Journal article
What If Zhao Dun Had Fled? Border Crossing and Flight into Exile in Early China
Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol.139(3), pp.569-590
07/01/2019
DOI: 10.7817/jameroriesoci.139.3.0569
Abstract
According to the Zuo zhuan, in 607 BCE Zhao Chan murdered Lord Ling of Tin, but the Spring and Autumn ascribes the assassination to Zhao Dim, senior member of the Zhao lineage and chief minister of Tin. Remarks attributed to Confucius defend the ascription to Zhao Dun, stating that had he fled across the border, he would have avoided blame. That Zhao Dim was assigned responsibility for a crime he did not commit has been a source of much discussion and has been described as "false" or "inaccurate." An overview of flights into exile (ben) in Spring and Autumn-period China indicates that although flight sometimes provided a practical mechanism for escaping difficulties, crossing the border without official sanction had substantial political and religious ramifications, including loss of position in the ancestral temple. Confucius's remark may be understood as framing Zhao Dim's failure to flee across the border in terms of ritual or legal rules, implying that crossing the border would have removed him from a position of responsibility. Later versions of the story do not mention border crossing, focusing instead on moral responsibility, and their explanations of why blame was assigned to Zhao Dim were attempts to rationalize recording practices that were based on earlier, Spring and Autumn-period norms, which no longer made sense in later times.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- What If Zhao Dun Had Fled? Border Crossing and Flight into Exile in Early China
- Creators
- Newell Ann Van Auken - University of Iowa
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol.139(3), pp.569-590
- DOI
- 10.7817/jameroriesoci.139.3.0569
- ISSN
- 0003-0279
- eISSN
- 2169-2289
- Publisher
- Amer Oriental Soc
- Number of pages
- 22
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 07/01/2019
- Academic Unit
- Asian and Slavic Languages and Literatures; World Languages, Literatures and Cultures
- Record Identifier
- 9984398028002771
Metrics
55 Record Views