| Abstract |
In “Zuo Zhuan”, the importance of “Ritual” can be revealed from the diplomatic language and the envoy qualities. “Ritual” is an essential pillar to sustain the community of the Zhou Dynasty. With the deline of Zhou institution, various troubles arose, stemming from the “Rudeness”, The phenomenon is evident in diplomacy, that the rudeness often causes a communication failure. In this article, I claim that one should possess the qualities as a diplomatic envoy in the Zhou culture, which can be divided into “envoy's good faith", “envoy's manner” and “awareness of the propriety”. The significance of such qualities is shown in “Zuo Zhuan” through both positive examples or counter-examples. Then, we dicusss the “Rudeness” in the diplomatic failure cases, which can be divided into “ignorance of the Ritual” and “overstepping the Ritual”. The former is being unable to effectively respond in formal diplomatic language to communication object, while the latter is exceeding the proper etiquette in the Zhou Dynasty. In sum, the decline of “Ritual”, and the maintenance of “Ritual” are examined. |
