Page 541 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

the broader definition of the Chu culture, sites in Hubei province can be traced to the middle
and late periods of the Western Zhou (c. eleventh century-771 BCE). Tomb burials and sites in
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Hubei province, such as Miaoping, Zigui, the Zhenwu mountains in Xiangfan, the Boyu
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mountains in Songzi, the Mopan mountains in Dangyang, and the Chu Phase I tombs in
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Zhaojiahu, Dangyang, have yielded a great abundance of pottery vessels of the //, yu, dou, and
guan types that were produced as sets, an influence that clearly reflects the Zhou culture. Burial
remains roughly contemporaneous with the Erligang and Yinxu phases of the Shang dynasty
have yet to be found. 24
The forms of Chu li, yu, dou, and guan pottery vessels differ markedly from typical Zhou
examples. The bottom of Chu tripod vessel (li) is formed as one piece; the hollow space of the
legs extends from the core of the cones to the foot of each leg. Shang li vessels exhibit a clear
division among the three legs, each of which forms a section that is integrated with the body. In
Zhou-style tripods, although each leg is integrated with the body, the bottom portions of the
legs are additions. The crotch of the legs is made with a curved shape, which is termed the bie
crotch (biedang). In 1980, at the second annual meeting of the Chinese Archaeological Society,
Su Bingqi, after pointing out this characteristic in // pottery, named it "Chu-type //" (ding-type
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or;/0-type li). Although // pottery tripods were common in many cultures during the Shang
and Zhou periods, the Chu-type li is exclusively found in Chu and Chu-influenced areas.
This type of If pottery was first discovered in remains dating from the Lower Erligang
phase (and probably even earlier) of Panlongcheng, Huangpi. Two forms of the Chu-type li,
large- and small-mouthed, have been found in late Western Zhou Chu tombs at Zhaojiahu,
Dangyang. Because of the lack of earlier remains, we do not know when they were first intro-
duced. Among the remaining artifacts of the Yinxu phase from Zhouliangyuqiao, Shashi, the //
vessel is identified as Shang type, while the ding vessel that derived from the indigenous culture
has two forms — large- and small-mouthed. Presumably, large- and small-mouthed // pottery
originated in the middle Yangzi River region.
In Hubei, the presence of the Chu-type li dating to the Lower Erligang phase and the large
numbers of li, yu, dou, and guan vessels in the Chu culture dating to the late Western Zhou pe-
riod suggest that the Chu culture that developed during the late Shang and early Zhou was a
combination of an indigenous culture in the middle Yangzi region with Zhou cultural elements.
Burial practices and burial objects in Chu tombs dating after the Spring and Autumn period
reflect regulations described in the Zhou li (The rites of Zhou). Thus, the Zhou cultures impact
on the Chu was found not only in the function of the Zhou-type vessels, but also in the Chu's
beliefs and social structure. The chapter on Chu genealogy in the Shi ji reports that "Yuxiong
served the King Wen"; the Yi wen zhi chapter of the Han shu, tells us that "[Yuxiong] was the
adviser to the Zhou"; and the Jin yu chapter of the Guoyu states that "In olden days when King
Cheng of Zhou allied all the fiefs in Qiyang because the Chu were barbarians (man) in the Jing

area....he did not treat the Chu as allies." During the early stages of the Chu establishment of a

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