Patchiness and Relational Politics : An Ecological Reinterpretation of the Zhou Political Order

This study reinterprets the political order of the Zhou dynasty through the lens of “patchiness,” a concept proposed by anthropologist Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing. Moving beyond conventional explanations centered on feudal institutions, it seeks to analyze Zhou political formation from a relational and ecological perspective. Previous scholarship has largely understood the Zhou system of enfeoffment and lineage organization as mechanisms of centralized authority and social integration. However, such institutional approaches often fail to account for the dynamic interactions and cultural reconfigurations between the Zhou and surrounding polities. By examining the expansion and contraction of Shang civilization alongside the autonomous development of secondary regional cultures, this paper argues that the Zhou transition represents not merely a dynastic replacement but a qualitative transformation. While inheriting aspects of Shang religious authority, the Zhou rearticulated the concepts of Heaven’s Mandate and the Son of Heaven, establishing multilayered alliance networks through marriage ties, enfeoffment, and systems of ritualized gift exchange. Rather than a rigid hierarchical center-periphery structure, the resulting order resembled a networked configuration characterized by interdependence and instability. From the perspective of patchiness, Zhou political organization can thus be understood as an emergent relational system formed through the ongoing reconfiguration of diverse polities. This interpretation highlights the relational mode of thought embedded in early Chinese political culture and suggests its potential relevance for rethinking plural coexistence in the context of the Anthropocene.