A SPRING AND AUTUMN FAMILY

Abstract

The present study focuses on the ways in which the Zuo zhuan depicts the disruptive and often violent impact of political ambition on the female members of the family of one woman, Bo Ji of Song, across three generations. It examines the ways in which the Zuo zhuan both characterizes the issues at stake and envisions measures to prevent the preemptory and ruthless disordering and dissolution of families for the sake of political expediency.

Keywords:

• Spring and Autumn period
• women and the family
• marriage and interstate politics
• the Zuo zhuan

Notes

1 I am most grateful to Eric Henry, Yuri Pines and Melvin Thatcher for their comments on this essay. On the date and authorship of the Zuo zhuan (Zuo Traditions), see Li Wai-yee, The Readability of the Past in Chinese Historiography (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Asia Center, 2007), 58–59, 82–84, and on its relationship to the Chunqiu (Spring and Autumn Annals), 29–33. Also see David Schaberg, A Patterned Past: Form and Thought in Early Chinese Historiography (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Asia Center: 2001), 8–11; Yuri Pines, Foundations of Confucian Thought (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2002), 15, 27–34, 226.

2 Because the Zuo zhuan uses the term 公 (gong), which is generally translated as “duke,” to designate a great variety of aristocratic ranks, I follow the convention of translating this term as “lord.”

3 I use the term “family” in the general sense rather than as an anthropological term that distinguishes family, lineage and clan as separate entities. The basic kinship unit in the Spring and Autumn period was the lineage (or branch lineage), 氏 (shi). The lineage name was originally used to distinguish separate kinship units within a 姓 (xing) “clan.” The 家 (jia) or 室 (shi) designated the individual household or family, as well as the “house” of the ruling family. Occasionally some of these terms were used interchangeably. For discussion, see Melvin Thatcher, “Marriages of the Ruling Elite in the Spring and Autumn Period,” in Marriage and Inequality in Chinese Society, ed. by Rubie S. Watson and Patricia Buckley Ebrey (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001), 28; and Allen J. Chun, “Conceptions of Kinship and Kingship in Classical Chou China,” T’oung Pao, vol. 76, no. 1·3 (1990): 16–48.

4 Speeches found in the text may have been drawn from authentic Spring and Autumn written sources. See, for example, Pines, Foundations of Confucian Thought, 23–39. Alternatively, the speeches and dialogues in the Zuo zhuan may have developed in a manner similar to the invented speech in the writing of the Greek historian Thucydides (c. 460 bc–c. 395 bc), who said, “In this history I have made use of set speeches, some of which were delivered just before and others during the war. I have found it difficult to remember the precise words used in the speeches which I listened to myself, and my various informants have experienced the same difficulty. So my method has been, while keeping as closely as possible to the general sense of the words that were actually used, to make the speakers say what, in my opinion, was called for by each situation.” Thucydides, 1·22; Thucydides: The History of the Peloponnesian War, trans. by Rex Warner (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1972). Dialogue may also have been invented, not imperfectly recalled, to clarify or drive home moral lessons crucial to contemporary concerns that could be derived from history. See Li, The Readability of the Past in Chinese Historiography, 2–3.

5 See Li, The Readability of the Past in Chinese Historiography, 321–410.

6 The Zuo zhuan itself discusses how “things are produced in twos, in threes, in fives,—in pairs.” See Zuo zhuan Zhao 32; in The Chinese Classics, trans. by James Legge (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1970), vol. 5, 741.

7 See, for example, Elizabeth A. Clark, History, Theory, Text: Historians and the Linguistic Turn (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2004), 42–62; and the writings of Hayden White.

8 Yuri Pines, for example, holds this position.

9 See, for example, discussion, Pines, Foundations of Confucian Thought, 16–19; Li, The Readability of the Past in Chinese Historiography, 29–30.

10 Zuo zhuan Xiang 30; Yang Bojun, Chunqiu Zuo zhuan zhu (Annotated Zuo commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals), (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1981), vol. 3, 1169.Translation based on Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 555.

11 Zuo zhuan Xiang 30; trans. by Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 556; Yang, Chunqiu Zuo zhuan zhu, 1174.

12 On the murder of minors in the context of political struggles, see Anne Behnke Kinney, Representations of Childhood and Youth in Early China (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2004), 86–91.

13 Of interest is the apparent lack of a legal system that limits such behaviors. See Susan Roosevelt Weld, “Covenant in Jin’s Walled Cities: The Discoveries at Houma and Wenxian,” PhD dissertation, Harvard University, 1990, 273–77.

14 Ai Jiang is also known as Chu 出 “The Departed.” See Zuo zhuan, Wen 4; Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 238. The structure of names of noblewomen of the Spring and Autumn period differed from the names of men. For women, the clan name comes last (here, “Jiang”) and the given name or posthumous name comes first.

15 See note under Chunqiu, Wen 9·2 in Yang, Chunqiu Zuo zhuan zhu, 569, on the occasion of Ai Jiang’s visit to see her parents in Qi in 619 bce.

16 See Chunqiu, Wen 2; Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 232. I translate the term 公子 (gongzi) “prince” to avoid the literal but more awkward term “lord’s son.” The gift of silk served as a wedding offering.

17 For specifics on Prince Sui, see Zheng Xuan’s note in Liji (Records of Ritual), “Tan Gong,” in Shisanjing zhushu (The Thirteen Classics: Annotations and Commentary), ed. by Ruan Yuan (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1980), vol. 1, 1310C; and Yang, Chunqiu Zuo zhuan zhu, 438.

18 See Zuo zhuan, Wen 2; translation based on Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 235.

19 See Chunqiu, Wen 4.

20 See Zuo zhuan, Wen 4; translated in Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 238.

21 See Zuo zhuan, Wen 4; translation based on Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 238–239. For the problematic phrase 不允 (bu yun), I follow Zhang Binglin’s (1869–1936) gloss 不終 (bu zhong). See Yang Bojun, Chunqiu Zuo zhuan zhu, 533. The sentence requires interpolation or at least further explication because it does not follow to say that “it is appropriate that she was not respected,” unless we understand the sentence as meaning It is fitting [to surmise that] she would not be respected.” Shen Yucheng translates this phrase as “It is fitting [to surmise that] things would not end well.” Shen Yucheng, Zuo zhuan yiwen (A Translation of the Zuo Commenary), (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1981), 137. The quoted ode is “Wo Jiang,” (我將 “I present”), Mao no. 272, translated in Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 4, 575.

22 I utilize translations suggested by Thatcher, “Marriages of the Ruling Elite in the Spring and Autumn Period,” 29–30.

23 Thatcher, “Marriages of the Ruling Elite in the Spring and Autumn Period,” 29.

24 The Gongyang zhuan (Gongyang commentary) and the Guliang zhuan (Guliang commentary), however, record her name as 頃熊 Qing Xiong, which would make her a native of the Chu.

25 “To privately serve” 私事 (sishi), implies that she was having an affair with Xiang Zhong.

26 Shuzhong (d. 608) was also known as Shuzhong Pengsheng, with the posthumous name of Hui. He founded the cadet branch of the Shusun lineage and was executed in the coup following Duke Wen of Lu’s death. See Zuo zhuan, Wen 18; Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 282. See genealogical table.

27 See Zuo zhuan, Wen 18; translation based on Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 281.

28 Zuo zhuan, Wen 18; translated in Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 281.

29 Sui presented betrothal gifts prior to Duke Wen’s marriage to Ai Jiang in 625 bce and Lady Jiang was taken to Lu as a bride in 623 bce. See Zuo zhuan, Wen 2, 4; translated in Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 225, 238–39.

30 Zuo zhuan, Wen 18; translated in Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 282.

31 Zuo zhuan, Wen 18; translated in Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 282.

32 See Zuo zhuan, Huan 18; translated in Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 71. See discussion in Kinney, Representations of Childhood and Youth in Early China, 188–89.

33 See Zuo zhuan, Wen 4; translation based on Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 238–39.

34 The nature of Lord Wen of Lu’s death suggests Heavenly disapproval. According to the Chunqiu, in contrast to dying in his “state chamber” (路寢 luqin), Lord Wen of Lu died “beneath/at the foot of a tower” See Chunqiu, Wen 18. The Zuo zhuan does not comment on this notice. See Zuo zhuan, Wen 16, 18; Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 274, 281. On dying in the state chamber, see Legge’s note at Zuo zhuan, Zhuang 32; translated in Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 121. Another commentary, that of Gu Donggao (1679–1759), quoted in Legge, however, suggests that this location was rife with portentous indications, identifying it as the Tower of Quan, an edifice he had pulled down in the sixteenth year of his reign and from whence snakes in the same number as the marquises of Lu emerged.

35 See Zuo zhuan, Xuan 1; translated in Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 285. Though not regarded as a violation by the Zuo zhuan, other commentaries remark on the impropriety of the scheduling of this marriage so soon after the demise of his father, Duke Wen. See, for example, Shisanjing zhushu vol. 2, 1865.

36 The Zuo zhuan records the word mu of Mu Jiang’s name as 穆 “majestic” in contrast to Lienü zhuan 7·8, which record the name as 繆 (miu) “contrary.” See Lienü zhuan jiaozhu (Annotated Categorized Biographies of Women), ed. by Liang Duan in Sibu beiyao (The Complete Essentials of the Four Categories), (Taipei: Taiwan zhonghua shuju, 1965), vol. 104, 7/8.

37 See Zuo zhuan, Wen 18; translated in Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 282. Jisun Xingfu’s posthumous name was Wenzi. He was the grandson of the founder of the Jisun lineage, one of the three ministerial lineages of the family of Duke Huan of Lu (r. 711–694 bce). Xingfu headed the government in Lu between 601–568 bce. According to the Zuo zhuan and the Shiji, Jisun Xingfu had been forced by Prince Sui to collude in the murder of Ai Jiang’s sons. See Shiji 33; Sima Qian, Shiji (Historical Records), (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1959), 1536.

38 See Zuo zhuan, Xuan 1; translated in Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 285.

39 I am grateful to Melvin Thatcher for this suggestion.

40 Given the unpopularity of Duke Yi and his son, it is more likely that she was a daughter of Duke Zhao of Qi.

41 Zuo zhuan, Cheng 11; Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 376. The concubine had been married without the diplomatic visit from the groom’s side to make a petition for the betrothal (聘 pin), a rite that designated a woman as wife rather than a concubine. On this distinction, see Liji, “Nei Ze,” Shisanjing zhushu, vol. 2, 28/243B, 1471 B; translated in Legge, Li Chi, vol. 1, 479. The Zuo states that Prince Shuxi died in 592 bce. See Zuo zhuan, Xuan 17; translated in Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 333.

42 The cases are identical in that Prince Shuxi might now, with the birth of a son, attempt to raise his concubine to the status of wife and make the son of this concubine heir, just as Lord Wen elevated the status of the son of his second principal wife over that of his primary principal wife, thereby making the principal wife cede her status to the second principal wife. The cases are different, however, in that Lord Wen’s wives were both married as wives, whereas Prince Shuxi’s consort was a mere concubine. It is unlikely that Mu Jiang feared a plot on the behalf of Prince Shuxi’s concubine to unseat any son born to Mu Jiang in favor of this new son born to Lord Xuan’s brother, since the son was allowed to stay while only the mother was sent away.

43 See “Genealogical Table of Lords of Lu.” Along with the Shunsun and Mengsun lineage, the Jisun was one of the three great ministerial families that controlled of the state of Lu. They were also known as the “Three Huan,” namely, the three younger sons of Duke Huan of Lu (r. 711–694 bce) and their descendants. They headed the “three ministries” of state by hereditary privilege.

44 See Zuo zhuan, Zhao 25, 32; Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 710, 741.

45 See Zuo zhuan, Xuan 18; Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 335. In this conversation, Jisun Xingfu is asked why he planned to expel the now-deceased Prince Sui’s son, Guifu, and why Jisun hadn’t dealt with Prince Sui’s treachery when it became clear that Prince Sui intended to kill Duke Wen’s heirs. Jisun Xingfu is finally told that by doing nothing Jisun had robbed Lu of its rightful ruler. In contrast, those who had objected to Prince Sui’s plan, such as Shuzhong Pengsheng, died for their defiance. Xuan 18 also makes it clear that Jisun’s motives for expelling Guifu were a direct reaction to Guifu’s having just traveled to Jin to ask for their assistance in expelling the Three Huan from Lu.

46 Shiji 33, 1563, 1548.

47 See chart of Qi Lords.

48 Because Wugui died only three months after his installation, he has no posthumous name.

49 This assassination will be discussed briefly later in this essay.

50 See Shiji 32, 1493–1496.

51 Guan Yuxi was a descendant of the eminent Guan Zhong (d. c. 645 bce), the architect of the state of Qi under Lord Huan.

52 Zuo zhuan, Cheng 11; Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 376.

53 Zuo zhuan, Xuan 17; Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 333.

54 Shi Xiaoshu was a descendant of Duke Hui of Lu (r. 768–723 bce).

55 See Zuo zhuan, Cheng 11; Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 376.

56 Yang Bojun interprets this passage as meaning “I cannot die or flee.” See Yang, Chunqiu Zuo zhuan zhu. 853.

57 See Zuo zhuan, Cheng 17; Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 405.

58 See Zuo zhuan, Cheng 11; translation based on Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 376. This narrative recounts Xi Chou’s requesting a wife from Shengbo and then looks forward seven years later to Xi Chou’s death in 574 bce. The phrase, “What death do you expect to die?” (將何以終 jiang heyi zhong) is interpreted by Shen Yucheng as “How will [this] end up?” See Shen, Zuo zhuan yiwen, 226.

59 Zuo zhuan, Cheng 17; Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 404.

60 According to the Chunqiu, Xi Chou’s death occurred in the twelfth month, while Shengbo died in the eleventh month of Duke Cheng’s seventeenth year. But according to various commentaries, the dating of Shengbo’s dream to the eleventh month is problematic.

61 See unpublished paper by Eric Henry, “Running Amok in the Spring and Autumn Era: Domestic Sagas of the Tso chuan,” for a slightly different interpretation of this dream. Also see Li, The Readability of the Past, 242–43.

62 Shengbo (聲伯), also called Zishu Yingqi (子叔 嬰齊), Ying Qi, and Zishu Yingqi is mentioned in Cheng 6, 8, 11, 16, 17; translated based in Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 359, 267, 376, 399, 404.

63 Interestingly, the two men directly responsible for the deaths of the two sets of children, Prince Sui and Shi Xiaoshu, did not end badly. Prince Sui seems to have died a natural death in 601 bce, as reported in Zuo, Xuan 8; Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 302. However, Prince Sui’s son Guifu, was later driven out of Lu to Qi. See Zuo zhuan Xuan 18, Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 335. We hear no more of Shi.

64 He also known as Shusun Xuanbo or Shusun Xuanzi. See Yang, Chunqiu Zuo zhuan zhu, 890.

65 See Zuo zhuan, Cheng 16; Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 398–99.

66 Another set of brothers enters the narrative here, but in this case, only one dies.

67 Ji Wenzi was the minister who acquiesced to Prince Sui’s plan to kill Duke Wen’s heir apparent and install Duke Xuan. Ji eventually expelled the entire Dongmen lineage.

68 See Zuo zhuan, Cheng 16; Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 398–99. The Zuo does not indicate what happened to the second brother, Chu. Du Yu speculates that only Yan was actively involved in the plot. See Cheng 17, Yang, Chunqiu Zuo zhuan zhu, 894.

69 See Zuo zhuan, Xiang 9; Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 439–40.

70 The divination system of the Book of Changes (i.e., the Yijing but also called the Zhou Yi) is comprised of sixty-four diagrams composed of six lines each. Through various forms of random selection, each line is determined as solid (unbroken) or divided (broken), and further distinguished by the designations “old” and “new.” An “old” line was thought to be on the verge of changing into its opposite and thereby generated a second hexagram indicating future trends. The significance of the term “eight” in the passage of the Zuo zhuan is no longer well understood but is thought to refer to the second unchanging broken line of the hexagram. See Yang, Chunqiu Zuozhuan zhu, 964–65. Here, the second line of the hexagram no. 57, “Stopping” (counting from the bottom up) is identical to that of “Following,” no. 17, and both in received versions of the Yijing carry inauspicious connotations. See the revised translation of Legge’s original in Z. D. Sung, The Text of Yi King (Taipei: Wenhua tushu gongsi, 1975), 79–86, 219–22.

71 Zuo zhuan, Xiang 9; translation based on Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 439–440 and Li, The Readability of the Past, 222–24. A version of Mu Jiang’s speech is included in around the fourth century bce bamboo manuscript of the Zuo zhuan that was purportedly stolen from a tomb of the ancient state of Chu, then recovered and recently published by Zhejiang University. See Cao Jinyan, Zhejiang da xue cang Zhan guo Chu jian (Chu Warring Sates bamboo strips held by Zhejiang University) (Hangzhou: Zhejiang daxue chubanshe, 2011), 138–42.

72 See Zuo zhuan, Cheng 16, 17; Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 399, 403.

73 See Zuo zhuan, Cheng 9; Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 370–371.

74 See Zuo zhuan, Cheng 8; Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 366–368.

75 See Zuo zhuan, Cheng 10; Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 373–74.

76 See Zuo zhuan, Xiang 26; Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 523.

77 See Yang, Chunqiu Zuo zhuan zhu, 1118.

78 See Zuo zhuan, Xiang 26; Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 525.

79 The story of Bao Si, another abandoned infant, who was credited with bringing down the Western Zhou dynasty, is also told in Guoyu (Conversations of the Sates), “Zhengyu,” item 1 in Wang Yunwu, ed., Sibu congkan zhengbian (The Edited Collected Publications from the Four Categories), (Taipei: Taiwan shangwu yinshuguan, 1979), vol. 14, 16/6B-8A. On the destructive powers of beauty, see Zuo zhuan, Zhao 28; Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 726–727.

80 Du Yu (222–84) understands the “wife” mentioned in this passage to refer to the concubine Qi. See Yang, Chunqiu Zuo zhuan zhu, 1118.

81 See Zuo zhuan, Xiang 26; Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 525.

82 Zuo zhuan, Xiang 30; Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 556; Yang, Chunqiu Zuo zhuan zhu, 1174.

83 Zuo zhuan, Ai 4; Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 805. Also see Yang Bojun, Chunqiu Zuo zhuan, 1625.

84 In other words, when Duke Wen of Lu (Bo Ji’s grandfather) brought Ai Jiang to her home in Lu in 623 bce, a high minister was not sent to fetch the bride but someone of inferior rank, which was contrary to the rule. See Zuo zhuan, Wen 4; Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 238.

85 Zuo zhuan, Wen 18; Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 281.

86 Zuo zhuan, Xiang 21, Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 489–90.

87 See Zuo zhuan, Cheng 2, Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 347–48; See Li, The Readability of the Past, 152–60.

88 For all of these cases, see Zuo zhuan, Xuan 15, Legge, The Chinese Classics, vol. 5, 328 (Jin man allows concubine to remarry rather than follow in death); Xiang 22, 496 (Zheng bride-seizing); Xiang 23, 504 (Qi lord harasses widow); Xiang 25, 514 (Qi lord’s adultery with underling’s wife); Xiang 28, 541 (wife-swapping in Qi).

89 Frederic Jameson, The Political Unconscious: Narrative as a Socially Symbolic Act (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1981), 79; cited in Schaberg, A Patterned Past, 256.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anne Behnke Kinney

Anne Behnke Kinney is Professor of Chinese and Chairman of the Department of East Asian Languages, Literatures and Cultures at the University of Virginia. She is also the director of Traditions of Exemplary Women, a digital resource for the study of women in early China. Her translation, Exemplary Women of Early China: the Lienu zhuan of Liu Xiang, will be published by Columbia University Press in 2014. Her previous publications include Representations of Childhood and Youth in Early China (2004) and Chinese Views of Childhood (1995).

Correspondence to: Professor Anne Behnke Kinney, Department of East Asian Languages, Literatures and Cultures, University of Virginia, PO Box 400781, Charlottesville, VA, 22904-4781, USA. Email: [email protected]