The problem of genesis and development of the palace as an institution in ancient Qin

The main task of this study is to determine the time of the emergence of the palace institution in the ancient Kingdom of Qin during the Spring and Autumn period (8th–5th centuries BCE) within a broader framework regarding the genesis of statehood in Qin. Here the main obstacle lies in distinguishing the moment of the emergence of Qin’s ruling clan, as well as the genesis of Qin’s main ethnic groups and archaeological culture that existed on Qin’s territory, from the moment of state formation as opposed to the other two, since all three of these phenomena emerged at different times. Thus, the task is to distinguish state institutions from those created and accompanied by kinship relations, to separate clan institutions from the political ones. The first political institution of statehood that can be reliably distinguished from kinship institutions is the palace, which is why it is important to determine the moment of its emergence and to describe the early stages of its development. The study concludes that the palace institution appeared in Qin no earlier than 697 BCE, and by 620 BCE its development entered a phase of specialization whereby its temple functions were separated from its palace functions.