168 Sh.
Archaeology
Chinese (2016):
Feng: On the16 168-177 2016 by Walter de Gruyter, Inc. Boston Berlin. DOI 10.1515/char-2016-0016
On the Zunie
Shi Feng*
* Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences, Beijing 100710. Email: shangputang@163.com.
Keywords: Astronomypre-Qin Period; solstice-surveying
system; sundialshistory.
Abstract
By interpreting and glossing the inscription on the
bronze zunie unearthed from the burial of the Spring-
and-Autumn Period at Heshangling in Xichuan, Henan,
this paper clarified that this kind of bronze objects were
actually the nie used by the ancient people to survey the
height of the sun by measuring the length of its shadow to
define the dates of the solstices, testified its nomenclature
as zunie (grand gnomon) and corrected the mistake
made in the academic field in the past to explain it as the
stand of the tomb-guardian beast. Meanwhile, based on
the researches on the solstice-surveying system and the
relevant apparatuses of the pre-Qin period, this paper
elucidated the unique view of using objects as metaphor
of ethics and virtues, and restored the original tradition of
surveying the height of the sun with the gnomons from
the Neolithic Age to the Qin and Han Dynasties in China.
The recognition of the ancient gnomons of China
The progress of the astronomy in ancient China was
decided by the invention of the nie-gnomon by our
ancestors; the gnomons, as the basic instrument to
observe the celestial phenomena and to make calendars,
were not only the standards based on which the time and
space systems to be established, but also the rule and
guide based on which the systems and regulations of the
humanities to follow and obey. Therefore, the creation
of the nie-gnomon is significantly meaningful for the
formation and development of the human civilization.
The long history of the astronomy of China hints that
the nie-gnomon supporting the traditional observation
emerged in very early time. The archaeological materials
show that as early as in the Xishuipo Site dated in the
mid 4th millennium BCE at Puyang, Henan, the remains
reflecting the concept of the sky is round as a dome
and the earth is square as a chessboard were seen (Feng
1990) and two physical nie-gnomons have been unearthed
at the Taosi Site of the Xia Dynasty or Proto-Xia period
in Xiangfen, Shanxi (Feng 2013). All of these materials
have unquestionably advanced the emergence of the nie-
gnomon to the Neolithic Age, which closely matches the
records in the historic literature and lays a foundation for
the studies on the nie-gnomons of the Shang and Zhou
Dynasties.
There have been many cases of the discoveries of the
bronze nie-gnomons of the Western and Eastern Zhou
Periods, but they were not recognized as that in the past.
These nie-gnomons have similar forms and show the same
cultural connotations. All of these provided important
data for us to understand the facts of the nie-gnomons in
the Western and Eastern Zhou Periods and to figure out
the development procedure of the traditional nie-gnomons
in the history.
The examination of the zunie unearthed at
Heshangling Cemetery
In 1990, from the tomb M2 of the Heshangling Cemetery
of the late Spring-and-Autumn Period in Xichuan County,
Henan, a bronze stand numbered as HXHM2:66 was
unearthed (Henan Provincial 2004:10911 and Color
Plate XV). It has a square base plan, and the four sides are
curving inward from the bottom to the smaller square top,
and the entire artifact is in the shape of a square dome. In
the center of the square top is a tubular socket, the cross-
section of the lower part of which is square and the upper
part, octagonal. In the socket, decayed wood remnants are
found, showing that there has been a wooden pole here.
In the middle of the tubular socket, two through holes are
opened, which would have been used to insert the pins
to fix the wooden pole. The lower part of the socket is
decorated with relief animal mask designs. The length of
the stand bottom sides is 19cm, the height is 9.6cm, and
the height of the socket is 12.4cm, so the full height of
this artifact is 22cm (Figures 1 to 3). The caliber of the
socket is about 2.3cm. On the square top of the stand,
an 8-character inscription is cast, naming itself as zu
( ) nie ( ). As for the function of this stand,
most of the scholars considered as that of a tomb-quelling
beast; however, from the inscription, we know that it is a
gnomon bearing exact nomenclature.
The yi in the inscription should be glossed as
nie , a term referring to the gnomon, which had
many cases of this kind of usages in the unearthed textual
materials, such as the inscription of the Yan Bo-bell
unearthed from the Chu tombs of the Spring-and-Autumn
Period at Xiasi in Xichuan County, Henan, reflecting the
popular character-loaning method.
In ancient times, the nie-gnomon is the instrument to
identify the directions and to define the time; when the
directions were identified, the time could be defined based
 Sh. Feng: On the 169

Figure 2 The rubbings of the designs and inscription of the

bronze zunie unearthed from M2 of the Heshangling
Cemetery of the Spring-and-Autumn Period in
Xichuan (M2:66).
0 5cm

Figure 1 The bronze zunie unearthed from M2 of the

Heshangling Cemetery of the Spring-and-Autumn
Period in Xichuan (M2:66).

on that and other rules and systems could be established.

Therefore, the defining of the time-space system was the
basis for the establishment of all of the systems of the
humanities. Obviously, now that the time-space system
was the standard of all of the other rules and systems of
the humanities, and the nie-gnomon was the instrument to
measure and graduate the time and space, the nie-gnomon
was certainly attributed the meanings of standards and
rules. The inscription told us that the nie-gnomon was
called by the people at that time as zunie ; as a
general rule of the bronze inscriptions, the character put
before the implement name were usually indicate the
function of this implement, which meant that the zu
of the zunie would be used to indicate the connotation
of establishing rules and standards possessed by the nie-
gnomons.
Therefore, we got to know that the original name of the
gnomon was zunie. However, the extant bronze zunie
are actually mostly the base or stand of the gnomons, the
wooden gnomon pole above which have been decayed
away. The remnant of the wooden pole left in the socket
of the zunie unearthed at Heshangling Cemetery was
about 2.3cm in diameter. Some wooden poles had bronze Figure 3 The bronze zunie unearthed from M2 of the
heads at the top, which consisted of a complete zunie Heshangling Cemetery of the Spring-and-Autumn
together with the wooden pole and the bronze base. Period in Xichuan (M2:66).
170 Sh. Feng: On the
The earliest method of erecting gnomons in the
ancient times was to plant the pole on the ground, which
was clearly reflected in the oracle bone inscriptions and
historic literature. To erect a gnomon, its verticalness and
straightness must be calibrated and kept, which needed to
be guyed in eight directions, which were the four cardinal
directions and four ordinal directions. At latest in the
late Western Zhou or early Spring-and-Autumn Period,
along with the emergence and perfection of the gnomon
bases made it unnecessary to calibrate and keep the
verticalness of the gnomon by guying in eight directions,
and the method of erecting gnomons was changed. The
octagonal cross-section of the upper part of the gnomon
socket of the bronze zunie base unearthed at Heshangling
Cemetery hinted that at least the lower part of the wooden
pole inserted in it was also octagonal in cross-section,
which can unquestionably seen as the trace of the method
of guying the gnomon in eight directions to keep its
verticalness in the earlier time. The use of gnomon base
made it unnecessary to guy the gnomon, but this old
tradition was loyally inherited.
The dome-shaped zunie base with the square bottom
was a model of the Gaitian Theory (the hemispheric
heaven covers the square earth as a dome) of the
cosmology of ancient China. Moreover, the decorative
designs of the zunie base also have clear astronomical
features: on the center of each of the four slopes of the
square dome, a four-armed spiral symbolizing the sun is
decorated, clearly showing that this implement has the
function of measuring the sun shadow. Meanwhile, with
this spiral as the center, four pairs of opposite triangles
are stretching to the due east, due west, due south and
due north directions, which are the directions of mao
, you , wu and zi , and form the +-shaped
diagram centered by the symbol of the sun, which is the
basic diagram of two cords in the traditional time-
space system of ancient China. The diagram of the
two cords was originated from the action of erecting
gnomon to measure the sun shadow and to define the four
Figure 4 The design of the two cords on the lid of the bronze
zhan-container unearthed at the Yidigang Cemetery
of the late Spring-and-Autumn Period in Suizhou.
cardinal directions; because the final step of this action
was to draw the direction with assistance of the straight
cords, of which the transverse cord represented the
direction of east-west (mao-you) and the longitudinal
cord | represented the direction of south-north (wu-zi),
the ancient people therefore named the diagram of the
perpendicularly crossing of two cords as ersheng
(two cords). Because the cross-section of the two cords
is the center, the directions represented by the two cords
are not four directions but five directions, which became
the basic diagram of the traditional time-space system of
ancient China. This diagram is not only widely seen on
the remains and relics since the Neolithic Age, but also
the origin of the Chinese character jia (the first of the
ten heavenly stems). In the traditional time-space view of
ancient China, the space decided the time, therefore the
two cords diagram representing the space had specially
important meanings in the Chinese traditional culture.
The two cords diagram on the zunie base unearthed
at Heshangling Cemetery depicts the four directions
with four pairs of opposite triangles directly pointing to
the four directions and the center with the four-armed
sun symbol which defines the directions, all of the five
of which form a complete composition with ingenious
conception.
The composition of the two cords and sun symbol
is also seen in the decorative designs of the lids of the
bronze yufou-urn (M2:85) and the Zeng Taishi Dian
Ding-tripod (M1:5), both unearthed at the
Heshangling Cemetery (Henan Provincial 2004:9, 11 and
44). In the top center of the lid of the yufou, two cord
patterns are perpendicularly crossing each other, which
are the intuitive image of two cords; the cross-section
of the two cord patterns is the symbol of the sun a
four-armed spiral pattern. On the lid of the Zeng Taishi
Dian Ding-tripod, two cord patterns are perpendicularly
crossing each other in the top center, and each of the four
ends of the two cords, which represent the directions
of east, west, south and north, is decorated with a four-
armed spiral pattern. The combination of these two types
of designs can be seen on the lid of the bronze zhan-
container unearthed at Yidigang Cemetery of the late
Spring-and-Autumn Period in Suizhou, Hubei (Chen and
Liu 1983). On the top of the lid, two cord patterns are
perpendicularly crossing each other in the center, forming
a two cords diagram; the intersection and the four ends
of the two cord patterns are decorated with the four-
armed spiral patterns, five of which in total (Figure 4).
These unquestionable combinations of the two cords
diagram and sun symbols clearly demonstrated their
cultural connotation of measuring the sun shadow to
define directions. In fact, compared to these compositions,
the designs of the zunie base unearthed at Heshangling
even have richer contents. The motif on each slope of
the square dome-shaped base composes a complete two
cords diagram centered by the sun symbol, which shows
the similar meaning to that of the lid of the yufou-urn
(M2:85); however, if we observe the entire zunie base

from above with the center of the socket as the base point,
we will find that the opposite triangles on the slopes
form a five-direction and nine-palace (four cardinal
directions, four ordinal directions and the center)
diagram developed from the five-direction idea; the
sun symbols in the centers of the four slopes are exactly
located at the four ends of the zi-wu and mao-you cords
(Figure 1:top), which perfectly matches the motif of the
designs on the lid of the Zeng Taishi Dian Ding-tripod.
Obviously, these complete spatial views demonstrated by
the entire zunie base are enough to confirm its function of
measuring the sun shadow.
The so-called opposite triangles forming the
two cords diagram is just our intuitive naming to its
appearance, and the cultural connotations embodied
by them might be related to the gui -template used
to measure the length of the sun shadow. The physical
gnomons of the Xia Dynasty or proto-Xia Period have
been unearthed at Taosi Site, in the lacquered cases
unearthed together with them, the relevant sun shadow-
measuring instruments were also found, including two
jade gui. The colors and number of the two gui had
differences of yin and yang, which showed the traditional
thought of measuring sun shadow to identify yin and
yang. When the work of measuring the sun shadow
was conducted, the yin and yang gui must be matched
together to use, which provided the origin of the unique
formation of the character gui which is just the
image of two attached templates. If we consider this sun
shadow-measuring tradition, the so-called opposite
triangles pattern was actually the depiction of two gui-
templates attaching each other by their pointed tips,
which reappeared the work of measuring the sun shadow
with attached gui-templates, we may name the so-called
opposite triangles pattern as double-gui pattern. This with serpent-cloud patterns and stylized symmetric
pattern is not only seen on the zunie base unearthed at
Heshangling Cemetery, but also widely seen on other
gnomon bases. Because the double-gui patterns have
had the meaning of cardinal directions, they formed the
border of the diagram and were popularly used to decorate
other bronzes of the Eastern Zhou Period.
In the upper two of the four quadrants separated by
the two cords, images of two confronting phoenixes
are decorated and in the lower two are images of two
dragons back against back. The scene of two phoenixes
facing the sun symbol has the origin of the old legend of
gold crow carrying the sun, so the phoenixes were not
only the herald of the sun but also the symbol of the sun.
The dragon, on the other hand, was the East Symbol of
the Twenty-eight Mansions, one of the determinative
constellations for the ancient people to observe the
celestial phenomena and make calendars and one of
the bases on which the ancient time-space concept was
established. That the designs of the phoenixes facing
the sun showing the measuring the sun shadow to
define the seasons in the day and the dragons showing
the observation of the celestial phenomena are used to
decorate the zunie base is critical to reveal the nature and
Sh. Feng: On the 171
functions of this artifact. Meanwhile, the simultaneous
appearances of the phoenixes and dragons have the
connotation of yin and yang, which also matches the
ancient tradition of seeing the time-space system as the
ideal carrier of the yin-yang concept.
The examinations of the pre-Qin zunie
The clear astronomic connotations of the bronze zunie
stand unearthed at Heshangling Cemetery reflected by its
inscription, structure and decorative patterns show that
it is unquestionably a gnomon stand of the Eastern Zhou
Period. This also gives us a chance to solve the problem
of the natures of the similar utensils of the same period
with this zunie stand as a standard artifact. To date, eight
nie-gnomon stands of the Eastern Zhou Period have been
published, and we choose some typical ones to introduce.
At the Guojiamiao Cemetery around the Western and
Eastern Zhou Periods in Zaoyang, Hubei, a complete
zunie has been unearthed, but in the past it was recognized
as a stand (Hubei Provincial 2005:268-9, Color Plate XV
and Plate LVII). The complete set of this zunie consisted
of the bronze base, the bronze nie-gnomon head and the
bronze guy pegs, all of which were unearthed from the
northwest part of the coffin chamber of GM17. This is
the earliest bronze nie-gnomon seen to date, and very
important for the researches on the type and evolution of
the early nie-gnomons.
The zunie base (GM17:16) has a hollow internal and
a roughly square plan; the body is made into two tiers,
the upper one of which is contracting upwards into four
slopes and formed a square socket on the top center, and
nearby the top, a pair of semicircular holes are opened
through two of the slopes. The zunie base is decorated
dragon designs; in the center of each of the four sides of
the lower tier, a rectangular hole is opened. This base is
22cm tall, 24cm long and 23.6cm wide at the bottom, and
the internal size of the socket is about 2cm (Figures 5:2
and 6). It weighs 4kg.
The bird-shaped bronze zunie head (GM17:44)
unearthed together with the base is in the shape of a
tubular pole with a drum-shaped cap, on which a bird is
perching. Its full height is 28cm and the diameter of the
pole is 3.1cm (Figure 5:1). The zunie base and the head
have been linked with a wooden gnomon pole, and in the
tubular head, remnants of wooden gnomon pole are still
preserved. From the shapes of the sockets of the base and
head, we know that the upper portion of the gnomon pole
was cylindrical and the lower portion was square in cross
section. The bird atop the zunie head has twelve curved
rays around each of the eyes similar to that of the sun
bird image seen at the Jinsha Site in Sichuan, showing
the function of the gnomon of measuring the sun shadow.
Together with the zunie base and head, four bronze guy
pegs were also unearthed. Their sockets all have remnants
of wooden rods left, showing that they were used to
calibrate and keep the verticalness of the gnomon pole.
172 Sh. Feng: On the
1 2 3 in the early Spring-and-Autumn Period at Baoxiangsi
Figure 5 The bronze zunie unearthed at Guojiamiao Cemetery
in Zaoyang.
1. The zunie head (GM17:44); 2. The zunie base
(GM17:16); 3. The zunie guy peg (GM17:27).
Figure 6 The zunie stand (GM17:16) unearthed at Guojiamiao
Cemetery in Zaoyang.
Figure 7 The bronze zunie base unearthed from the tomb of
Lord Meng and his wife of the Huang State (G2:A16).
The sample GM17:27 has a full length of 14.2cm and the
length of its branch is 5.7cm (Figure 5:3).
The form of this zunie is not perfectly developed yet;
the socket on the base for the gnomon pole to insert was
not precisely in a straight and vertical tubular shape and
cannot keep the pole stably vertical, so the old guying
method had to be used. In later times, along with the
developing of the designs, the socket on the zunie base
was made into the shape of vertical cylindrical tube and
the gnomon pole inserted into it would be kept stably
vertical, and the guy pegs were no longer necessary. This
is just an aspect of the progress of the measuring of the
sun shadow.
In 1983, a zunie base (G2:A16) was unearthed from
the tomb of Lord Meng and his wife of the Huang State
in Guangshan, Henan. The base is in the shape of a
square frustum, in the center of the top of which is a
square socket going through the bottom of the base, and
remnants of the wooden pole was preserved in the socket
(Figure 7). The square hole of the socket is 2.1cm long,
1.9cm wide, and the base is 6cm long and 5.6cm wide
at the top, 15.2cm long and 17.7cm wide at the bottom,
and the full height is 13.6cm. The upper parts of the
four slopes of this zunie base are decorated with coiled
serpent pattern and the lower parts of them are decorated
with wave pattern; the bottom edges are decorated with
stylized serpent pattern. On the top of the base, an eleven-
character inscription cast into three lines is seen, saying
Huang Zi zuo Huang Furen Meng Ji qi, ze yong
( ) [The Viscount of Huang makes
this utensil for Dame of Huang, the eldest daughter of the
Ji Family, to be eternal (CPAM of Xinyang 1984)].
The socket on the top of this zunie base has been made
in the shape of a vertical square tube, which could fix the
gnomon pole inserted in it stably straight without waving
and tilting. This base reflects that in the early Spring-
and-Autumn Period, the form of the zunie base has been
maturely developed.
In 1995, an intact bronze zunie was unearthed from
a tomb of the Shi State in the mid Spring-and-Autumn
Period at Xianrentai in Changqing, Shandong. It was
considered as a stand with bronze birds as decoration. Its
base is in the shape of a square frustum fully decorated
with stylized curving animal designs and studs. In the
center of the square top, a thin cylindrical gnomon is
erected, on the top and in the middle of which are two
bronze birds in flying posture. This bronze zunie is
48.5cm in full height, the base of which is 9.6cm high,
16cm wide on each side of the bottom, and the gnomon
is 38.9cm high and 1cm in diameter at the root (Figure 8;
Editorial board 2006).
This sample is just a compact zunie for identifying the
directions, but it is the only intact nie-gnomon of the pre-
Qin period seen to date, so it provides very important
material for the understanding to the basic structure of the
early nie-gnomon. The two bronze birds through which
the gnomon pole is going are flying to different directions
 Sh. Feng: On the 173

in an angle of 90, clearly showing the symbolic meaning

of representing the sun with birds and surveying the sun
shadow to define the four directions.
In 1982, a bronze zunie base (M306:18) was
unearthed from the tomb M306, a tomb of the Xu
people of the early Warring-States Period at Potang in
Shaoxing, Zhejiang; it might be made in the late Spring-
and-Autumn Period. The lower section of this base
consists of four vertical walls, above which is a square
frustum with a hollow socket in the top center, similar to
the zunie base unearthed at Heshangling Cemetery in the
form. On the four sides of the base, two cords diagram
composed of opposite triangles are distributed, and other
four pairs of opposite triangles are arranged diagonally
along the four sloping edges like radiating from the
socket as the center and separate the entire surface of the
base into a five-direction and nine-palace diagram. On
each of the four slopes, motif of a sun flanked by a pair
of confronting phoenixes is decorated, showing that its
function is measuring the solstices. On each of the four
vertical walls of the lower part of the base, motifs of two
pairs of birds back against back are decorated, which
is also similar to that of the zunie base unearthed at
Heshangling Cemetery. These decors had been inlayed
with turquoises, but most of them were lost when this
zunie base was unearthed. This zunie base is carried by
four bronze kneeling human figurines decorated with
yunlei-spiral pattern. The full height of this zunie base is
16cm, the side length is about 16cm, the socket is 6.5cm,
its caliber is about 2.6cm, and the height of the base is
7cm. This bronze base is filled with lead, so it weighs
10kg to make the gnomon pole stable (Figures 9 and 10).
In the socket, remnants of wooden pole and wrapping
Figure 8 The bronze zunie unearthed at the cemetery of the
Shi State of the mid Spring-and-Autumn Period.

Figure 9 The bronze zunie unearthed from M306 of the

Warring-States Period at Potang in Shaoxing
(M306:18) and the rubbing of the design of its
gnomon socket.
1. The zunie; 2. The rubbing of the gnomon socket
of the zunie.
Figure 10 The bronze zunie unearthed from M306 of the
Warring-States Period at Potang in Shaoxing
(M306:18).
174 Sh. Feng: On the

materials were preserved, which would be the gnomon

pole (CPAM, Zhejiang 1984).
In 1965, two bronze zunie bases (M3:12 and M3:13)
were unearthed from the mound tomb M3 of the late
Spring-and-Autumn Period at Yiqi in Tunxi County
(present-day Tunxi District, Huangshan City), Anhui (Li
2006). Both of the zunie bases are in the shape of square
dome with a flat top, in the center of which the tubular
sockets are set. The tubular socket of M3:13 inserted
down into the base body is decorated with triangular
patterns; the top of the base is decorated with square
frames, and the four slopes are decorated with confronting
bird designs surrounded by three rings of cord patterns.
The full height of this zunie base is 14cm, the length at
the bottom is 11cm and the width is 10.9cm; the height of
the socket is 4.7cm and its caliber is 1.1cm (Figures 11:1
and 12). The form of M13:12 is similar to that of M13:13,
but the four sloping edges are decorated with flanges and
the decor of the slopes are coiled serpent pattern with a
squatting beast in the center. Its full height is 17cm, the
1 2 length at the bottom is 10.3cm and the width is 10.2cm;
the height of the socket is 5.5cm and its caliber is 2cm
(Figures 11:2 and 13).
Figure 11 The zunie unearthed from the mound tomb M3 of These two zunie bases are similar to the one unearthed
the late Spring-and-Autumn Period at Yiqi in Tunxi at Heshangling Cemetery in both the shape and decors.
District, Huangshan City. All of them are made in the shape of dome to imitate the
1. M3:13; 2. M3:12. sky and decorated with bird motif to symbolize the sun or

Figure 12 The zunie unearthed from the mound tomb M3 Figure 13 The zunie unearthed from the mound tomb M3 of
of the late Spring-and-Autumn Period at Yiqi in the late Spring-and-Autumn Period at Yiqi in Tunxi
Tunxi District, Huangshan City (M3:13). District, Huangshan City (M3:12).

with the coiled serpent patterns to imply the universe, and
the three rings of cord patterns on each of the four slopes
of M3:13 are the variation of the traditional two cords
diagram, all of which clearly indicated the usage of these
utensils as the bases of gnomons for surveying the sun
shadow. The different calibers of the sockets of these two
zunie bases show their different functions: the thinner one
might be used to insert a thinner gnomon to identify the
directions, as the way recorded in the Jiangren Yingguo
(the master-builder plans the capital) paragraph in
Kaogong Ji (Artificers Record) chapter of Zhouli (Rites
of Zhou).
Most of these zunie were unearthed from the burials of
women; some of them were used by their husbands when
they were alive and bequeathed to their wives at their
death, and some were specially made for their wives. The
intention of both of them were embodying the demand
of the male-dominated society to the widowed women to
obey the ethic codes and conform to the feminine virtues,
which was a way of using the utensils as the metaphor of
virtues.
The practical zunie and their use as the meta-
phor of virtues
The central content of the pre-Qin moral thoughts was
the sincerity, the nature of which was shown by the
piousness and loyalty to the deities and spirits. As the
extension of the thought of sincerity, loyalty is the virtue
of single-heartedness developed from the sincerity. In the
traditional culture, sincerity and loyalty were the moral
demands to the subjects for their monarchs as well as that
to the wives for their husbands.
The words saying the nie-gnomon of man, I will not
double my mind [ , ] in the inscription but its clear spatial division reflected the connotation of
of the above-mentioned Yan Bo-bell unearthed at
Xiasi in Xichuan used the nie-gnomon as the metaphor
of sincerity and loyalty, which were the same as that for
the women to keep faithfulness and single-heartedness to
their husbands. The ancient people believed that the most
faithful and reliable thing was the time, which made it
convenient for them to use the nie-gnomon, which was the
instrument to establish the standard time-space system, as
the symbol of the virtues of sincerity and faithfulness and
the metaphor of the criteria of the self-cultivation of the
people. Therefore, we know that the virtue of the subjects
centered by the loyalty to their monarchs without double-
mindedness was the the nie-gnomon of man; if this
meaning was transferred to the relationship between the
husband and wife, the faithfulness to her husband became
the virtue of a wife to keep her chastity after the death of
her husband. So the intention of the husband to bequeath
the nie-gnomon to his wife was to alert her not to lose her
faithfulness to her husband after his death.
In ancient times, not to marry again after the husbands
death was called shoujie (to preserve chastity), which
was very popular in the Spring-and-Autumn Period. It is
narrated in the Jiao tesheng (Single victim at the border
Sh. Feng: On the 175
sacrifices) chapter of Li ji (Book of rites) that faithfulness
is (specially) the virtue of a wife. Once mated with her
husband, all her life she will not change (her feeling
of duty to him), and hence, when the husband dies she
will not marry again (English translation by James
Legge). By keeping single after her husbands death to
show a womans faithfulness and unchangeable single-
heartedness as a virtue could be embodied and illustrated
by the zunie. The inscription of the zunie of the wife
of Lord Meng of the Huang State reads Huang Zi zuo
Huang Furen Meng Ji qi, ze yong ( )
[The Viscount of Huang makes this utensil
for Dame of Huang, the eldest daughter of the Ji Family,
to be eternal] Referring to the inscriptions of other
bronzes unearthed from the same tomb, we can restore
that the ze yong (to be eternal) was the truncation
of to be eternally treasured for (her) good end and the
good fortune of the future generations. The thought that
a widowed woman must preserve her chastity to pursue
a good end showed the moral view of the people in the
Eastern Zhou Period. Therefore, to use zunie as grave
good in the tombs of women was to demonstrate their
faithfulness to their late husbands as a great virtue.
Additional discussion on the astronomic conno-
tation of the lid of the zun -vessel of the Earl of
the Rui State of the Western Zhou Dynasty
We can hereby have a discussion on the lid of the bronze
zun-vessel with animal mask design (M27:1014) unearthed
from the tomb M27 at Liangdai Village in Hancheng,
Shaanxi (Shaanxi Provincial 2007). The lid is 28.9cm in
full height and 25.6cm in diameter. The lid is in the shape
of a dome to intimate the sky; the lid is in circular plan,
squareness. First, in the top center of the dome-shaped lid,
a gui-shaped pillar with a pointed top is erected, which
defined the two cords and the four cardinal directions;
second, the four ridges starting from the central pillar
pointed to the four ordinal directions, and on the end of
each ridge, a flat pillar in the stylized bird shape is erected;
all of the above formed the eight-direction and nine-palace
space system. On the outer zone, in each quarter between
two ridges, there are 12 incised lines representing the
great number of the heavens and the 12 months of a year
(Figures 14 and 15). Between the incised lines to the right
of a ordinal direction pillar, a character ji is marked,
and on the corresponding place across the central pillar,
another ji character is also marked. The diagram on
the zun lid is just symbolic, but the spatial division of four-
direction and eight-direction and nine-palace displayed
by it is rather complete.
The space concept represented by the diagram of
this zun lid is precise, which means that the astronomic
connotations reflected by the five pillars erected on the lid
are also clear. The five pillars distributed in the center and
the four ordinal directions represent the five sky pillars
in the mind of the ancient people. The stylized bird shape
176 Sh. Feng: On the
Figure 14 The bronze zun-wine jar of the Western Zhou
Dynasty unearthed at Liangdai Village in
Hancheng, Shaanxi (M27:1014).
Figure 16 The bronze fangyi-wine vessel unearthed at
Shigushan Cemetery of the Western Zhou
Dynasty in Baoji (M3:24).
Figure 15 The bronze zun-wine jar of the Western Zhou
Dynasty unearthed at Liangdai Village in
Hancheng, Shaanxi (M27:1014).
of the four pillars on the four ordinal directions show that
the birds were the deities of the two equinoxes and two
solstices. The 12 incised lines between each two ordinal
directions, which represent the 12 months of a year, just
coincide with the records in the silk books of the Chu
State that the four deities of the two equinoxes and two
solstices were successively substituting each other in
cycles to form the years. This five-pillar design of the zun
lid is also seen on the lids of other bronze vessels (Figure
16), which shows the popular cosmography at that time.
The gui-shaped central pillar of the zun lid reflects the
integration of the gui-template and the nie-gnomon. The
slat-shaped pillar is just that of a bei -tablet. In the pre-
Qin period, bei was used to cast the shadow to measure its
length. Sun Xidans collected commentaries on the Zaji
(Miscellaneous records) chapter of Li ji said that the bei
was made of stone and erected in the courtyard to identify
the yin and yang and to draw the sun shadow. Zheng
Xuans commentary on the Pinli (Missions) chapter of Yi
li (Book of etiquette and ceremonial) said, there must be
a bei in the court, which was used to see the sun shadow
and to recognize the yin and yang.
The naming of the device for measuring the sun
shadow as bei was clearly from that of the gnomon
for surveying the sun shadow as bi . As early as in the
mid fourth millennium BCE, the knowledge background
for this understanding has been established.
 Sh. Feng: On the 177

Archaeology) vol. 19. Beijing: Kexue chubanshe. pp. 2758.

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