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24.
[[underlined]] Chapter II. [[/underlined]]

Wang Kuo-wei based, in part, his theory that the vessel in question had been made in Ch'u and had been left behind during the nocturnal flight of the army of that state from its camp on the soil of Chêng, in 575 B.C. The first two characters of the inscription, Mr. Wang pointed out, are [[underlined]] wang tzŭ [[/underlined]] 王子 --- "king's son" (^[[underlined]] cf [[/underlined]] [[strikethrough]] pl. XIX [[/strikethrough]] ^[[fig. 7]]). Now as is well known, the title of [[underlined]] wang [[/underlined]] ("king") was arrogated to himself exclusively by the head of the Chou ruling house. It was nevertheless also assumed, at least intermittently, by the ruler of the "barbarian" state of Ch'u, in the Yangtze basin. Mr. Wang therefore proposed to identify the "king's son" mentioned in the inscription as Tzŭ Ch'ung 子重, younger brother of King Chuang of Ch'u ([[Chinese characters]]楚莊王) and son of the preceding ruler of that state King Mu ([[Chinese character]]穆王). This interesting theory, if correct, would of course supply for the date of the Hsin Chêng interment a [[underlined]] terminus a quo [[/underlined]] of 575 B.C. [[superscript footnote indication]] (11)
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   (11)
      Professor Paul Pelliot, in the [[underlined]] Toung pao [[/underlined]], vol. XXIII (1924), pp. 255-259, speaks approvingly of Mr. Wang Kuo-wei's theory.
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   Dr. J. G. Andersson believes that typological deductions indicate for the Hsin Chêng bronzes a date during the [[strikethrough]] seventh [[/strikethrough]] ^[[7th]] or [[strikethrough]] sixth [[/strikethrough]] ^[[6th]] centuries B.C. [[superscript footnote indication]] (12) Others again, on similar grounds, have placed them some-
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(12)
   [[underlined]] Stockholm Mus. of Far Eastern Antiquities Bull. No. 7, [[/underlined]] 1935: Dr. J. G. Andersson, "The Goldsmith in Ancient China," pp. 1-38; ref. to p. 23.
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what later, toward the close of the Chou period. [[superscript]] (13) That appeared, in-
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   (13)
     See [[underlined]] The Burlington Magazine [[/underlined]], vol. LXVII (July-Dec., 1935); Ludwig Bachhofer, "On the Origin and Development of Chinese Art," pp. 251-264, where that writer, on page 257, seems to imply that the Hsin Chêng bronzes are of the fifth or fourth century B.C.
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deed, to be the opinion of the majority of Chinese scholars with whom
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