近年來陸續公布的西周中期系列青銅器爯器,銘文所涉人物(遣伯、遣姬及爯)為大宗宗子、宗婦與小宗的關系,遣氏大宗對小宗在祭祀活動上有支配權。西周中期的遣氏宗族大致由遣伯、遣仲、遣叔三支組成,爯族作為自大宗遣伯分出的小宗,獲得大宗賞賜的逆小子及其族眾三十人,體現了宗族內部土田附庸由大宗支配的經濟形態,與西周王朝管理疆土的方式相類似。銘文中"德音"指德行、言語兩個方面,反映的是遣氏大宗對小宗所施的德教,是維系宗族等級關系的重要原則,也是周初以來統治者自上而下貫徹德教的反映。

In recent years,information on the Cheng vessels,a series of bronze vessels from the middle period of the Western Zhou Dynasty,has been gradually released.The figures involved in the inscriptions on the vessels,Qian Bo,Qian Ji and Cheng,were respectively the first descendant of the main Qian clan,his wife,and the head of a sub-clan.The main Qian clan had the right to control the sacrificial rites of its sub-clans.At this time,the Qian clan was broadly composed of the three branches of Qian Bo,Qian Zhong,and Qian Shu.As a sub-clan of the main Qian Bo clan,the Cheng clan received from the Qian clan a reward of ni xiaozi(possibly a sub-clan of the Ni clan)and thirty clansmen.This illustrates the economic form in which peasants attached to the land were under the control of the main clans.This way of managing the land was similar to the way the Western Zhou rulers managed their territory.The word deyin(virtue and voice)in the inscriptions refers to virtuous acts and speech.It reflects the"teaching with virtue"that the main clan of Qian applied to its sub-clan,which was an important principle in maintaining a clan’s hierarchical relationships.This also reflects the way rulers applied teaching with virtue to their subordinates from the early Zhou period on.