Exploring China's Past: New Discoveries and Studies in Archaeology and Art Translated and edited by Roderick Whitfield and Wang Tao 2000 Series ISSN 1740-312X Hard Cover Soft Cover ISBN 1872843255 287mm [h] x 210mm [w] 1872843204 287mm [h] x 210mm [w] ISBN-13 9781872843254 9781872843209 286pp 286pp UK Price GBP 44.50 GBP 24.95 Overseas Surface GBP 55.00 approx GBP 30.00 approx Shipping weight 2000g approx 2000g approx Published by Saffron Books Distributed by Saffron Distribution

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About Exploring China's Past

Students of Chinese art and archaeology in the West face two major hurdles: the lack of a general overview of current developments in Chinese archaeology, and the daunting amount of material published only in Chinese. This book will provide a useful means of overcoming both problems

Contributions by leading scholars in the field from China, Japan, Europe and the United States have been carefully chosen, edited and arranged into a coherent body. The essays cover the principal themes of current archaeological debate and practice in China, such as the question of the origins of Chinese civilisation, new trends in theory, and the history and methodology of studying Chinese archaeology and art in the West. Many of the important archaeological discoveries of the last decade, including all fifty of the sites officially designated to be of national importance, are introduced and discussed in this book

About the Editors / Translators

Professor Roderick Whitfield is Percival David Chair of Chinese and East Asian Art at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. He studied Chinese at Cambridge and London, before obtaining his PhD from Princeton in 1965. He has wide-ranging research interests, and is renowned for his publications on Chinese painting, Central and East Asian art, and Chinese Buddhist art at Dunhuang

Dr Wang Tao is Lecturer in Chinese Archaeology at SOAS. He studied at the Yunnan Teachers’ University, Kunming and the Postgraduate School of the Chinese Academy of Arts, Beijing, before coming to London in 1986. He obtained his PhD from SOAS in 1993 and has been teaching there ever since. His research interests and publications have focused on traditional and contemporary archaeological practice in China, oracle bone inscriptions and Chinese calligraphy

Table of Contents

Introduction by Whitfield and Wang

Chinese Archaeology and the Origins of Chinese Civilisation

• Su Bingqi | A New Age of Chinese Archaeology
• Yu Weichao | New Trends in Archaeological Thought
• Xu Pingfang | Archaeological Research on the Origins of Chinese Civilisation
• Mou Yongkang and Wu Ruzuo | A Discussion on the ‘Jade Age’
• Guo Dashun | An Archaeological Investigation of the Wudi

Chinese Archaeology in the West

• Robert Thorp | Studies of Chinese Archaeology/Art History in the West: a Historic Review
• Sarah Allan | Chinese Bronzes through Western Eyes

Agriculture and Early Cities

• Ren Shinan | Prehistoric Agriculture in China
• Zhang Chi and Okamura Hidenori | Excavations of Cities: Shijiahe and Yingxiangcheng
• Duan Yu | The Origin, Structure and Network of Early Shu Cities
• Zou Heng | The Early Jin Capital Discovered: a Personal Account
• Wang Tao | A City with Many Faces: Urban Development in pre-Modern China

The Cultural Frontiers

• Chen Fangmei | Bronze Weapons from the South: the Xin’gan Case
• Tu Cheng-sheng | The ‘Animal Style’ Revisited
• Li Kunsheng | The ‘Bronze Age’ of Yunnan

Sacrifice, Rituals and the Afterlife

• Chen Xiandan | The Sacrificial Pits at Sanxingdui: Their Nature and Date
• Tang Jigen The Burial Ritual of the Shang Dynasty: a Reconstruction
• Li Boqian | Jades from Tomb M63 at the Jin Cemetery at Tianma-Qucun
• Alain Thote | Continuities and Discontinuities: Chu Burials during the Eastern Zhou Period

Art and Technology

Wang Xu | The Eight-Pointed Star Pattern and the Prehistoric Loom

Filippo Salviati | Decorated Pottery and Jade Carving of the Liangzhu Culture

New Discoveries

Wang Tao with the assistance of Li Xinwei | The Important Archaeological Discoveries: 1991-95

Chinese Historical Chronology

Glossary

Bibliography

Index

Contributors

1. Sarah Allan, Burlington North Professor of Asian Studies, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
2. Chen Fangmei, Curator of Ancient Bronzes, National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan
3. Chen Xiandan, Deputy Director, Sichuan Provincial Museum, Chengdu, China
4. Duan Yu, Deputy Director, Institute of History, Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences, Chengdu, China
5. Guo Dashun, Honorary Director, Liaoning Provincial Institute of Archaeology, Shenyang, China
6. Li Boqian, Professor, Head of Department of Archaeology, Peking University, Beijing, China
7. Li Kunsheng, Director, Yunnan Provincial Museum, Kunming, China
8. Li Xinwei, Assistant Research Fellow, Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China
9. Mou Yongkang, Research Fellow, Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Archaeology, Hangzhou, China
10. Okamura Hidenori, Associate Professor, Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
11. Ren Shinan, Research Fellow, former Director, Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China
12. Filippo Salviati, Lecturer in Art and Archaeology, Department of Oriental Studies, University of Rome ‘La Sapienza,’ Rome, Italy
13. Su Bingqi, former Research Fellow, Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China
14. Tang Jigen, Associate Research Fellow, Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China
15. Robert Thorp, Professor, Department of Art History and Archaeology, Washington University, St Louis, USA
16. Alain Thote, Head of Research Unit, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, France
17. Tu Cheng-sheng, Director, Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
18. Wang Tao, Lecturer in Chinese Archaeology, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK
19. Wang Xu, former Research Fellow, Institute of History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China
20. Roderick Whitfield, Percival David Professor of Chinese and East Asian Art, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK
21. Wu Ruzuo, Research Fellow, Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China
22. Xu Pingfang, Research Fellow, former Director, Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China
23. Yu Weichao, former Director, Museum of Chinese History, Beijing, China
24. Zhang Chi, Associate Professor, Department of Archaeology, Peking University, Beijing, China
25. Zou Heng, Professor, Department of Archaeology, Peking University, Beijing, China

Introduction by Roderick Whitfield and Wang Tao [.pdf]

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