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Alliances (meng 盟, mengshi 盟誓, mengyue 盟約, mengqi 盟契; as a text called mengshu 盟書, zaishu 載書, zaici 載辭, or zaisheng 載乘) were formal agreements between regional rulers during the Spring and Autumn period 春秋 (770-5th cent. BCE), but also continued into the Warring States era 戰國 (5th cent.-221 BCE).
These covenants were ritually concluded through the announcement of the agreement to the ancestral spirits and the offering of sacrificial animals. The ritual Classic Liji 禮記 (ch. Quli 曲禮) differentiates between various forms of interstate activities of the regional states, such as occasional meetings (yu 遇), scheduled assemblies (hui 會), formal messages of friendly inquiry carried out by high-ranking messengers (pin 聘), solemn declarations including a binding oath of mutual faith (shi 誓), and covenants involving a sacrifice (meng 盟).
The Tang-period 唐 (618-907) commentator Kong Yingda 孔穎達 (574-648) adds that the rulers used to smear the blood of a victim on their mouths (sha xue 歃血, see blood sacrifice). Wu (2015) questions the authenticity of this statement. The victim was killed beside a sacrificial pit; its right ear was cut off and placed on a pearl plate (zhupan 珠盤), while the blood was collected in a jade vessel (yudun 玉敦). The blood was used to write the text of the covenant, which was then recited by the participants.
The Liang-period 梁 (502-557) historian Liu Xie 劉勰 (c. 465-521) offered a homophonic explanation by stating that meng /mǐɐŋ/ "alliance" meant to "clarify" (ming /mǐɐŋ/ 明) this matter to the spirits (quoted in Xu Shiceng 徐師曾, Wenti mingbian xushuo 文體明辨序說).
The Zhou dynasty 周 (11th cent.-221 BCE) distinguished between large covenants (meng) and smaller covenants (zu 詛). The ritual Classic Zhouli 周禮 (part Chunguan 春官, ch. Zuzhu 詛祝) describes the office of fulminator (zuzhu 詛祝), who was responsible for organising prayers and invocations during various treaties and covenants, sacrifices to the supreme deities and ancestors, collective sacrifices, and during ceremonies related to military campaigns and royal or ducal addresses. The fulminator also prepared the text of the covenant.
The chapter Sikou 司寇 (part Qiuguan 秋官 of the Zhouli) lists the office of sanctifier of covenants (simeng 司盟) who was charged with formulating of the text and guiding the ceremony.
Wang (2016) outlines the functions of alliances and covenants: securing the (re-)enthronement of a regional ruler or the investiture of an heir apparent, creating balances of power among regional states or among officials of noble houses within regional states, inter-state marriage, protecting smaller and suppressed regional states, disempowering or punishing regional rulers who break conventions, enforcing cooperation ("loyalty"), and achieving certain political aims.
Li (1997) traces the origin of alliances and covenants back to the pre-dynastic speeches (shi 誓, see Shangshu 尚書) made by the leaders of the Zhou to the army.
The written form of covenants was criticised by Confucians who preferred the traditional oral agreements used in ritual encounters (Queen and Major 2016: 163, fn). Li Li 李力 (1995) also notes that the shift to concluding written covenants marked a significant change from the earlier ceremonial type of agreements to a more formal, legalist approach. The decline in the power of the king of Zhou after the relocation of the house of Zhou to Luoyang 洛陽 (in today's Henan province) in 770 shattered the old system of the royal court as the centre of political activities through ritual acts, such as investitures, confirmations, audiences of the king with regional rulers, "lessons" given by the sovereign, and similar practices.
Instead, regional rulers began to make arrangements among themselves, mostly without involving the king of Zhou. More than 250 agreements can be counted in the Spring and Autumn period, of which 50 involved the powerful state of Jin 晉 (Li 1995: 67; Wang 2016: 59). The system of alliances and covenants is closely linked to that of the hegemonial lord (ba 霸), who was responsible for law and order among the Central States (zhongguo 中國), taking on a role originally performed by the king of Zhou (Luo and Tian 2002). However, Luo and Tian interpret the alliances among regional rulers during the early Spring and Autumn period as a legitimate extension of customs from the Western Zhou period, rather than a deviation from traditional practice. Only during the late Spring and Autumn period did the covenants become tools for powerful regional rulers to transform smaller states into satellites or vassals (Wang 1992).
The alliance tablets from Houma 侯馬, Shanxi, found in the 1950s, demonstrate that such agreements were also made at a lower level, e.g., among the noble houses of the state of Jin.
During the Warring States period, the reliance on "trust" (xin 信) in non-written agreements was entirely replaced by written contracts or the custom of exchanging hostages (jiaozhi 交質; hostage is renzhi 人質) to ensure commitments. While the original document, written at the meeting site, was buried along with the sacrificial animal—which indicates the connection between covenants and land deities, and suggests their nature as territorial matters—copies were kept in the "covenant stores" (mengfu 盟府) of the participants (Deng 2015). A covenant's text included the location and date of the alliance, the names of the participants, the purpose of the meeting, its objectives, and the text of the oath (zuci 詛辭). Storing these documents was crucial for resolving disputes, but also served historiographical purposes.
| 六月，晉人復衛侯。甯武子與衛人盟于宛濮，曰:「天禍衛國，君臣 不協，以及此憂也。今天誘其衷，使皆降心以相從也。不有居者，誰守 社稷?不有行者，誰扞牧圉?不協之故，用昭乞盟于爾大神以誘天衷。 自今日以往，既盟之後，行者無保其力，居者無懼其罪。有渝此盟，以相 及也。明神先君，是糾是殛。」國人聞此盟也，而後不貳。 | In the sixth month, the Jin leaders restored the Prince of Wei. Ning Wuzi swore a covenant with the Wei leaders at Yuanpu, which said, "Heaven brought disaster to the domain of Wei. The ruler and ministers could not work together, so they fell into this trouble. But now, Heaven's sentiments have been swayed, and we have all been made to humble our hearts and so go along with one another. If there had not been men who remained in the domain, who would have guarded the altars of the domain? And if there had not been those who traveled abroad, who would have shielded the oxherds and grooms? Because we could not work together, we beg to clearly swear a covenant before you, great spirits, to sway Heaven's sentiments. From this day on, after the covenant has been sworn, those who went abroad are not to stake claims on their effort; and those who have stayed in the domain are not to fear incrimination. If there is one who transgresses this covenant, may they come to harm. May the bright spirits and former rulers discipline and exterminate them." Only after the inhabitants of the capital heard this covenant did they cease to have divided loyalties. |
Alliance concluded between Ning Wuzi 甯武子 from Jin and some noblemen from Wei, recorded for the year Xigong 28 (632 BCE). Translation by Durrant Li & Schaberg 2016. |
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The collective fight of the remaining regional states against Qin led to a revival of the method of alliances, albeit in a less ceremonial form than during the Spring and Autumn period. In 351, King Hui of Wei 魏惠王 (r. 371-335) created an alliance with Zhao 趙 at Zhangshui 漳水; in 350, Qin allied with Wei in the covenant of Tong 彤 (Huaxian 華縣, Shaanxi); and in 344, Wei unified the regional rulers at Fengze 逢澤 against Qin (Li 1997: 25).
The most important alliances during the Spring and Autumn period were the alliance of Shaoling 召陵 in 656 between Qi 齊, Lu 魯, Song 宋, Chen 陳, Wei 衛, Zheng 鄭, Xu 許, Cao 曹, and Zhu 邾; the alliance of Jiantu 踐土 in 632 between Jin 晉, Qi, Qin 秦, Chen, Lu, Song, Cai 蔡, Zheng, Wei, and Ju 莒; the alliance of Chonglao 虫牢 in 586 between Jin, Zheng, Qi, Lu, Song, Wei, Cao, Zhu, and Qi 杞; the great détente conference of 546 held in Song, and attended by no less than 14 states; and the conference of 538 initiated by Chu, and aimed at punishing the newcomer of the southeast, the state of Wu 吳.
The most famous archaeological testimonies are the alliance tablets of Houma from the state of Jin (Houma mengshu 侯馬盟書) – though these only provide evidence of internal quarrels among the Jin elite, rather than an alliance between Jin and another state.
Long-term alliances were well-established among the Mongols, whose tribes were organised into so-called leagues (meng 盟, Mongolian ayimaɣ) at the beginning of the Qing period 清 (1644-1911). Today, the leagues are administrative units between the higher level of banner (qi 旗, qosiɣu) and arrow (sumu 蘇木, sumu).