Table Of ContentLiangzhu Civilization
Minghui Chen
China and
the World in
the Liangzhu Era
Liangzhu Civilization
SeriesEditor
BinLiu,ZhejiangProvincialInstituteofCulturalRelicsandArchaeology,
Hangzhou,China
The Liangzhu Civilization series consists of 11 volumes, namely: Realm of King
andGod:LiangzhuCity;FanshanRoyalCemetery:PyramidoftheEast;Liangzhu
Jade Artifacts: Legal Instrument and Royalty; Liangzhu Pottery: Introversion and
Resplendence; Engineering and Tools:The StoneStoryofLiangzhu; Painting and
Symbol: Primitive Characters of Liangzhu; The Paleoenvironment, Plants and
AnimalsofLiangzhu:;ChinaandtheWorldintheLiangzhuEra;EightyYearsof
Archaeology at Liangzhu; What Liangzhu Was Like; and One Dig for Five
Millennia:LiangzhuintheEyesofanArchaeologicalJournalist.Representingthe
combined efforts of archaeologists from the Institute of Cultural Relics and
ArchaeologyofZhejiangProvincewhohavebeenexploringLiangzhuforover30
years,theseriesboastsawealthofsignificantfindingsmadeatLiangzhu,sharesthe
archaeologists’ valuable experience, and includes abundant pictures of the exca-
vation site. Accordingly, it will help readers develop a deeper understanding of
Liangzhu Civilization and reveal the evolutionary course of Chinese civilization,
characterized by ‘unity in diversity.’ Both the publication of the Liangzhu
Civilization Series and the ‘Liangzhu Civilization Towards the World’ exhibition
are expected to serve as a bridge to the public, thereby further disseminating
LiangzhuCivilizationandpromotinganinterestintraditionalChineseculture.
Moreinformationaboutthisseriesathttp://link.springer.com/bookseries/16612
Minghui Chen
China and the World
in the Liangzhu Era
MinghuiChen
ZhejiangProvincialInstituteofCultural
RelicsandArchaeology
Hangzhou,China
Translatedby
YiZhang
SchoolofInternationalBusiness
Communication
DongbeiUniversityofFinance
andEconomics
Liaoning,China
ISSN2730-6097 ISSN2730-6100 (electronic)
LiangzhuCivilization
ISBN978-981-16-6896-8 ISBN978-981-16-6897-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-6897-5
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Foreword: Liangzhu and Five Thousand Years
of Chinese Civilization
Thecombinationoftimeandspaceismarvelous.Whenwelookupatthestarrysky
andseetheimmenseuniverse,thetwinklingstarsseemtobepermanentlyembedded
inthecanopyoftheheavens.However,weknowfrommodernsciencethatthelight-
yearisaunitofdistance,andthelightofstarsfromthedepthsoftheuniversewas
emitted in the distant past—the travel across time and space happens in the mere
blinkofaneye.
Archaeologyisalsoadisciplineaboutthetravelacrosstimeandspace.Through
thedooroftimeopenedbyourownhands,wecangobacktodifferentmomentsin
humanhistory,and5,000yearsagowasaspecialone.
Globallyspeaking,theperiod5,000yearsagowasagreaterainwhichcivilization
wasborn.Coincidentally,earlycivilizationsallgrewupintheworld’smajorriver
basins,suchastheancientEgyptiancivilizationintheNileRiverBasin,theSumerian
civilizationintheTigris–EuphratesRiverBasin,andtheHarappancivilizationinthe
IndusRiverBasin.HowabouttheChinesecivilization5,000yearsago?Thisissue
hasbaffledscholarsforquitealongtime.TheyhaveexaminedancientChina’scities,
characters,bronzeware,etc.,accordingtotheinternationalstandardsofcivilization
andfoundthattheancientChinesecivilizationcoulddatebacktonoearlierthanthe
ShangDynastywhenoraclebonescriptappeared.
Thehistorybeforetheemergenceofcharacterswascalled“prehistory”inarchae-
ology.DuringChina’sprehistorictimes,differentgeographicalunitsinthevastterri-
toryhavegivenbirthtoculturalsequenceswithvariouscharacteristicssince10,000
years ago, which is figuratively called “the sky dotted with stars” in archaeology.
China’sprehistory,however,haslongbeenunderestimated.WealwaystaketheXia
and Shang Dynasties as the origin of the Chinese civilization and take the Yellow
River civilization as its core, which unconsciously downplays the historic signifi-
canceofhigh-levelruinsandhigh-graderelicsinsurroundingareas,suchasthose
from the Hongshan culture in western Liaoning, the Shijiahe culture around the
YangtzeRiverandtheHanRiver,theLiangzhucultureintheTaihuBasin,theTaosi
cultureinsouthernShanxiandtheShimaositeinnorthernShaanxi.Asweexplore
theoriginoftheChineseculture,wecometorealizethatsomecultureslike“stars
v
vi Foreword:LiangzhuandFiveThousandYearsofChineseCivilization
dottingthesky”sparkledthefirstsignofcivilization,andtheLiangzhucultureisa
particularoneamongthem.
TheLiangzhuculture,anarchaeologicalcultureofjadeworship,suddenlycame
intoexistenceinthelowerreachesoftheYangtzeRiverapproximately5,300years
ago. Despite the fact that jade had already been widely admired, it was not until
thatperiodthatjadeworshipreachedanunprecedentedclimax.Differentfromorna-
mental jade ware many people love, Liangzhu people’s jade ware was made not
onlyforaestheticpurposes.Representedbycong,1whichbelongedtotheritualjade
waresystembesidesyue,2huang,3bi,4 crown-shapedornaments,three-prongedjade
artifacts,awl-shapedjadeartifacts,tablets,andtubes,Liangzhupeople’sjadeware
symbolizedtheirstatus,powerorwealth.Variousjadewareburiedinearthmounds
alongsidethepeoplewithsupremepowershowedthedignityofthedeceased,and
thedivineemblemoftenengravedonthejadewaredemonstratedLiangzhupeople’s
unifiedbelief.TheownersofthejadewarewereLiangzhu’srulingclasswhobelieved
theycouldexercisethegod’swillastheembodimentofthegod.Thetypesandquan-
titiesofthejadewareburiedwiththemimplytheirsocialstatusandresponsibility.It
seemsthattheLiangzhuculturewasoncedividedintomultiplecentersandcovereda
greatnumberofsmallstates,becauseextremelyhigh-leveltombgroupswerefound
atthesitesofFanshanandYaoshaninYuhangDistrict,Hangzhou,thesiteofSidun
inWujinDistrict,Changzhou,thesiteofGaochengduninJiangyin,andthesiteof
FuquanshaninShanghai.Fortunately,historygaveYuhanganopportunity:moreand
moresitesoftheLiangzhuculturewerefoundaroundthesiteofFanshan,andthe
good protection of these centrally distributed sites allowed archaeological work to
be carried out smoothly in the area. In retrospect, it provided a foundation for the
rediscoveryoftheLiangzhuculture.Otherwise,noonewouldhaverealizedthatthe
scatteredsitesaredifferentpartsoftheancientcapitalcityLiangzhu.
WenowcanseethattheLiangzhuCity,composedoftheimperialcity,theinner
city,andtheoutercity,covers6.3km2,aroundeighttimesthesizeoftheForbidden
City.Itboastspalaces,royaltombs,citywalls,moats,awatertransportationsystem
insidethecityandawaterconservancysystemoutsidethecity.Itwasapropercapital
cityintermsofitsscaleandlayout,andtheLiangzhuculturecouldreachthestandards
ofcivilizationexceptforcharactersandbronzeware.Nevertheless,withourminds
open, we may find that the general standards of civilization should not be applied
rigidly when determining whether a culture has entered a civilized society or not.
Thesignificanceofetiquettemanifestedbybronzewareinothercivilizedsocietiesis
reflectedinjadewareintheLiangzhuculture.Despitethelackofthecharactersystem
throughwhichlanguagescanberecordedandthoughtsandculturescanbepassed
down,thesymbolsincisedonritualjadewarecouldunifypeople’sthoughtstoagreat
extent, and the impressive organizational and managerial capabilities of Liangzhu
societyreflectedinlargeconstructionprojectsalsosuggestthattheremusthavebeen
1Cong(琮):astraighttubewithacircularboreandsquareoutersectionwithconvexsides.
2Yue(钺):axe.
3Huang(璜):semi-circularjadeartifact.
4 Bi(璧):flatjadediscwithacircularholeinthecentre.
Foreword:LiangzhuandFiveThousandYearsofChineseCivilization vii
a certain method for information transmission similar to the character system. For
these reasons, the discovery of the Liangzhu City established the existence of the
Liangzhucivilization.
ThearchaeologicalstudiesofLiangzhuhavelastedformorethaneightdecades.
In 1936, Shi Xingeng first discovered black-surfaced pottery and stone tools, and
today we have defined the Liangzhu culture as the first regional culture in ancient
Chinathatformedanearlykingdom;in1959,XiaNaiputforwardthedesignationof
“theLiangzhuculture”andscholarscametoknowthecharacteristicsofthisculture,
and today we carry out multi-field and all-dimensional archaeological research on
theLiangzhucivilizationandthestateformofLiangzhubecomesclearerandclearer
tous.Thisbookseries,writtenbyyoungandmiddle-agedscholarswhoaredevoted
to the archaeological work of Liangzhu, focuses on recent archaeological findings
and studies of the ruins of the Liangzhu City in Pingyao Town, Yuhang District,
Hangzhou,andcontainsahugeamountofinformation,includingdifferentaspects
of the site that people hope to know, the history of the archaeological studies of
Liangzhu, the palaeoenvironment, plants and animals of Liangzhu, Fanshan royal
cemeterywhichisthehighestlevelofcemeteryintheLiangzhuculture,high-grade
jadewareofLiangzhuoftendiscussedbypeople,andawiderangeofpotteryused
in Liangzhu people’s daily life. On top of that, Liangzhu is also compared with
otherancientcivilizationsintheworld,andanintriguingseriesofnewsreportson
Liangzhu is commented on by media professionals. We hope this book series can
arousereaders’interestintheLiangzhucivilization,somorepeoplecanbeinspired
toexploreourhistory.
PerhapsmanypeoplewouldaskabouttherelationshipbetweentheLiangzhucivi-
lizationandtheChinesecivilizationbecauseChinesepeoplearecalledthedescen-
dants of Huaxia5 in modern history but few people have heard of Liangzhu. This
is understandable: we believe the Chinese civilization is a unified civilization of a
statewithitspoliticalpowerintheYellowRiverBasin;ithassurvivedfromtheXia,
Shang,Zhou,Qin,Han,andTangDynastiesandisstillthrivingtoday.However,the
archaeologistshavelaunchedthe“InSearchoftheOriginsofChineseCivilization”
projecttogainsomeinsightsintotheearliestculturalformofChinesecivilization,
so we should not have too many presuppositions for the earliest civilized society.
Sincewehavefounda5,000-year-oldregionalcivilization,theLiangzhucivilization,
we may also find the Hongshan civilization in northern Liaoning and the Shijiahe
civilization in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, though we are not able to
confirmtheexistenceofthesecivilizationsatthisstageduetolimitedarchaeological
findings.WhiletheLiangzhucivilizationstarteddeclininggradually4,300yearsago,
theelementsofthecivilizationhavebeenwellinheritedbecauseofLiangzhu’sjade,
anditsinfluencehasspreadalloverthecountry—regionalcivilizationsactuallyhave
anationwideandevenuniversalinfluence.
Human migration and communication have never ceased since the Paleolithic
era. Population movement of different scales, degrees and forms have facilitated
5Huaxiareferstoaconfederationoftribes—livingalongtheYellowRiver—whoweretheancestors
ofwhatlaterbecametheHanethnicgroupinChina(Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huaxia).
viii Foreword:LiangzhuandFiveThousandYearsofChineseCivilization
collisions, exchanges, and integration between cultures, and the development of
regionalcivilizationisalsoadynamicprocess.Theonethousandyearsfollowingthe
Liangzhucivilization—theearliestChinesecivilizationwecanconfirmasoftoday—
witnessedthesuccessiveprosperityofTaosi,ShimaoandErlitou,andthecenterof
regional civilization changed from time to time. In this process, the elements of
civilization,suchasetiquette,hierarchicalsocietyandcitystructures,wereinherited
andintegratedtillthebeginningoftheXiaandShangDynasties.Infact,theXiaand
Shangculturesevolvedintheirrespectiveregions,andthechangeofthedynasties
reflectsthedominanceofXiawasreplacedbythedominanceoftheotherregional
civilization—the regions were much larger this time and the civilizations fought
againsteachotherduringthatperiodforthecontrolovertheterritory.Itwasnotuntil
theQinDynastythatastateunifiedbycentralizedpoliticalpowerappearedinChina.
Inthisregard,theperiodfromLiangzhutotheShangandZhouDynastiessawthe
Chinese civilization’s continued evolution from a regional civilization to a unified
one,sothisperiodcanbynomeansbeseparatedapart.
Liangzhu,China LiuBin
May2019
Contents
PartI WestAsiaCivilizationCircle
1 Introduction ................................................... 3
1.1 WhatisCivilization? ........................................ 5
1.2 WhatistheState? .......................................... 8
1.3 ChinaandtheWorld5,000YearsAgo ......................... 11
References ..................................................... 12
2 SumerianCivilization ........................................... 15
2.1 TheLandofEden .......................................... 15
2.2 CulturalIntegration ......................................... 17
2.2.1 HalafPeriod ......................................... 18
2.2.2 UbaidPeriod ........................................ 19
2.2.3 UrukPeriod ......................................... 21
2.3 SumerianCivilization ....................................... 24
2.3.1 TheLateUrukPeriod-JemdetNasrPeriod ............... 25
2.3.2 EarlyDynasticPeriod ................................ 29
2.4 BriefHistoryoftheEarlyDynasticPeriod ..................... 34
2.4.1 ThePrehistoricPeriodBeforetheFlood ................. 36
2.4.2 TheEarlyDynasticPeriodAftertheFlood ............... 37
2.4.3 AkkadianPeriod ..................................... 41
References ..................................................... 44
3 AncientEgyptianCivilization ................................... 47
3.1 TheGiftoftheNile ......................................... 47
3.2 FromCulturetoCivilization ................................. 49
3.2.1 BadarianPeriod ...................................... 51
3.2.2 NaqadaPeriod ....................................... 52
ix
