商代王位继承制的特质

商代自成汤始,三十帝十七世,弟及王位者十四人,其中九世为兄终弟及。殷王室在婚姻形态上虽有嫡庶之分,但并不彻底也不完备,未能进一步对继承王位的嫡子再分嫡庶,故无法形成具有区别大小宗的宗法制度。而子继作为弟及的中介和桥梁,起初主要是长兄之子,至小乙时转变为季弟之子,武乙以后又变为嫡长之子。子继者的亲属关系虽有变化,但在武乙之前基本上是兄终弟及的格局,从而显现出商代王位继承制的特质。周初承继了殷商末季的政治遗产,确立了更为严格的嫡长子继统法,遂成为后来百世不易的重要政治制度之一。

The Characteristics of the Succession System of the Shang Dynasty

From the King Chengtang(成汤),the throne of the Shang Dynasty passed on for 17 generations,with a total of 30 emperors,14 of whom(9 generations)succeeded to the throne from their elder brothers.Although there was a difference between wife and concubine in the marriage form of the Yin royal family,it was not complete and perfect,and it failed to further determine which son of the legal wife should succeed to the throne.Therefore,the Shang Dynasty did not form a patriarch system that distinguished large and small patriarchal clans.The son succession system is the intermediary and bridge to the younger brother succession system.In the beginning,the heir to the throne is the son of the eldest brother,by the time of King Xiaoyi(小乙),the successor to the throne became the son of the youngest brother.After King Wuyi(武乙),the heir to the throne became the lineal eldest son.Although the kinship of the sons who succeeded to the throne changed constantly,it was basically the situation that the younger brother succeeded the older brother before King Wuyi,which showed the characteristics of the succession system of the Shang Dynasty.The Zhou Dynasty inherited the political legacy of the late Shang Dynasty,and established the strict lineal primogeniture system,which became one of the important political systems that remained unchanged for generations.