Page 272 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

the Xiasi-Heshangling tombs indicate that these objects had been brought along by princesses

from surrounding states marrying into Sunshu Ao's lineage, an indication that the heads of
that lineage were considered equal in rank to local rulers outside the Chu kingdom. Such inter-
marriages may have been part of an overall political strategy aiming at establishing the king of
Chu as in every respect the equivalent of the Zhou king, for Zhou court ritual ranked the heads
of ministerial lineages at the royal court on a par with local rulers.
Yuan Zi Feng rose to office as a result of a political shift in the mid-sixth century BCE.
Previously, key ministerial positions at the Chu court had been occupied by the powerful un-
cles and brothers of the reigning king. In an effort to strengthen their own position, King Kang
of Chu (559-545 BCE) and his followers began appointing members of lesser-ranking lineages
3
such as Yuan Zi Feng. The office of chief minister did not remain in Feng's lineage after his
death. These historical circumstances, which can be reconstructed by combining evidence from
inscriptions and historical texts, may explain the exceptional lavishness of Yuan Zi Feng's and
his consorts' tombs and their contents. LVF

1 Li Ling 1981.
2 Shi 1988; Blakeley 1988; Blakeley 1990.
3 Blakeley 1992.

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