What was the historical nature of social changes in the Ch'un-ch'iu (春秋) and Chan-kuo (戦国) periods which gave birth to the Ch'in (秦) and Han (漢) empires? This paper seeks to analyse this problem within the context of the formative process of the Chun-hsien system. Former studies have shown that the Hsien of the Ch'un-ch'iu period was established on large Yi (邑) s which controlled several small Yis based on the primary agricultural land. The relation of production in each Yi was so independent that the surviving tribal system of ruled tribes was kept intact and incorporated into the Old Hsien of the Ch'in and Han empires as they were, althogh the hereditary rule by the Hsien ruler was gradually eroded away. In other words, the remarkable change of Hsien in the Hsien-ch'in (先秦) period directly appeared in the erosion of the Hsien rulers' hereditary power. This paper studies how far this erosion had developed in the State of Ch'u (楚), one of the powers in the Ch'un-ch'iu period. Not all of the Hsiens in Ch'u during the Ch'un-ch'iu period were larger than the Old-hsiens of the Ch'in and Han empires. If there was any criteria for the "Hsien" of the Ch'in-Han period, there must have been also criteria for the Hsien of the Ch'un-ch'iu period, though local varieties must be taken into account. The Hsien ruler was called "Ch'un (君)" or lord and Hsien-Yin (尹) was equal to Hsien-ch'un, though there is the possibility that Hsien-kung (公) may have had a special siginificance. An investigation of these Hsien rulers clearly shows that their hereditary power had been widely eroded and the character of the Hsien in Ch'u during the Ch'un-ch'iu period had greatly changed. The advance of Kung-tzu (公子) and Kung-sun (公孫) overwhelmed the Shih-tzu (世族) in the central government and hindered the hereditary rule of these same Shih-tzu at the Hsien level. It is more important that the Wang-tzu (王族) themselves were denied hereditary rule, so that the advance of Kung-tzu and Kung-sun did not bring about a new breed of Shih-tzu. Therefore this advance is an important indication of universal penetration of the royal power of ch'u into Hsiens, even before the reform of Yi-yen (〓掩), the royal appropriation of hilly country forests, groves and marshes already had the full significance of starting the transformation of the Ch'un-ch'iu hsien at the time of King Chuang (荘王) when the power of Kung-tzu and Kung-sun was ascendant. How the Shih-tzu which preceded the Chan-kuo kingdom, like San-chin (三晋) and Tian-shi (田氏) of Ch'i (斉) ruled their Hsiens, and how the role Chao (昭), Ch'u (屈), Ching (景), the three big Shih-tzus of Ch'u played was to be interpreted in the light of the result of our investigation, is a problem to be clarified in future research.

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