p. 29: Discussing the early script and language, I refer to the great number of unidentified Shang characters and, especialy, to the composite characters which have been mentioned often by C. Hentze in his research; on the
other hand, the original language of the Chou may have been different from classical Chinese, if we can judge
from the form of the names of the earliest Chou ancestors. Problems of substrata languages enter at this stage.
Our first understanding of Chou language and dialects seems to come through the method applied by P. Serruys,
rather than through the more generaly accepted theories and methods of B. Karlgren and his school.
p. 30: I reject here the statement of classical texts that the last Shang ruler was unworthy, and accept the new interpretation of Ch'en Meng-chia which is based upon oracle bone texts,—The most recent general study on
feudalism, and on feudalism in China, is in R. Coulborn, Feudalism in History, Princeton 1956. Stimulating, but in parts antiquated, is M. Granet, La Féodalité Chinoise, Oslo 1952. I rely here on my own research. The instalment procedure has been described by H. Maspero and Ch'i Sz[)u]-ho.
p. 31: The interpretation of land-holding and clans folows my own research which is influenced by Nida
Noboru, Kat[=o] Shigeru and other Japanese scholars, as wel as by G. Haloun.—Concerning the origin of
family names see preliminarily Yang Hsi-mei; much further research is stil necessary. The general development of Chinese names is now studied by Wolfgang Bauer.—The spread of cities in this period has been studied by Li
Chi, The Formation of the Chinese People, Cambridge 1928. My interpretation relies mainly upon a study of the distribution of non-Chinese tribes and data on early cities coming from excavation reports (see my "Data on the Structure of the Chinese City" in Economic Development and Cultural Change, 1956, pp. 253-68, and
"The Formation of Chinese Civilization" in Sociologus 7, 1959, pp. 97-112).
p. 32: The work on slaves by T. Pippon, E. Erkes, M. Wilbur, Wan Kuo-ting, Kuo Mo-jo, Nida Noboru, Kao
Nien-chih and others has been consulted; the interpretation by E.G. Puleyblank, however, was not accepted.
p. 33: This interpretation of the "wel-field" system relies in part upon the work done by Hsü Ti-shan, in part upon M. Granet and H. Maspero, and attempts to utilize insight from general anthropological theory and field-work mainly in South-East Asia. Other interpretations have been proposed by Yang Lien-sheng, Wan Kuo-ting,
Ch'i Sz[)u]-ho P. Demiévile, Hu Shih, Chi Ch'ao-ting, K.A. Wittfogel, and others Some authors, such as Kuo
Mo-jo, regard the whole system as an utopia, but believe in an original "vilage community".—The
characterization of the Chou-li relies in part upon the work done by Hsü Chung-shu and Ku Chieh-kang on the titles of nobility, research by Yang K'uan and textual criticism by B. Karlgren, O. Franke, and again Ku Chieh-kang and his school.—The discussion on twin cities is intended to draw attention to its West Asian paralels, the
"acropolis" or "ark" city, as wel as to the theories on the difference between Western and Asian cities (M.
Weber) and the specific type of cities in "dual societies" (H. Boeke).
p. 34: This is a modified form of the Hu Shih theory.—The problem of nomadic agrarian inter-action and conflict has been studied for a later period mainly by O. Lattimore. Here, general anthropological research as wel as my own have been applied.
www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/11367/pg11367.html
207/257
8/15/12
www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/11367/pg11367.html
p. 36: The supra-stratification theory as developed by R. Thurnwald has been used as analytic tool here.
p. 38: For this period, a novel interpretation is presented by R.L. Walker, The Multi-State System of China, Hamden 1953. For the concepts of sovereignty, I have used here the Chou-li text and interpretations based upon this text.
p. 40: For the introduction of iron and the importance of Ch'i, see Chu Hsi-tsu, Kuo Mo-jo, Yang K'uan,
Sekino, Takeshi.—Some scholars (G. Haloun) tend to interpret attacks such as the one of 660 B.C. as attacks
from outside the borders of China.
p. 41: For Confucius see H.G. Creel, Confucius, New York 1949. I do not, however, folow his interpretation, but rather the ideas of Hu Shih, O. Franke and others.
p. 42: For "chün-tz[)u]" and its counterpart "hsiao-jen" see D. Bodde and Ch'en Meng-chia.
p 43: I rely strongly here upon O. Franke and Ku Chieh-kang and upon my own work on eclipses.
p. 44: I regard the Confucian traditions concerning the model emperors of early time as such a falsification. The whole concept of "abdication" has been analysed by M. Granet. The later ceremony of abdication was
developed upon the basis of the interpretations of Confucius and has been studied by Ku Chieh-kang and
Miyakawa Hisayuki. Already Confucius' disciple Meng Tz[)u], and later Chuang Tz[)u] and Han Fei Tz[)u] were
against this theory.—As a general introduction to the philosophy of this period, Y.L. Feng's History of Chinese Philosophy, London 1937 has stil to be recommended, although further research has made many advances.—
My analysis of the role of Confucianism in society is influenced by theories in the field of Sociology of religion.
p. 45: The temple in Turkestan was in Khotan and is already mentioned in the Wei-shu chapter 102. The analysis of the famous "Book on the transfiguration of Lao Tz[)u] into a Western Barbarian" by Wang Wei-cheng is penetrating and has been used here. The evaluation of Lao Tz[)u] and his pupils as against Confucius by J.
Needham, in his Science and Civilization in China, Cambridge 1954 et seq. (in volume 2) is very stimulating, though necessarily limited to some aspects only.
p. 47: The concept of wu-wei has often been discussed; some, such as Masaaki Matsumoto, interpreted the concept purely in social terms as "refusal of actions carrying worldly estimation".
p. 49 Further literature concerning alchemy and breathing exercises is found in J. Needham's book.