A Study On The Binary Opposite Form Of The Artifacts Of Pre - Qin

There are some mysterious patterns on those late New Stone Age jade wares which were unearthed in the east China costal areas. This style of patterns continued to appear on Shang Dynasty’s jade wares and bronze wares, and began to fade in the Western Zhou Dynasty. The object of this paper is to research pre Qin jade wares and bronze wares, whose time range is from the late Neolithic Age to the Western Zhou Dynasty. The paper is divided into four chapters:Chapter One:Introduction. This chapter is about the introduction and analysis of the status and significance of this research topic. For the study of decorative patterns of pre Qin jade wares and bronze wares, scholars research single patterns and their combination forms. There were few studies of the functional connotation of the combinations and how the jade wares play the ritual function. It is necessary to study the connotation of the combination of the decorative patterns on pre Qin jade wares.Chapter Two:The origin of the binary opposition patterns. Since the late Neolithic Age, the productivity began to improve and surplus production began to appear. Tribes were often at war for more production. In the ongoing battle background, the concept of conquer between tribes became very strong. In those frequent ritual activities, the decorative patterns on the artifacts played the role of communication with the gods, to express their most intense fight desire to the gods. The tribes wished to be blessed by pleasing the gods.Chapter Three:The appearance of the binary opposition patterns. Some typical binary opposition patterns were collected and collated in this chapter. The binary opposition patterns appeared on many implements. Through the collation, it has been found that the binary opposition patterns appeared in the late Neolithic Age, prospered in the Shang Dynasty and faded in the Western Zhou Dynasty, whose appear and disappear has a complete process of development.Chapter Four:The functional connotation of the binary opposition patterns. The decorative patterns on jade and bronze wares of pre Qin reflect the most intense emotion and the highest level of art. The art form of the decorations are mainly abstract and symbolic expressions, which reflects the ancients’ interpretation of life.In the end of this paper is the conclusion which summarized the innovation and deficiency, such as:the most important thing of tribes in the end of the primitive society is to conquer the enemy tribes. During the continuous integration and the unification of politics, the rulers’thoughts changed constantly. The changes of the ideas and the changes of the binary opposition patterns were corresponded. Since Xia and Shang Dynasty, bronze wares have replaced the principal position of jade wares in the rites. However, the binary opposition patterns on jade and bronze wares appeared inconsistent characteristics.