‘The Bells Are Harmonious and Resonant’: Numinous Ancestors, Resonant Bells and the Personhood of Lord Qiu of Zeng in Tomb M190 at Zaoshulin, Hubei

Abstract Although bronze bells from the Zhou dynasty ( c. 1046–256 bce ) have been widely studied, their roles within their ontological contexts remain underexplored. This article integrates archaeological evidence, textual records and posthumanist theories to reconsider how the capacities of ancestors and bells were configured and how the personhood of living and deceased elites was embodied in the Zhou worlds. Focusing on the tomb (M190) of Lord Qiu of Zeng (r. c. 675–650/650–625 bce ), the study examines how the Zhou ontologies instantiated in this specific case. Qiu’s inscribed bell set was originally commissioned to emulate ancestral de and invoke their numinous power against the competing Chu state. However, the haphazard deposition of the bells and the deliberate disintegration of their rack in his tomb suggest a subsequent derealization of their capacities following the rapprochement between Zeng and Chu. In this funerary context, Qiu’s personhood was re-embodied alongside the reconfiguration of the capacities of ancestors, bells and burial goods, demonstrating how the relationship between the living, deceased, ancestors and ritual media shifted in response to changing historical circumstances.