康巴方言玉树话的语音特征研究

作为康方言一支的玉树话在长期的发展当中打破了藏语传统语法的一些规则.元音i和u融合;辅音的读音也有所变化;后缀音节变化,主要是弱化以及下加音素ra音的消失.     

赶摆路上

T=≥B昙詈轻快地 ‘.-f 。厂、w一 /、I ●0—、 I, .r一 一、言 垒。空{6 6{空.§l 8 5’8.{65 5 2 5 0 l 6 空0垒{8 8 1 2.3 ===… l … …:======一——一风 儿吹(罗台合), 荷花摇 (艺赛罗), 鸟4} 姐妹(罗台合)。 喜相连 (艺赛罗), ,J】儿飞(罗合合),心话(罗台台),R 5;ii赢5 2 5苫I 5 2 5 i 5 2 5苫l 5 2 o 2 2 l垒一b7 0 x、业’丝一业I丝业丝塑I生咝J 2一’一n笑声高 (艺赛罗伙 艺赛罗伙艺赛罗伙 艺赛),赶摆路说不完’(艺赛罗伙 艺赛罗伙艺赛罗伙 艺赛),活象一上 喂群 喂堕。爸韭业:逄型业鱼l业咝I丝墅垒一好热闹 (艺赛罗)。大 姐…     

“神川”考

公元七世纪,崛起于青藏高原的吐蕃势力开始向唐的西南域扩张。永隆元年(公元(?)80年)吐蕃军攻破西川安戎城后,唐“断吐蕃通蛮之路”的战略破灭,于是西洱河诸蛮也相继被吐蕃所征服(见《新唐书·南蛮传》和《旧唐书·吐蕃传》)。为了加强和扩大在西洱河地区的势力,吐蕃不惜花大力气在今滇西北中旬县五境乡与维西县塔城乡之间的金沙江上架起了一座雄伟的铁索桥,史称“吐蕃铁桥力,并在铁桥以西设置吐蕃铁桥节度府。于是唐樊绰的《蛮书》里便有了“神川都督”一词。人们把“神川”与“铁桥”联系起来称“神川铁桥”。于是后人推断:“神川铁桥”架于金沙江上,因而“神川”便是“金沙江”。如《读史方舆纪要》曰:“金沙江源出丽江军民府西北旄牛微     

在那桃花盛开的地方

1二G粤 ,.独唱深情、明帽、自由地护一~-一~-~1,厂一矜户 。{鲤:粤{辱-5 .35.二二二二:二汗币‘ ︸e稍慢.7 6.7 5 16一5 6 1 23)里口忆〔53可迷.6于认5一· 5二·︸;一·‘,‘ 洲一一厂八O一·﹃沙曲妙 几O一︸.!.曰︺,.二. ︸才一一.6 5 1 5 2 535二甲二生丁二二:二二二二竺二二二二5 5 556}万一}“旦通旦5 3 1 7 6 5 535一{二二}二二;}二 尸一-、5 53亨元桃桃盯飞1旦旦』在那在那盛开的盛开的 Z一-~一一、1 3532地地}卜}远方,有方.有爱的人的花花r—一—、261 7.2653ts一661桃树桃园 Z-~一,6 5 53乡。乡。,{z一华馨},-在明净的水面,着孩…     

彝族俐侎人的茶文化探讨——以临沧永德俐侎人茶文化为例

中国茶文化历史悠久,在研究茶文化发展的过程中,咱们不能忽略临沧市永德县特有的彝族支系俐侎人.长期居住在高山上的俐侎人,是一个把历史藏在黑色里的部落;一个把家书写在口头上的族群.他们与外界交流甚少,至今仍保留着较为原始而神秘的宗教信仰、古老的生产生活方式、独具特色的民俗与服饰等.本文对永德俐侎人的竹筒雷响茶、茶文化及婚俗文化、祭祖茶的发展演变等进行简析,旨在更好地推动社会对永德彝族支系俐侎人茶文化的认知,以供参考.     

西藏考古出土粟类作物研究

文章对西藏考古出土的粟类作物遗存进行了系统梳理,综合分析了粒形、杂草生态、文献记载、生态条件等因素,认为西藏东部和雅鲁藏布江中游地区出土的粟类作物遗存存在本地种植的可能性;阿里地区出土粟类作物遗存的性质尚且存疑。基于这种粟类作物遗存性质的判断,对西藏粟作农业的发展演变过程进行了梳理,认为西藏粟类作物最早出现于东部地区,以卡若遗址为代表,4800cal.BP—3600cal.BP为单一的粟作农业时期,3600cal.BP以后麦作农业传入西藏;雅鲁藏布江中游地区3500cal.BP—3000cal.BP已经形成了麦作农业和粟作农业并存,且以麦作农业为主的农业结构,粟类作物虽然占比不高,但在农业结构中所占比例相对稳定。3000cal.BP以后,雅鲁藏布江中游粟类作物的发现出现缺环,未来还需有针对性地开展这一时期的植物考古研究。阿里地区粟类作物遗存出现时间较晚,集中于公元2—3世纪,且出土于高规格遗址和墓葬,初步推测当时粟类作物可能仅为少数社会地位较高的人群所享用。雅鲁藏布江中游3500cal.BP—3000cal.BP粟类作物遗存表现出的黍的比例提升的现象,可能与这一时期牧业的发展有关。     

“俚”论

说起"俚"人,人或不自禁地联想起了陈隋间的冼氏夫人.族因英雄而著,或已成了人的历史心理定势,没什么奇怪的;然而族以人传,俚名之起,非由冼氏夫人而始,俚名之终,非因冼氏夫人而结.俚,书定为岭南的一个民族群体的称谓,在汉文官私著述里,从东汉初年迨于明朝末年,连连使用了1500多年.何者为其后?其系属及其演化发展,迄无系统的深层论述.宋人乐史《太平寰宇记·儋州风俗》下云"俗呼山岭为黎,人居其间,号曰生黎",本是指"黎"族群得名的由来,可道光《广东通志》卷330—变其意,云"俗呼山岭为黎,而俚居其中,于是讹为黎",却成了"俚"、"黎"间的传承关系,于是乎此后千口成词,皆认为今聚居于海南一岛上的黎族,即古岭南俚人之遗裔.     

全球化视角下的中国西部文化多样性——基于边疆与中心地位和作用的新认识

在全球化过程中,地区性与国际性同步加强,表现出有的文化体系互相配合,有的甚至发生激烈冲突.全球化不但可能导致文化的同质化(homogeniztion),而且还会伴随有意识形态的趋同,甚至使文化本身更趋多样化(diversification),直至出现对多元取向认同的意识形态趋向;文化交流与文化解构,反映了不同文化圈里的人们如何彼此相互沟通、设置动态平台的必要.其中,文化交流属于文化的横向动态,它关注的是不同的大文化体系之间的关系(inter-cultural relations),文化解构则属于文化的纵向动态,它关注的则是在同一文化体系中的不同地方亚文化之间的关系(intra-cultural relations)①.无论是纵向还是横向,不同文化关系的适当处理,不能脱离通过比较"异中之同"而所产生的认识,即对于中西文化或其中某种文化体系内的亚文化现象的普遍性、共性(similar feature)的认识;同时也不能脱离通过比较"同中之异"而所获得的认识,即对于中西文化或其中某种文化体系内的亚文化现象的特殊性、个性(specific feature)的辨别.     

韦皋与唐代南方丝绸之路的重开

Weigao was one of the famous Jie-dushi ( regional military commissioners ) of the Jiannan Xichuan ( located in today’s southern Si-chuan) in the Tang Dynasty. During the rule of Wei Gao, he successfully defeated the Tubo, and changed the Tang court’s submissiveness in the southwestern region and the fight between the Tang and Tubo along the southern line. He also restored the links between Yunnan and Xichuan including all the way to the Central Plains, and, as a result, the once closed Southern Silk Road was reopened. A further exploration and evaluation of Wei Gao’s actions and his influence on reopening the Southern Silk Road ought to be given. I. Wei Gao’s Alliance with the Nanzhao King-dom and Reopening the Southern Silk Road In 785 A. D. , Wei Gao arrived in Chengdu and was appointed Jiedushi of Jiannan Xichuan. The situation of Jiannan Xichuan at that time was very critical. After the Tianbao war, the Kingdom of Nanzhao, which had unified the area around Er-hai Lake with the support of the Tang in the past, turned against the Tang and publicly announced its alliance with the Tubo. The Nanzhao Kingdom, to-gether with the Tubo, struck the Tang in the south-western region. This shift not only put the Tang in a submissive position in the southwestern region, but also significantly influenced the relations be-tween the Tang and the Tubo. As the Jiedushi of Jiannan Xichuan, Wei Gao became a unique practitioner and actively promoted a joint strategy in Yunnan. After the Tang decided to make an alliance with the Nanzhao Kingdom, relevant actions were taken immediately. However because relations between the Nanzhao Kingdom and the Tang had been broken for many years, at the beginning, Wei Gao could only communicate through some of the tribal chiefs of the Dongman ( Eastern Barbarians) . Through several years of ef-fort and mutual contact, Wei Gao’s endeavors to make an alliance with the Nanzhao, at last, were effective. Wei Gao’s efforts to make an alliance with the Nanzhao certainly involved issues related to trans-portation between Xichuan and the area of Erhai Lake. During that period, the route between Xi-chuan and Nanzhao was not only under military threat from the Tubo, but it was also overseen by the tribes of the Dongman who supported the Tu-bo—this indicated that the line of communication was not in a normal situation. The Southern Silk Road was one of ancient China’s important land trade routes to overseas. In looking at relevant re-cords in the Shiji ( Records of the Historian ) , we can see that this route had been known by people in the Central Plains from at least the Qin and Han dynasties. It was called the“Shushen Dudao” dur-ing the Han dynasty, and the “Xi’er Tianzhu zhid-ao” in the Taizhong period of the Tang dynasty.“Xi’er” refers to Erhai Lake, which was called“Xi’er He” during that time; “Tianzhu”, i. e.“Shendu”, refers to present day India. Since the Qin and Han dynasties, there were two primary routes between Xichuan and the area of Lake Er-hai. One was the Shimendao, also called the Wuchidao or Rongzhoudao, which started from present Chengdu and went through present day Le-shan and Yibin. The other was the Qing Xidao, also called the Lingguandao, Songzhoudao or Qiongnan Yilu,which, started from present Cheng-du, and went through present day Ya’an, and Xichang. These two routes were also called the“North Route” and the“South Route” in the Yun-nan Zhi ( The History of Yunnan) compiled by Fan Cuo in the Tang Dynasty. These two were the main routes between Sichuan and Yunnan on the South-ern Silk Road in the Tang dynasty. In 794 A. D. , the Tang and the Nanzhao Kingdom swore an oath of alliance, and Wei Gao started his plans to reo-pen the routes. By making a comprehensive analy-sis of relevant historical records, we are certain that starting with a plan in the 8th century, and fol-lowing the realization of the alliance between the Tang and Nanzhao as part of the strategy for the Southwestern area, and, together with the success in the fight against the Tubo, the two main chan-nels between Sichuan and Yunnan on the Southern Silk Road were reopened as a result of the concern of Wei Gao at the beginning of the 9th century. II. The Basic Situation of the Route between Sichuan and Yunnan on the Southern Silk Road in the Tang Dynasty and Its Historical Significance It was a long way from Xichuan to the area of Lake Erhai, and, moreover, the situation was also very complicated. Whenever the North Route or the South Route opened, it was not something that was completed immediately; it was a process. Al-though some sections of the road might be comple-ted initially, the opening of the entire route could not be completed within a short time. Through the records of Fan Cuo in his Yunnan Zhi, we can glean a general understanding of the basic situation regarding the reopening of the two main routes be-tween Sichuan and Yunnan along the Southern Silk Road in the Tang Dynasty. Seen from the records of Fan Cuo, there were courier stations along the South Route, so that travelers and their horses could have services and accommodation. It is very significant to note that in addition to the records of courier stations along the route managed by the Xichuan administration, the Yunnan Zhi also recorded that special translators were arranged for facilitating the contact and ex-change between the two sides, i. e. Xichuan and Nanzhao, after the route reached Ezhunling. This detail reflected Xichuan’s attention to the manage-ment of this route, but it also reflected the frequent contact between the people from the two sides of this route and the need for better communication. The road which started from Ezhunling was man-aged by the Nanzhao Kingdom. The situation of the North Route was quite different from the South Route. Based upon an analysis of the records found in the Yunnan Zhi, along the north route, there were not only high mountain, steep slopes, and winding roads, but the traveler also had to pass through many areas inhabited by the Wuman (Black Babarians). So, people were able to pass through the stations only after their words had been translated three or four times. Generally speaking, the conditions along the North Route were worse than those along the South Route. Therefore, al-though the reopening of the South Route was later than the North Route, people usually chose to pass through the South Route after it was reopened. It should be mentioned here that although Fan Cuo’s Yunnan Zhi was compiled during the early years of Xiantong Period in the Tang dynasty, the situation along the route and courier stations recorded in the book were probably not much different from those along the route during the time of Wei Gao. Al-though more than half a century of time had passed the road and courier stations along the South and North Routes might have only had some minor changes, and it was probably generally the same as in the past. Moreover it was unblocked for a long term due to the concern of the both sides. Another point that should be noted here is that although both the South and North Routes connecting Si-chuan and Yunnan on the Southern Silk Road in the Tang dynasty were managed by the administra-tions of Xichuan and Nanzhao separately, seen from the close relations and common demands of the two sides, the construction and management of these two important routes were combined through the negotiation of the two sides’ considerations and demands. As the major supporter for making the alliance with Nanzhao, Wei Gao should be the one who played an active role in this process. Because of the alliance between the Tang and the Nanzhao Kingdom the Tubo suffered a setback in the southwestern region, and they gradually re-treated to the north. Under this scenario, the channels of communication between Sichuan and Yunnan were unblocked, and communication be-tween the envoys from the Tang and Nanzhao be-came more frequent, the local trade developed, and the number of businessmen traversing Sichuan and Yunnan increased. Seen from the perspective of the development of Nanzhao, the frequent ex-changes between the artisans and traders from the two sides via the South and North Routes that ran between Sichuan and Yunnan promoted the eco-nomic and commercial development of Yunnan. In addition, there were many ethnic groups in the Nanzhao Kingdom. These included the Wuman, and Baiman ( white barbarians) . For several dec-ades,“more than a thousand” people from differ-ent ethnic groups went to Chengdu to study. This reflected that the reopening of the Southern Silk Road during the Tang dynasty played an important role in cultural transmission. On the other hand, training youth from the different ethnic groups liv-ing in the Nanzhao Kingdom also had a deep influ-ence on the cultural development of Yunnan. More important is that this action enhanced the commu-nication between the ethnic groups of Yunnan and the Central Plains. In addition, after reopening the road between Sichuan and Yunnan on the Southern Silk Route, the road continued through Nanzhao territory, crossed into the Myanmar-India route, and arrived in South and Southeast Asia. It could be said that Wei Gao’s reopening of the Southern Silk Road was not only helpful for communication between the people of Xichuan, the Central Plains and Yunnan, but it was also helpful for communi-cation between the Tang and the countries of South and Southeast Asia. It should be mentioned that Wei Gao’s reope-ning of the Southern Silk Road was conducted with-in the framework of an alliance with the Nanzhao Kingdom to attack the Tubo. Hence, speaking truthfully, reopening the road was not the main re-sponsibility of the Jiedushi of Xichuan, and was al-so not his main strategic goal. Under the serious situation faced by Jiannan Xichuan, Wei Gao’s main focus during that time was how to contact and make an alliance with the Nanzhao Kingdom so as to take military action against the Tubo. Even if he planned to reopen this road and took some action, it was conducted by targeting his military strategic action. However, reopening the Southern Silk Road could not be separated from the action of making an alliance with the Nanzhao Kingdom. Moreover, after reopening this road, it really pro-moted economic -cultural exchange and develop-ment along the road. Hence, we should give a full understanding and evaluation on Wei Gao’s histori-cal role in it.     

拱心石与神王——施鲁克人的nyikang神与神圣王权的研究

In his famous book The Golden Bough,James Frazer mentioned one special custom found along the shores of Lake Nemi in Italy. The forest king who lived beside Lake Nemi, was not only once a prisoner, but also the murderer of his predecessor. Why did the King have to be killed? How could he be killed? This was the very starting point of James Frazer’s divine kingship study. This was in contrast to the common idea held in many cultures, that kings, or even gods, would die. However, in the most primitive societies, kings and gods also had a symbolic duty. People be-lieved that their king took the responsibility to maintain the order of society and the natural world. In that case, it was obvious that if the king became old and weak, the society and order would be in danger. The way used by primitive people to solve this problem was to kill the king when he became weak, and to rebuild this symbol of order through the accession of a new king. This worry about the loss of order and fertility, Frazer explained, was the reason why they choose to kill their king, who was also a god to them. To prove his theory, Fra-zer used many examples. Among them, the exam-ple of the Shilluk of Nilotic Sudan was the only real case of a people killing their king. All the kings were possessed by the spirit of Nyikang, who was not only a hero and king in their history, but also the god who created the universe of the Shilluk people. In Shilluk, it was not the king who ruled the country, but the spirit who possessed him. For that reason, once the king showed his weakness and age, he had to be killed or commit a suicide so as to keep Nyikang in a healthy body. This case was mentioned by James Frazer, re-examined by Evans-Pritchard, and discussed by Henri Frank-fort and David Graeber. The Shilluk people lived in Sudan, in the Ni-lotic area alongside the Nile River. Their kingdom consisted of y many hamlets and occupied by linea-ges. But all these hamlets and lineages shared the same king, who was believed to be the descendant of their semi-divine hero and first king, Nyikang. Nyikang was believed to bring the fertility of men, of cattle, and of the crops. He lived among his people and blessed them. He was a mythological figure who represented a changeless moral order and the stable structure of the state. The Shilluk people believed that the king was the embodiment of Nyikang, and, thus, shared his divinity. All the Kings were believed to be descended from Nyi-kang. The king could be killed for two reasons:when he could no longer satisfy his wives, it was time for him to die and make room for a more vig-orous successor; or he would be killed by one of the prince who coveted the shrine at night. There were many graves of kings and of Nyikang all a-round the kingdom, but all the Shilluk people knew that Nyikang was not buried in any of them, he would never die. The king, however, was the container of the Nyikang’s spirit. Thus, after his death, he was no longer divine, so his funeral would be a clan affair rather than a national affair. In Frazer’s opinion, Shilluk kings confirmed their rule and power by maintaining their connec-tion with the god, Nyikang. And, he gained divin-ity from this connection. However, this divinity was not permanent. In the same way, the stability of the Shilluk social order was also not permanent, so the complete failure of that power would cause the danger to the entire society. When the new king ascended the throne, the social order would be re-established. So, to kill the old king when he could no longer take responsibility for the whole of society was the way for the Shilluk to release the tension and handle the danger which resulted from their king’s death and to keep the social order. Several decades after the publication of The Golden Bough, Evans - Pritchard gave a talk at The Frazer Lecture ( 1948 ) . He looked at the Shilluk custom of killing their king together with the social structure of the Shilluk kingdom, and pointed out some of the unreasonable explanations made by James Frazer. He believed that this cus-tom, which Frazer explained as the way the Shilluk maintained the divinity of kingship, had political reasons and social functions. Based on his field-work, Evans - Pritchard described the political structure of Shilluk as follows: Shilluk hamlets consisted of one to fifty different families. Each hamlet was occupied by members of an extended family or a small lineage. The headman of a hamlet was also the head of a lineage in the settlement. All the Shilluk settlements composed a common polity, i. e. the land belonging to the Kingdom of Shillukland. There were two chiefs in the hierarchy between the king and the settlements. These were the Ger, who represented northern Shillukland, and the Luak, who represented the southern shil-lukland. Those two chiefs each ritually represented half of the kingdom, and they played a very impor-tant role in the election of the new king. Evans-Prichard discovered that there were very close con-nections between the kings, the princes and their villages where they were born. The pregnant wives of the kings would be sent back to their natal villa-ges to bear their children, and the princes were brought up by the headmen of their natal villages. Except them, all of the princes had their royal cli-ents ( Ororo) in the villages. These were the com-panions of the prince, so they would live in the capital with the prince if he was chosen to be the king, and would return to their village to guard the king’s tomb. This information will help us to see and understand the social structure of Shilluk soci-ety. The dual balanced structure of Shilluk society was represented by the southern-northern opposi-tion. We find that the Shilluk kingdom had a double configuration—one that was politically re-flected in its territorial division, which was divided into northern and southern parts, and the other one was ritually reflected in the rituals related to the cult of Nyikang. The king and the capital specific-ally stayed in the center. As Evans - Pritchard said, Northern Shillukland and Southern Shil-lukland were the arches of the kingdom of Shilluk, and kingship was the keystone. This duality was clearly represented in the election system and in-vestiture. The investiture of the new king would take place about a year after his election. Since this ceremony was meant to rebuild the social or-der, all the hamlets would participate in it. After the old king’s death, the spirit of Nyikang would no longer stay in his body. Instead, it would move to an effigy of a hamlet which was in a far north dis-trict of Shillukland. The effigy would be sent by the army of north to the outskirts of the capital, where there would be a ceremonial war with the king’s army. Since Nyikang was in the northern army, it was obvious that the king would fail. Then, the ef-figy of Nyikang would be put on the king’s chair. Then, the king would sit on the chair, and, as a result, the spirit of Nyikang entered into the body of the new king. Now, there would be another war— because Nyikang had entered into the body of the new king, the northern army failed, and, they would then take the effigy back to the shrine. This ceremony not only illustrated the tension be-tween the north and the south of Shillukland, but also the tension between the god Nyikang and the human king. And all these tensions were resolved through a unified kingship. We find that Shilluk society, no matter whether within the vertical and horizontal structure of the southern -northern op-position, or among the different hamlets, they all had different objects to show their loyalty. Howev-er, all these differences would be reduced when they faced a unified national symbol— Nyikang or divine kingship. The king did not belong to any single tribe or hamlet after the ceremony. He be-came the symbol of the happiness and continuity of all the Shilluk people. From this ceremony, Evans -Pritchard re -explained the reason for the special custom of the Shilluk. He asserted that in Shilluk society, the king’s death would cause chaos and many dangers. The king had died in the way they described be-cause they were afraid of exposing the tensions hid-den within the social structure. So, this tradition was only a political myth hidden under the facts. The second kind of death of the king was that he was killed by a prince. Evans-Pritchard believed that all Shilluk princes received support from their natal villages. If all the tribes had their own king, the Shilluk kingdom would definitely be torn apart. So, they still needed a center from which to build the whole kingdom, i. e. the kingship. In a king-dom of this kind, if the king attached himself to one hamlet, other hamlets would fight for their own rights. So, because the kingship was permanent and ensured the unity of the whole kingdom, it should be emphasized. In contrast to Evans-Pritchard’ s structural-functionist explanation, the American archaeolo-gist, Henri Frankfort, made his analysis of the customs of the Shilluk based upon the methodology of mythology. He compared the divine kingship of Egypt and Shilluk in his book Kingship and the Gods. And, based upon the process of the combi-nation and separation of the king and the gods, he discussed the function of divine kingship. In E-gypt, the pharaoh was called “the Lord of Two Lands”. This title involved two gods who were en-emies:Horus and Seth. They were respectively the Kings of Upper and Lower Egypt. Even when Seth had been defeated by Horus, it did not mean that he totally disappeared. This is because he had his own function within the existing order. Horus was not only a mythological figure, but also was one which reflected on the pharaoh. The pharaoh was always regarded as Horus or his embodiment. This idea is quite similar to the connection of Nyikang with the Shilluk king. However, in Egypt, there was another god who had a close connection with the kingship, that is, Osiris. In Egypt, the dead king was believed to change into Osiris, and the king on the throne, just as Horus, was regarded as the son of Osiris. Beside this connection, in the myths, Osiris was said to be the “Ka ” of Horus, which was something like energy, and for the king, it was somewhat like a kind of ruling power. This kind of father-son relationship also ex-isted among the Shilluk people. When Evans -Pritchard described the ceremony, he mentioned that Dak, the son of Nyikang, was also honored. However, in Shilluk, Nyikang meant all the kings, no matter whether dead or alive. What was more important is that Shilluk kings themselves were not gods, they were just processed by Nyikang, and it was Nyikang who was the real ruler. That was the reason why the accession ceremony of the king was so important. However, in the Egyptian view, the concept of kingship itself was more complicated than that of the Shilluk. All the Egyptian kings themselves were gods, and their orders, as god’s order, must be obeyed. So, although there was a stable kingship in the two societies, the roles played by the king were totally different. However, we can still find some basic elements of the divine kingship from these two cases. Because the king himself was a human being, he would definitely turn old and die. In order to resolve the social stress caused by the succession of the kingship, the kingship had to be stable. So, the king must have a relationship with the gods. It was the god and the kingship that maintained the unity of this structure. In 2011 , David Graeber published his paper titled The Divine Kingship of the Shilluk in which he used theories from political science to discuss the relationship between Nyikang and the Shilluk king . He tried to use this case to understand the e-mergence of the state and power. He compared the political status of Shilluk with their myth and cos-mology. He proposed three very important con-cepts:i) divine kingship which was absolutely dic-tatorial and had god-like authority—and was one in which this divine god went beyond the morality;ii) the sacred kingship which was ritualized and exemplary—this was a kind of prophetic and legis-lative king ; iii) violence and antagonism with no reason - the subject of the violence was the sover-eign and the people. All of these three concepts, David Graeber said, could be found in the Shilluk Kingdom. That was not because they were so -called primitive ethnic groups, but because this kingdom was a “Utopian State”. In other words, this kingdom, or the construction of its main cit-ies, was an imitation to the cosmic order, and, therefore, did not need a management institution to rule it. However, because this could never exist in the real world, violence appeared. David Graeber divided the kingship into two types: the divine and the sacred. In the former, the king was believed to be the god itself. And, in the latter, the kings were those who brought and created order. However, if order was set up by a king, it was asked whether or not the king himself still stayed within the order? So, the extreme type of sacred kingship would be the denial of the limi-tation of the king’s life. David Graeber suggested that the King of Shilluk did not have real power. The responsibility the Shilluk king undetook was the order of the whole cosmos. When he became weak, he could no longer judge and rule based on the cosmology. This is the reason why he had to be killed. We can see that the king who ruled the state according to the cosmology was more like a divine king, so his fate was that he must be killed by people. However, after he was killed, the for-mer “scapegoat” became the god and was wor-shiped by the people. The social order was rebuilt because of the king’s death, and in doing so he be-came the embodiment of the strength needed to re-build the social order. So, we can note that in Shilluk society, although people expect stability and order, they cannot allow the rule to become a central control and monopoly. The king should be in the center of order, but because the king would definitely become old, people tried to reduce the disorder through killing him. Due to the limitations of the king, he was trapped in the absolute authori-ty of the divine kingship, and the infinite order of the order. Hence, he was killed again and again. The appearance of the king was to resolve the dilemma within this society. He tried to build a U-topia, but was trapped in it because of his own limitations. Just like the kings were killed con-stantly, the conflict between sovereignty and the people would never stop. David Greaber pointed out that this constant opposition was the origin of state. This opinion totally refuted existing political theories, o matter whether they were that of Max Weber or of those who believe that it was through making law and rules to solve the conflict or the so-cial tensions in Africa, for their opinions were based on the perspective of nation state. However, in Africa, at least in Nilotic Sudan, they were u-sing this conflict to build their state. Graeber’s ar-ticle indicated that in the war between the sover-eign and the people, the sovereign is limited, and can never win truly. It reveals a new possibility for the construction of a nation state and political sys-tem. To sum up the discussions above, we have found that in those societies with divine kingship, the reason for the king’s divinity was because he undertook the people’s expectation of a stable soci-ety, and the fertility of crops, and livestock. Be-cause these expectations were not stable in them-selves, people either believed that their king him-self was a god, or tried to ensure that their king was in a healthy state. The similarity between them was that people had to keep the kingship stable and reduce the tension and chaos caused by the king’s death. From their fear of disorder and the fear of powerful order, we can even find a variety of ways of thinking about a perfect and eternal order, as well as on an imperfect and limited life. Thus the King always connected with a stone, for people al-ways expect a stable and changeless eternity.