Material Culture, Power, and Identity in Ancient China

This book is a comprehensive and in-depth study of a mysterious state of China's Warring States Period (476–221 BCE): the Zhongshan.

Xiaolong Wu (Author)

9781107134027, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 9 February 2017

260 pages, 82 b/w illus. 5 maps 7 tables
26 x 18.5 x 1.6 cm, 0.72 kg

In this book, Xiaolong Wu offers a comprehensive and in-depth study of the Zhongshan state during China's Warring States Period (476–221 BCE). Analyzing artefacts, inscriptions, and grandiose funerary structures within a broad archaeological context, he illuminates the connections between power and identity, and the role of material culture in asserting and communicating both. The author brings an interdisciplinary approach to this study. He combines and cross-examines all available categories of evidence, including archaeological, textual, art historical, and epigraphical, enabling innovative interpretations and conclusions that challenge conventional views regarding Zhongshan and ethnicity in ancient China. Wu reveals the complex relationship between material culture, cultural identity, and statecraft intended by the royal patrons. He demonstrates that the Zhongshan king Cuo constructed a hybrid cultural identity, consolidated his power, and aimed to maintain political order at court after his death through the buildings, sculpture, and inscriptions that he commissioned.

List of figures
List of maps
List of tables
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Historical setting and approaches to the study of an ancient state in Warring States China
2. Life, death, and identity in Zhongshan: sorting out the archaeological evidence
3. Royal mortuary practice and artifacts: hybridity, identity, and power
4. Inter-state politics and artistic innovation during the reign of King Cuo
5. Statecraft and Zhongshan bronze inscriptions
6. Funerary architecture, kingly power, and court politics
Conclusion
Appendixes
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Archaeology [HD], Asian history [HBJF], History [HB], Ceramic arts, pottery, glass [AFP], History of art: ancient & classical art,BCE to c 500 CE [ACG], Oriental art [ACBP]