Texts from Western Zhou bronze inscriptions are often regarded as repositories of early Chinese elite collective memory. This talk questions this widely held assumption by pointing out the highly personal nature of these inscribed messages. Instead, it explores the nexus between individual and collective memory in the latter by focusing on the use of the Zhou grand narrative as seen through the ideology of the Heavenly Mandate in mid- to late Western Zhou appointment inscriptions. It argues that supposed instantiations of Western Zhou collective memory in these inscriptions always constitute personalized versions of the Zhou grand narrative, each testifying to the moral and political ties between the Zhou king and an individual recipient of a royal mandate.
西周青銅器銘文往往被看成西周統治階級集體記憶之府。然而筆者指出青銅器銘文的主要用處在於保存並證明器主個人及其祖先對周王朝的貢獻。因此，筆者擬以西周中晚期冊命銘文為例，探討銘文中個人記憶與周朝集體歷史記憶——乃天命的接受與傳承——的交叉點。筆者認為銘文中所出現有關文武受天命的相關敘事都是以器主為焦點的個人化版本。周朝的集體歷史記憶在銘文裡被援引的目的不外乎說明周王與受命人（器主）之間的政治、道德性主從關係的所以然。 [Go to the full record in the library's catalogue]
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