Abstract: The inscriptions of Zeng Gong Qiu Bell are of great academic value on the study of the concept of the Mandate of Heaven,the enfeoffment system,and the historical facts of the establishment of the Zeng State in the Zhou Dynasty.The history of the appointment of Bo Shi (the high ancestor of the Zeng State) and the establishment of the Zeng State in the southern Zhou by the ancestor of Nangong in the early Western Zhou Dynasty are recorded in the inscriptions of Zeng Gong Qiu Bell.This historical record is the same as the concept of the Mandate of Heaven that is often found in the documents of the Zhou Dynasty and embodied in the appointment of King Wen of Zhou and the establishment of the state by his successor of the King Wu.This provides important historical materials for the study of the concept of the Mandate of Heaven in the Zhou Dynasty.The enfeoffment system and the establishment of the Zeng State,which was to defend the Zhou Dynasty,as recorded in the inscriptions of Zeng Gong Qiu Bell,especially the history that Zeng was appointed as one of the vassal states and was allocated of the soil of Bo She of Yin and established the system of Bo She in the Zeng State,all can be read in contrast to the documents.Moreover,the inscriptions record the facts that the ancestor of Nangong was appointed as Zhou Mu and was “involved in the politics of Huaiyi”,providing new historical materials for understanding the Zhou Mu system in the Western Zhou Dynasty and its rule over Huaiyi.According to the Southern Expedition of the King Zhao assisted by the Marquis of Zeng,recorded in the inscriptions of Zeng Gong Qiu Bell and the archaeological findings in the cemetery of Yejiashan in Suizhou,Hubei Province,it has been known that Kang,the Marquis of Zeng,is the owner of the tomb M111 of Yejiashan.

Key words: the inscriptions of Zeng Gong Qiu Bell, enfeoffment system, Bo She, Zhou Mu, Huaiyi