Early China: A Social and Cultural History

by Li Feng

  “Li Feng has delivered a highly competent and accessible account of the social, political, and institutional history of early China. The text incorporates the most current state of scholarship in a rapidly developing field and deserves particular praise for its expert inclusion of archaeological evidence. The book will be welcomed by non-specialists and specialists alike.”

  Roel Sterckx, University of Cambridge

  “As Professor Li acknowledges, it is daring for a single scholar to attempt a coherent account of the history of early China over the truly longue durée. The task demands a staggering command of the textual sources and archaeology of two millennia, before one even contemplates the writing of a synthetic account of a vast sweep of social and cultural history. The simple fact is that there is no historian writing in English who can match Professor Li’s magisterial command and historical insight, and this account is sorely needed. Early China is a great achievement!”

  David Pankenier, Lehigh University

  Early China

  “Early China” refers to the period from the beginning of human history in China to the end of the Han Dynasty in AD 220. The roots of modern Chinese society and culture are all to be found in this formative period of Chinese civilization. Li Feng’s new critical interpretation draws on the most recent scholarship and archaeological discoveries from the past thirty years. This fluent and engaging overview of early Chinese civilization explores key topics including the origins of the written language, the rise of the state, the Shang and Zhou religions, bureaucracy, law and governance, the evolving nature of war, the creation of empire, the changing image of art, and the philosophical search for social order. Beautifully illustrated with a wide range of new images, this book is essential reading for all those wanting to know more about the foundations of Chinese history and civilization.

  LI FENG is Professor of Early Chinese History and Archaeology at Columbia University. Both a historian and an archaeologist, his research interests extend from bronze inscriptions and Western Zhou history to broader issues such as the nature of early states, bureaucracy, comparative literacy, cross-region cultural relations, and theories of social development. He is also an active archaeologist with extensive fieldwork experience in China and Japan. Li’s published English books include Landscape and Power in Early China: The Crisis and Fall of the Western Zhou, 1045–771 BC (2006), Bureaucracy and the State in Early China: Governing the Western Zhou (2008), and Writing and Literacy in Early China: Studies from the Columbia Early China Seminar (co-editor, 2011).

  New Approaches to Asian History

  This dynamic new series publishes books on the milestones in Asian history, those that have come to define particular periods or to mark turning points in the political, cultural, and social evolution of the region. The books in this series are intended as introductions for students to be used in the classroom. They are written by scholars whose credentials are well established in their particular fields and who have, in many cases, taught the subject across a number of years.

  For a list of titles published in the series, please see end of book.

  Early China

  A Social and Cultural History

  Li FengColumbia University

  University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom

  Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge.

  It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence.

  www.cambridge.org

  Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521895521

  © Cambridge University Press 2013

  This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

  First published 2013

  Reprinted with corrections 2014

  Printed in the United Kingdom by TJ International Ltd. Padstow Cornwall

  A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library

  Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data

  Li, Feng, 1962–

  Early China: a social and cultural history / Li Feng, Columbia University.

  pages cm

  ISBN 978-0-521-89552-1 – ISBN 978-0-521-71981-0 (pbk.)

  1. China – History – To 221 B.C. 2. China – History – Shang dynasty, 1766–1122

  B.C. 3. China – History – Zhou dynasty, 1122–221 B.C. 4. China – History – Qin

  dynasty, 221–207 B.C. 5. China – History – Han dynasty, 202 B.C.–220

  A.D. I. Title.

  DS741.5.L45 2013

  931–dc23

  2013008431

  ISBN 978-0-521-89552-1 Hardback

  ISBN 978-0-521-71981-0 Paperback

  Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

  Contents

  List of figures

  List of maps

  Preface

  Chronology of Early China

  Map of China

  1 Introduction: Early China and its natural and cultural demarcations

  2 The development of complex society in China

  3 Erlitou and Erligang: early state expansion

  4 Anyang and beyond: Shang and contemporary Bronze Age cultures

  5 Cracking the secret bones: literacy and society in late Shang

  6 Inscribed history: the Western Zhou state and its bronze vessels

  7 The creation of paradigm: Zhou bureaucracy and social institutions

  8 Hegemons and warriors: social transformation of the Spring and Autumn period (770–481 BC)

  9 The age of territorial states: Warring States politics and institutions (480–221 BC)

  10 Philosophers as statesmen: in the light of recently discovered texts

  11 The Qin unification and Qin Empire: who were the terracotta warriors?

  12 Expansion and political transition of the Han Empire

  13 State and society: bureaucracy and social orders under the Han Empire

  14 Ideological changes and their reflections in Han culture and Han art

  Index

  Figures

  Fig. 1.1 Temperature fluctuation in China, 11,000 BP to present. (From Shi Yafeng and Kong Zhaozheng et al., “Mid-Holocene Climates and Environments in China,” Global and Planetary Change 7 [1973], 219–233.)

  Fig. 1.2 Pioneers of early sinology: (a) Édouard Chavannes, (b) Wang Guowei. (From Bulletin Archéologue du Musée Guimet, fasc. I [Paris: Librairie nationale d’art et d’histoire, 1921]; Wang Guowei, Haining Wang Jingan xiansheng yishu, vol. 1 [Shanghai: Commerical Press, 1940].)

  Fig. 1.3 Excavators at Anyang wearing bronze helmets freshly excavated from the Shang royal tomb no. 1004; photograph taken in 1935 during the twelfth excavation. (Courtesy of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica.)

  Fig. 2.1 The “Chinese Interaction Spheres.” (From K. C. Chang, The Archaeology of Ancient China, 4th edn. [New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986], p. 108.)

  Fig. 2.2 Peiligang and Jiahu. (1–4 from Peiligang, 5–6 from Jiahu). (1, 3, from Institute of Archaeology, CASS, Kaogu jinghua [Beijing: Kexue chubanshe, 1993], p. 6; 2, 4, Institute of Archaeology, Zhongguo kaoguxue: Xin shiqi shidai juan [Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 2010], pl. 2; 5, Wenwu 1 [1989], pl. 1; 6, Kaogo 12 [1996], pl. 8.)


  Fig. 2.3 Earliest ceramic shards from southern China. (From Institute of Archaeology, Guilin Zengpiyan [Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 2003], pls. 5.1–2, 8.1–2.)

  Fig. 2.4 Pottery types of the Yangshao culture. (From Institute of Archaeology, Kaogu Jinghua, pp. 15, 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26.)

  Fig. 2.5 The Jiangzhai village. (From Li Liu, The Chinese Neolithic: Trajectories to Early States [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004], p. 80.)

  Fig. 2.6 Taosi town of the Longshan period. (From Liu, The Chinese Neolithic: Trajectories to Early States, p. 109.)

  Fig. 2.7 Solar observatory discovered in the walled town in Taosi, Shanxi, 2003. (From Chinese Archaeology 5 [2005], 54.)

  Fig. 2.8 The Longshan and Liangzhu town culture. (1–2, from Institute of Archaeology, Kaogu jinghua, p. 67; 3, Kaogu 12 [1984], pl. 3; 4–5, Kwang-chih Chang et al. [eds.], The Formation of Chinese Civilization [New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005], pp. 106, 133; 6, Zhongguo wenwu jiaoliu fuwu zhongxin, Zhongguo wemwu jinghua [Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1990], pl. 15.)

  Fig. 2.9 The earthquake site in Lajia and the earliest noodle in China. (From Kaogu 12 [2002], pl. 3.)

  Fig. 3.1 The Erlitou site and its palace zone. (Left, from Li Liu and Xingcan Chen, State Formation in Early China [London: Duckworth, 2003], p. 61; right, from Chinese Archaeology 5 [2005], 2.)

  Fig. 3.2 Bronze vessels and turquoise objects from Erlitou. (1–3, 5, 6, from Institute of Archaeology, Kaogu jinghua, pp. 118–121; 4, Chinese Archaeology 5 [2005], 11.)

  Fig. 3.3 The Bingong xu and its inscription. (From Zhongguo lishi wenwu 6 [2002], 4.)

  Fig. 3.4 The Shang king list. (Based on David Keightley, “The Shang,” in Michael Loewe and Edward L. Shaughnessy [eds.], The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 BC [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999], pp. 234–235.)

  Fig. 3.5 The city of Yanshi. Circled numbers show excavation trenches 1996–8; inset shows palace foundations D1–D8 and D10. (Reworked based on Du Jinpeng, Xia Shang Zhou kaogu xue yanjiu [Beijing: Kexue chubanshe, 2007], pp. 372, 376.)

  Fig. 3.6 The Shang city in Zhengzhou. (From Li Liu and Xingcan Chen, State Formation in Early China, p. 94.)

  Fig. 3.7 Bronze vessel from Zhengzhou. (From Zhongguo meishu quanji: Gongyi meishu bian: Qingtongqi 1 [Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1985], p. 5.)

  Fig. 3.8 Mining remains found in Tongling, Jiangxi. (From Jiangxi sheng wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo et al., Tongling gu tongkuang yizhi faxian yu yanjiu [Nanchang: Jiangxi kexue jishu chubanshe, 1997], pls. 3, 5, 15, 23, 40.)

  Fig. 4.1 Anyang or the “Ruins of Yin.” (From Institute of Archaeology, Yinxu de faxian yu yanjiu [Beijing: Kexue chubanshe, 1994], pl. 2.)

  Fig. 4.2 The Shang royal palaces in Anyang. (From K. C. Chang, Shang Civilization [New Haven: Yale University Press, 1980], p. 94.)

  Fig. 4.3 1, Plan of the Shang royal cemetery; 2, royal tomb no. 1001. (1, from Institute of Archaeology, Xin Zhongguo de kaogu faxian he yanjiu [Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1984], p. 231; 2, Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 BC, p. 190.)

  Fig. 4.4 Zuoce Ban’s turtle. (From Zhongguo lishi wenwu [2005], front cover.)

  Fig. 4.5 Bronze vessels unearthed from the tomb of Lady Hao. (From Institute of Archaeology, CASS, Yinxu Fu Hao mu [Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1980], pls. 1, 2.1, 3, 6, 7.)

  Fig. 4.6 Styles of bronze décor from Anyang, identified by Max Loehr. (Images assembled by the author based on bronzes in the Asian Society, New York; Max Loehr, Ritual Vessels of Bronze Age China [New York: Asian Society, 1968], pp. 23, 33, 45, 57, 87.)

  Fig. 4.7 Ding-cauldron cast for “Mother Wu” (h. 1.33 cm, w. 110 cm). (From Zhongguo da baike quanshu [Beijing: Zhongguo da baike quanshu chubanshe, 1986], p. 20.)

  Fig 4.8 Correlation of Anyang periodization.

  Fig. 4.9 Location of the Huanbei Shang City. (From Chinese Archaeology 4 [2004], 2.)

  Fig. 4.10 Palace foundation F1 in the Huanbei Shang City. (From Chinese Archaeology 4 [2004], 24.)

  Fig. 4.11 House foundation no. 14 and pottery jars from it, in Taixi, an alcoholic beverage production center in southern Hebei, possible supplier to Anyang. (From Hebei sheng wenwu yanjiusuo, Gaocheng Taixi Shang dai yizhi [Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1985], p. 31.)

  Fig. 4.12 Bronzes found in Xingan, Jiangxi. (From Wenwu [1991], pls. 1.1, 2.1.)

  Fig. 4.13 The discoveries at Sanxingdui, Sichuan. Left, site map of Sanxingdui city; right, bronze human statue. (From Zhongguo wenwu jiaoliu fuwu zhongxin et al., Zhongguo wemwu jinghua [Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1990], pl. 30; map reworked from Robert Bagley [ed.], Ancient Sichuan: Treasures from a Lost Civilization [Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 2001], p. 24.)

  Fig. 5.1 Example of a turtle plastron with divination records (HJ: 06834). (From Institute of History, CASS, Jiaguwen heji [Shanghai: Zhonhua shuju, 1978–83], #06834.)

  Fig. 5.2 Inscribed turtle plastrons unearthed at Huayuanzhuang-east, 1991. (From Institute of Archaeology, CASS, Yinxu Huayuanzhuang dongdi jiagu [Kunming: Yunnan renmin chubanshe, 2003], p. 40.)

  Fig. 5.3 Example of consecutive records of royal sacrifice. (From Institute of History, CASS, Jiaguwen heji, #22779.)

  Fig. 5.4 Shang king asking about the “Four Lands.” (From Institute of History, CASS, Jiaguwen heji, #36975.)

  Fig. 6.1 Bronzes and oracle bone from Nianzipo. (From Institute of Archaeology, Nan Binzhou-Nianzipo [Beijing: Shijie tushu chuban gongsi, 2007], pls. 3, 4, 5, 6.2.)

  Fig. 6.2 Examples of late pre-dynastic bronzes and pottery. (From Kaogu xuebao 3 [1991], pp. 272, 273.)

  Fig 6.3 Example of a Zhou oracle-bone inscription from Zhouyuan. (Photograph provided by Cao Wei.)

  Fig. 6.4 The Li gui and its inscription recording the Zhou conquest. (Image from Zhongguo meishu quanji: Gongyi meishu bian: Qingtongqi 1 [Beijing: Wenwu chabanshe, 1985], p. 122; inscription from Wenwu 8 [1977], fig. 2.)

  Fig. 6.5 An early Western Zhou you-vessel (Photograph ©2013 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.)

  Fig. 6.6 Stylistic evolution of Western Zhou bronze vessels. (From Shaanxi sheng kaogu yanjiusuo et al., Shaanxi chutu Shang Zhou qingtongqi, vol. 2 [Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1979], pp. 3, 5, 13, 15, 21, 33, 36; vol. 3, pl. 8, pp. 32, 16, 118, 129; vol. 4, p. 82.)

  Fig. 6.7 Standard burial pottery sets from Zhangjiapo. (Reworked based on Kaogu xuebao 4 [1980], 459, 484, 485.)

  Fig. 6.8 The Yihou Ze gui-tureen (Image from Zhongguo meishu quanji: Gongyi meishu bian: Qingtongqi 1, p. 167.)

  Fig. 6.9 Tomb no. 1193 at Liulihe and the Ke lei from it. (From Kaogu 1 [1990], 22, 25.)

  Fig. 6.10 Bone sculpture from Zhouyuan. (From Wenwu 1 [1986], 47.)

  Fig. 6.11 The Xiaochen Lai gui-tureen and its inscriptions on the eastern campaign. (From Rong Geng, Shanzhai yiqi tulu [Beijing: Yanjing daxue, 1936], pl. 70.)

  Fig. 7.1 Configuration of the Zhou ancestral temple system.

  Fig. 7.2 Organization of the Western Zhou central government: mid Western Zhou period.

  Fig. 7.3 The Douyou ding-cauldron and its inscription which records Zhou combat with the Xianyun at four locations along the Jing River to the north of the Zhou capital. (From Li Feng, Landscape and Power in Early China: The Crisis and Fall of the Western Zhou, 1045–771 BC [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006], p. 148.)

  Fig. 7.4 Conditions of existence of the Zhou regional states.

  Fig. 8.1 Iron objects from burial pit no. 44 from Xiadu of Yan, Hebei Province. (From Kaogu 4 [1975], pls. 4–5.)

  Fig. 8.2 Covenant tablet 156: 20 from Houma. (From Shanxi sheng wenwu gongzuo weiyuanhui, Houma mengshu [Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1976], pp. 141, 267.)

  Fig. 9.1 The long wall of Qin in Guyuan, Ningxia Autonomous Region. (Photograph by the author.)

  Fig. 9.2 Territory-based states in comparison to settlement-based states in Fig. 7.4.

  Fig. 9.3 Battle scene engraved on a bronze jian-basin from Shanbiaozhen, northern Henan. (Courtesy of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica.)

&
nbsp; Fig. 9.4 A crossbow. (Reworked from Wang Zhenhua, Shang Zhou qingtong bingqi [Taipei: Guyuege, 1993], p. 295.)

  Fig. 9.5 Bronze zun-container and pan-basin from the tomb of Marquis Yi. (From Zhongguo meishu quanji: Gongyi meishu bian: Qingtongqi II [Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1985], p. 64.)

  Fig. 9.6 Bronze tiger from the tomb of the king of Zhongshan. (From Zhongguo wenwu jiaoliu fuwu zhongxin et al., Zhongguo wemwu jinghua [Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1990], pl. 68.)

  Fig. 11.1 Ding-vessel cast by an early Qin duke, possibly Duke Xiang (r. 777–766 BC). (Image provided by Zhou Ya.)

  Fig. 11.2 The excavation of tomb no. 1 in Fengxiang, possibly the grave of Duke Jing of Qin (576–537 BC). (Photographs provided by Jiao Nanfeng.)

  Fig. 11.3 Terracotta statue of a civil/legal officer recently found in pit K0006 near the burial mound of the First Emperor of Qin. (Photograph provided by Jiao Nanfeng.)

  Fig. 11.4 Standard volume measurer commissioned by Shang Yang. (From Guojia jiliang zongju [ed.], Zhongguo gudai duliangheng tuji [Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe, 1981], pl. 81.)

  Fig. 11.5 A modern portrait of Ying Zheng as the First Emperor of Qin. (From www.chinapage.comemperor.html.)

  Fig. 11.6 The “Straight Road” of Qin in Fuxian, northern Shaanxi (arrow: excavation trenches, 2007). (Photograph provided by Huang Xiaofen.)

  Fig. 11.7 The Lishan complex. (From Ann Delroy [ed.], Two Emperors: China’s Ancient Origins [Brunswick East, Victoria, Australia: Praxis Exhibitions, 2002], p. 46).

  Fig. 11.8 The underground city of the First Emperor. (From Delroy [ed.], Two Emperors, p. 47.)

  Fig. 11.9 Bronze crane from the underground river constructed for the First Emperor, to the north of the main burial mound. (Photograph provided by Cao Wei.)

  Fig. 11.10 The terracotta army of the First Emperor, pit no. 1. (Photograph provided by Cao Wei.)

  Fig. 12.1 The imperial city Chang’an. (From Wang Zhongshu, Han Civilization [New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982], fig. 2.)