Social Memory and State Formation in Early China

Min Li

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781107141452
• eBook ISBN: 9781108591546
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Archaeology
• Index: Social Sciences

In this book, Li Min proposes a new paradigm for the foundation and emergence of the classical tradition in early China, from the late Neolithic through the Zhou period. Using a wide range of historical and archaeological data, he explains the development of ritual authority and particular concepts of kingship over time in relation to social memory. His volume weaves together the major benchmarks in the emergence of the classical tradition, particularly how legacies of prehistoric interregional interactions, state formation, urban florescence and collapse during the late third and the second millenniums BCE laid the critical foundation for the Sandai notion of history among Zhou elite. Moreover, the literary-historical accounts of the legendary Xia Dynasty in early China reveal a cultural construction involving social memories of the past and subsequent political elaborations in various phases of history. This volume enables a new understanding on the long-term processes that enabled a classical civilization in China to take shape.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title
• Frontispiece
• Title page
• Copyright information
• Dedication
• Table of contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter One Wen Ding: Gaging the Weight of Political Power
• Chapter Two Frames of Reference: Multiple Classifications of Space
• Chapter Three Before the Central Plains: The Pinnacle of Neolithic Development
• Chapter Four The Longshan Transition: Political Experimentation and Expanding Horizons
• Chapter Five The Rise of the Luoyang Basin and the Production of the First Bronze Ding Vessels
• Chapter Six The Rise of the Henei Basin and the Limit of Shang Hegemony
• Chapter Seven The Rise of the Guanzhong Basin and the Birth of History
• Chapter Eight The World of Yu’s Tracks: A Blueprint for Political Experimentation
• Chapter Nine Conclusion: The Emergence of the Classical Tradition
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index