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Due to the abundance of archeological materials, gender studies of bronze from the two Zhou dynasties have become a significant topic in the past decade. Whether in the field of history or bronze, a gendered view has brought about new understandings and advancement. Scholarship on women’s history of the two Zhou dynasties has accumulated in the past. Still, given the nature of transmitted texts, texts alone are insufficient to conduct a gendered analysis. The excavation of enormous archaeological data creates an opportunity for a breakthrough. Although women’s life in the past is still fragmented, it provides another perspective. Many more possibilities lie in the path of gender studies.
Based on bronze wares and their inscriptions, together with transmitted texts, this dissertation explores women’s history of the two Zhou dynasties from the perspective of gender studies. The history and culture of the Zhou society were rooted in li (ritual)—a social order constructed for political purposes. When implemented, li manifests abstractly in ideology and institutional norms; in concrete terms, it manifests itself in practiced rituals and daily utensils. Widely used in the Zhou periods, bronze wares were not just ritual vessels; texts inscribed on them are also essential records. The elite patrons who used and commissioned the bronze ritual vessels were both male and female. We can acquire clues about them according to the names recorded in the inscriptions, especially lordly couples’ joint burials in separate tomb pits. These tombs, with their similar temporal and spatial contexts, yielded rich funerary goods that are noteworthy for gender elements. Analyzing bronze’s type, quantity, and inscription enables us to tackle issues such as marital alliances, political circumstances, regional exchanges, etc.
This dissertation is divided into four parts. The first part discusses the consistency of rules governing female names in bronze inscriptions and special occasions that led to exceptions. Secondly, following the life course of elite females, we observe bronzes acquired prenuptially, postnuptially, and postmortem. Contextualizing these female-related objects in the production and use of bronze not only complements historical studies but also sheds light on the development of ritual vessels and the interaction between regional cultures. Thirdly, analyzing the burial goods of elite couples, especially bronze ritual vessels, enables us to see if the deceased’s surviving heirs prepared the ritual assemblages in accordance with the deceased’s social status while alive and the sumptuary rules of their time. Also, we are able to observe if the affinity between states (bonded by marital alliances) was reflected in their funerary goods. Fourthly, we correlate the tomb occupants’ cultural gender with the use of their objects, demonstrating the social role of the elite lady in the political arena and her hierarchical authority. Finally, as the elite lady was a biological woman, we discuss if the special types of bronzes buried with her have any gender connotations.
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