中国王权的诞生——兼论王权与夏商西周复合制国家结构之关系

The Emergence of Kingship in China——With a Discussion of the Relationship between Kingship and Composite State Structure in the Xia,Shang and Western Zhou Dynasties

上古中国,真正的王权是夏商西周王朝国家之王支配天下的最高统治权,它与三代多元一统的复合制大国家结构联系在一起,它的诞生以夏王朝的出现为标志。王权与王的称谓有联系,但又并非绝对等同。这一方面是在甲骨文、金文和传世文献中,凡是直言王者皆指商王周王;另一方面是金文中还存在某些边远地区的小邦邦君称王的旧俗。王朝的最高统治者称王,体现的是王朝的王权;个别的边远小国也自称为王,体现的是小国的邦君君权。"王"的称谓之所以并存于这两类不同形态的国家之中,即在于"王"字和"王"的称谓起源于作为军权象征的斧钺。夏王朝并非中国最早的国家,尧舜禹时代是已形成国家的邦国林立并组成族邦联盟的万国时代,夏王朝"天下共主"的王权源于万国时代族邦联盟的盟主权,是由盟主的霸权转化而来的。

In ancient China,true kingship was the supreme rule over all under Heaven by the royal houses of the Xia,Shang and Western Zhou dynasties.It was linked to the plural unified composite state structure of the three dynasties,and its birth was marked by the emergence of the Xia Dynasty.Kingship was related to the appellation'king, '(王 wang),but was not absolutely equated to the latter.On the one hand,whenever oracle bone and bronze inscriptions and age-old records refer directly to'kings,' the word refers to the Shang and Zhou kings;but on the other,some bronze inscriptions preserve the use of'king 'to refer to the chieftains of small tribal states in some remote areas.When a supreme dynastic ruler bore the appellation'king,' this indicated the kingly power of the royal house;but when small remote tribal states called their rulers'kings, 'it expressed rulership over a small tribal state.The appellation'king' was used for these two different levels because the Chinese character'王 'and the corresponding royal title originated in specially shaped axes that symbolized command of armies.The Xia Dynasty was not China's first state,for in the age of Yao,Shun and Yu there had been numerous tribal states which organized themselves into tribal federations.Xia Dynasty kingship involving'shared sovereignty throughout the country' arose from the power of the chiefs of tribal federations in the age of very large tribal states;it developed out of the transformation of the hegemony of the chiefs of tribal federations.