K některým aspektům mobility v čínském starověku

Abstract

Chinese civilization is often depicted as a typical example of the settled civilization with highly developed concept of centrality associated with stabile capitals concieved as the centre of the world. It is then rather surprising that in Early China we find strong aspects of mobility. It is a well-known fact that during the Shang (cca 16th–11th century B.C.) and the following Zhou (cca 11th–3rd century B.C.) periods capitals of the Chinese states were often shifted from one place to another, sometimes on the great distances. Moreover, in that period, when China was divided among several dozens fief statelets, even the whole states were shifted from one place to another. In my article, I argue that this potential to mobility was inherent in the fundamental character of early Chinese states and that it was associated with their structure and ritual paraphernalia used in the state cults. Early Chinese states were based on kinship relations, and they in fact consisted of the ruling lineages and privileged groups of population living in the capital. Shifts of the states concerned mainly those groups of people. This kinship structure was also reflected in the ritual paraphernalia, essential for the well-being of the states. This does apply to the tablets of ancestors and bronze ritual vessels, which were used in the ancestors worship and treasured in ancestors temples. However, the function of the temples was not limited to one specific locality, but preserved their role in any place they were transferred together with the capital. Similar potential to mobility also existed in the case of the ritual paraphernalia associated with the Altars of the Soil (or of the State)–another focus of the state rituals.