [Collection of the 有铭青铜器集录 (A Selection of Early Chinese Bronzes with Inscriptions from Sotheby’s and Christie’s Sales) Oracle Bone Inscriptions]) □酉卜, [贞]: 文邑受禾? □□卜, [贞: 文] 邑受禾? (Cracked on the day [certain heavenly stem and] you, tested: [Would] Wen Yi get a bumper crop? ...cracked on certain day, tested: [Would Wen] Yi get a bumper crop? – No. 33242 of 甲骨文合集) Wen Yi 文邑 should be the name of a city referring to the capital of the Xia Dynasty. Historic literatures have ex- act records that the capitals of the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties were all 2 1 called “Yi 邑”: in Chapters Tang Shi 汤誓 (the Speech of Tang) and Duo Figure 5. The Name “Wen Yi (文邑)”in Oracle Bones and Shells Fang 多方 (the Numerous Regions) of 1. From No. 33243 of Jiaguwen Heji 甲骨文合集 2. From No. 33242 of Shangshu 尚书 (Book of Documents) Jiaguwen Heji 甲骨文合集 Volume 9 171 A Study of the Pottery Inscription “Wen Yi 文邑 ” (the Numerous Officers) of Shangshu and the ode Yin Sometimes the Xia Dynasty did have a prefix Wen Wu 殷武 (King Wuding’s Martial Merit) of Shang Song and was called Wen Xia, which might be derived from 商颂 (Sacrificial Odes of Shang) in Shijing 诗经 (Book an archaic system or custom; however, this title can be of Poetry), the oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang seen in the bronze inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty, Dynasty and the bronze inscriptions of the Western Zhou such as: Dynasty, the capitals of the Shang Dynasty were all The Wen Xia Fu Ding Gui 簋 -vessel of the Shang mentioned as Shang Yi 商邑, Da Yi Shang 大邑商 or Dynasty had inscription saying Wen Xia Fu Ding 文夏 Tian Yi Shang 天邑商; moreover, the capital established 父丁 (Father Ding of Wen Xia, No. 3312 of 殷周金文 by King Wen of the Western Zhou Dynasty was men- 集成) on both the body and the lid; another Wen Xia Fu tioned as Feng Yi 丰邑 in the ode Wenwang You Sheng Ding You 卣-jar of the Shang Dynasty also had the same 文王有声 (the Praise of King Wen) of Daya 大雅 (the inscription on both the body and lid (No. 5155 of 殷周 Greater Odes of the Kingdom) in Shijing; Chengzhou 金文集成). 成周, the new capital built by King Cheng of the West- The original form of the character “Xia 夏”was ern Zhou Dynasty was mentioned as Luo Yi 洛邑, Xin written as “ ” composed of “Ri 日 (the sun)”and Yi 新邑 (lit. “New City”) or Xin Da Yi 新大邑 (lit. “Ye 页 (the head)” (Tang 1999). This character was also “New Great City”) in Chapters Shao Gao 召诰 (the seen in the oracle bone inscriptions as the name of a Announcement of the Duke of Shao), Luo Gao 洛诰 clan. It is noted in Yuanhe Xing Zuan 元和姓纂 (Yuanhe (the Announcement concerning Luo), Kang Gao 康诰 Compilation of Surnames) that “(the surname) Xia is (the Announcement to the Prince of Kang), Duo Shi and the descendant of the clan of the Xia Dynasty’s monarch, Duo Fang of Shangshu, and as Da Yi Zhou 大邑周 in and this surname is given after the title of the dynasty.” Shangshu quoted by Chapter Teng Wengong xia 滕文 Then “Wen Xia”would be the name of a clan who 公下 (Duke Wen of Teng pt. 2) of Mencius 孟子; in was the descendant of the Xia Dynasty and named them- Western Zhou bronze inscriptions, the terms“ Xin Yi” selves after the dynasty, and revealed that the Xia Dy- and“Chengzhou”were also not rare. Xin Yi was not a nasty was also called Wen Xia in the early ages. proper name but just a term referring to any new-built The title “Wen Xia”ought to be related to the fact settlement used in all periods; for example, the“ Xin Yi” that Xia was the descendant of Yu 禹 the Great. The Qi in Chapter Pangeng 盘庚 of Shangshu meant Yin, the 杞 State enfeoffed by the Shang and Zhou Dynasties new capital built by King Pangeng of the Shang Dynasty.
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