Functional Disparities in the Socio-Political Traditions of Spring and Autumn China

Abstract

In the first two installments of this study 1) I investigated the distribution of official positions among the various types of lineages of the five major states of the lower Yellow River valley. The results showed that in two of these states (Sung and Lu) kinsmen of the princes (members of the ruling lineage and its collateral lineages) held a majority of the offices. This was especially so in Sung, where the proportion held by kinsmen was seven or eight out of every ten positions 2). Yet, in Chou and Ch'i, kinsmen held only about one-fifth of all positions. It was also found that in Cheng the pattern was that of Chou and Ch'i (non-kinsmen favored) in the early Spring and Autumn period, but that of Lu and Sung (kinsmen favored) in the later part of the era, while in the aggregate it fell into the Sung-Lu pattern. From this it was concluded that, at least in terms of the patterns of social distribution of offices, the lower Yellow River valley (the core area) was not a consistent cultural region. It was also found that, contrary to traditional generalizations, princes did not necessarily favor non-kinsmen in their attempts to regain power for themselves. It is clear that this would have been counter-productive in