Exploring China's Past. New Discoveries and Studies in Archaeology and Art

Translated and edited by Roderick Whitfield and Wang Tao. — London: Saffron, 1999. — 286 p. — (International Series in Chinese Art and Archaeology; No 1). — ISBN: 1-872843-20-4.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.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.