UCL INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY
ARCL3063: Art and Archaeology of Early Imperial China
Optional course for Year 2/3, 0.5unit
Turnitin code and password: 3228758 and IoA1617
Tuesday 4-6pm, Room B13
Co-ordinator: Yijie Zhuang
email: [email protected]
Room 106, Tel: 020 7679 1539
Other contributor
Dr. Xiuzhen Li
[email protected]
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1 INTRODUCTION
This handbook contains basic information about the content and
administration of ARCL 3063. If you have queries about the objectives,
structure, content, assessment or organisation of the course, please consult
the Course Coordinator.
This course covers the period from the emergence of Qin State to the end of
the Song Dynasty (3rd Century BC – 1279 AD). The course will explore
Chinese tombs, temples, settlements and artefacts. It aims at understanding
everyday life, religious ideas and social customs of people in early China
using archaeological and art historical evidence as well as transmitted historic
data.
Week-by-week summary
Date
Topic
th
1. 1. 10 January The rise of Qin and the First
Chinese Empire
th
2. 17 January First Emperor’s mausoleum
complex and his Terracotta
Army
3. 24th January Han Empire: Cities, villages and
life
4. 31st January Quest for immortality: Han elite
tombs and brick tombs
5. 7th February After Han: Advancement and
innovation in a chaotic time
6. 14th
READING WEEK
February
7. 21st
Chang’an and Luoyang cities of
February
the Tang dynasty
th
8. 28
Mausoleums and tombs of the
February
commoners in Tang Dynasty
th
9. 7 March
Silk Road, religions and
interactions
th
10. 14 March Song Dynasty: City life and
commerce
st
11. 21 March Painting, calligraphy and
intellectual life
Instructor
Janice Xiuzhen Li
Janice Xiuzhen Li
Yijie Zhuang
Yijie Zhuang
Yijie Zhuang
No class meeting
Yijie Zhuang
Yijie Zhuang
Yijie Zhuang
Yijie Zhuang
Yijie Zhuang
2 AIMS, OBJECTIVES and ASSESSMENT
Aims and Objectives
This course covers the period from the rise of the Qin State to the end of the
Song Dynasty (end of 3rd Century BC – 1297 AD). It is designed for 2nd and
3rd year students. It will provide a general overview of the development of
economy, life, art, religion and belief in imperial China based on the most
recent archaeological discoveries and research. Problems in methodologies,
archaeological practices, theories and using received texts will be explored in
depth throughout the course. Students will be encouraged to participate in
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discussion using comparable archaeological examples from other parts of the
world.
Learning outcome
On successful completion of the course, students should be able to have
developed:
(1) a good knowledge and understanding of the archaeology of the periods
covered in the course and an in-depth comprehension of some key
issues in historical archaeology in China: cities, tombs, craftsmanship
and long-distance interactions;
(2) a broad perspective on how and why imperial China was different from
its contemporary counterparts in different parts of the world;
(3) ability to critically reflect on Western and Chinese approaches to
archaeological material and to locate and use information resources inand outside of the IoA library for their own research.
Teaching methods
Lectures take place every week (except Reading Week). Each lecture lasts
for 2 hours. Students are encouraged to participate in class discussions. It is
highly recommended that students attend ALL lectures. Students are
encouraged to visit British Museum on their own.
Workload
There will be 20 hours of lectures. Students will be expected to undertake
around 130 hours of reading for the course, plus 50 hours preparing for and
producing the essays. They add up to a total workload of some 180 hours for
the course.
Methods of assessment
The course is assessed by means of:
(a): one essay of 1,425-1,575 words, which will constitute 33% of the final
mark of the course; the deadline for this is the last Friday of the term (24th
March 2017).
(b): a 2 hour written examination in May, which will constitute 67% of the final
mark of the course.
If students are unclear about the nature of an assignment, they should
discuss this with the Course Coordinator.
Students are not permitted to re-write and re-submit essays in order to try to
improve their marks. However, students may be permitted, in advance of the
deadline for a given assignment, to submit for comment a brief outline of the
assignment.
The Course Coordinator is willing to discuss an outline of the student's
approach to the assignment, provided this is planned suitably in advance of
the submission date.
OR
The nature of the assignment and possible approaches to it will be discussed
in class, in advance of the submission deadline.
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Word counts
The following should not be included in the word-count: title page, contents
pages, lists of figure and tables, abstract, preface, acknowledgements,
bibliography, lists of references, captions and contents of tables and figures,
appendices.
Please convert the previous single figure word count limit as indicated in
column 2 below.
1
5,000
4,500
4,000
3,500
3,000
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
2
4,750-5,250
4,275-4,725
3,800-4,200
3,325-3,675
2,850-3,150
2,375-2,625
1,900-2,100
1,425-1,575
950-1,050
Penalties will only be imposed if you exceed the upper figure in the range.
There is no penalty for using fewer words than the lower figure in the range:
the lower figure is simply for your guidance to indicate the sort of length that is
expected.
In the 2016-17 session penalties for overlength work will be as follows:
•
•
For work that exceeds the specified maximum length by less than 10%
the mark will be reduced by five percentage marks, but the penalised
mark will not be reduced below the pass mark, assuming the work
merited a Pass.
For work that exceeds the specified maximum length by 10% or more
the mark will be reduced by ten percentage marks, but the penalised
mark will not be reduced below the pass mark, assuming the work
merited a Pass.
Coursework submission procedures
• All coursework must be submitted both as hard copy and
electronically.
• You should staple the appropriate colour-coded IoA coversheet
(available in the IoA library and outside room 411a) to the front of each
piece of work and submit it to the red box at the Reception Desk (or
room 411a in the case of Year 1 undergraduate work).
• All coursework should be uploaded to Turnitin by midnight on the
day of the deadline. This will date-stamp your work. It is
essential to upload all parts of your work as this is sometimes the
version that will be marked.
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•
Instructions are given below.
Note that Turnitin uses the term ‘class’ for what we normally call a
‘course’.
1.
Ensure that your essay or other item of coursework has
been saved as a Word doc., docx. or PDF document, and that
you have the Class ID for the course (available from the course
handbook) and enrolment password (this is IoA1617 for all
courses this session - note that this is capital letter I, lower case
letter o, upper case A, followed by the current academic year)
2.
Click on http://www.turnitinuk.com/en_gb/login
3.
Click on ‘Create account’
4.
Select your category as ‘Student’
5.
Create an account using your UCL email address. Note
that you will be asked to specify a new password for your account
- do not use your UCL password or the enrolment password, but
invent one of your own (Turnitin will permanently associate this
with your account, so you will not have to change it every 6
months, unlike your UCL password). In addition, you will be
asked for a “Class ID” and a “Class enrolment password” (see
point 1 above).
6.
Once you have created an account you can just log in at
http://www.turnitinuk.com/en_gb/login and enrol for your other
classes without going through the new user process again.
Simply click on ‘Enrol in a class’. Make sure you have all the
relevant “class IDs” at hand.
7.
Click on the course to which you wish to submit your work.
8.
Click on the correct assignment (e.g. Essay 1).
9.
Double-check that you are in the correct course and
assignment and then click ‘Submit’
10.
Attach document as a “Single file upload”
11.
Enter your name (the examiner will not be able to see this)
12.
Fill in the “Submission title” field with the right details: It is
essential that the first word in the title is your examination
candidate number (e.g. YGBR8 In what sense can culture be
said to evolve?),
13.
Click “Upload”. When the upload is finished, you will be
able to see a text-only version of your submission.
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Click on “Submit”
If you have problems, please email the IoA Turnitin Advisers on
[email protected], explaining the nature of the problem and the
exact course and assignment involved.
One of the Turnitin Advisers will normally respond within 24 hours,
Monday-Friday during term. Please be sure to email the Turnitin
Advisers if technical problems prevent you from uploading work in
time to meet a submission deadline - even if you do not obtain an
immediate response from one of the Advisers they will be able to
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notify the relevant Course Coordinator that you had attempted to
submit the work before the deadline
3 SYLLABUS and READING LISTS BY WEEK
Syllabus (detailed lecture summaries and weekly readings)
Week 1 The rise of Qin and the First Chinese Empire
What is the story of the founding of the First China’s Empire? In recent
decades, a series of remarkable archaeological discoveries has radically
expanded our knowledge of the Qin culture and its historical trajectory. This
lecture will focus mainly on two issues: a) the rise of Qin and its cultural
interaction with surrounding tribes and pastoral groups; b) imperial
administration for a new order of the government.
Essential reading
Yates, Robin D. S. 2007. The Rise of Qin and the Military Conquest of the
Warring States. In Jane Portal (ed.), The First Emperor – China’s Terracotta
Army (pp. 30-57). London: The British Museum Press.
Pines, Y., Von Falkenhausen, L., Shelach, G., and Yates, R. D. S. (ed.). 2014.
Birth of an Empire – The State of Qin Revisited. California: University of
California Press. Introduction chapter.
Optional reading
Teng, Mingyu. 2014. From Vassal State to Empire: An Archaeological
Examination of Qin Culture. In Yuri Pines et al. (ed.), Birth of an Empire – The
State of Qin Revisited (pp.53-70). California: University of California Press.
Zhao, Huacheng. 2014. New Explorations of Early Qin Culture. In Yuri Pines
et al. (ed.), Birth of an Empire – The State of Qin Revisited (pp.53-70).
California: University of California Press.
Linduff, Catheryn M. 2009. Production of signature artifacts for the nomad
market in the state of Qin during the late Warring States period in China (4 th 3rd century BCE). In Mei Jianjun and Rehren Thilo (ed.), Metallurgy and
Civilisation – Eurasia and Beyond. London: Archetype Publications.
Kern, Martin. 2000. The Stele Inscriptions of Ch’in Shih-huang: Text and
Ritual in Early Chinese Imperial Representation. New Haven: American
Oriental Society.
Michaelson, Carol. 2007. Qin Gold and Jade. In Jane Portal (ed.), The First
Emperor – China’s Terracotta Army (pp. 30-57). London: The British Museum
Press.
Loewe, Michael. 2007. The First Emperor and the Qin Empire. In Jane Portal
(ed.), The First Emperor – China’s Terracotta Army (pp. 30-57). London: The
British Museum Press.
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Liu, Yang. 2012. China's Terracotta Warriors: The First Emperor's Legacy.
Minneapolis: Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
Week 2: First Emperor’s mausoleum complex and his Terracotta Army
The stunning discovery of the Terracotta Army has reshaped our thinking
about the First Emperor, the Qin Empire and the Qin culture. What were the
belief and cosmology of the Qin Emperor and Qin people? What was the
rationale of creating such life-sized terracotta warriors, acrobats, musicians,
and even stablemen as a part of the whole mausoleum complex? How many
manpower were conscribed and what were the managing models for this
immense task? These questions in this lecture will facilitate our rethinking and
understanding of the Qin Empire and the underground universe.
Essential readings
Portal, Jane (ed.). 2007. The First Emperor – China’s Terracotta Army.
London: The British Museum Press.
Rawson, Jessica. 2002. The power of images: the model universe of the First
Emperor and its legacy. Historical Research 75, no 188, pp123-154.
Optional reading
Barnhart, Richard, 2004. “Alexander in China? Questions for Chinese
Archaeology,” in Xiaoneng Yang, ed., New Perspectives on China’s Past:
Chinese Archaeology in the Twentieth Century (pp329-45). New Haven: Yale
University Press.
Nickel, Lukas. 2013. The First Emperor and sculpture in China. Bulletin of
SOAS, 76: p413-447.
Ciarla, Roberto. 2005. The Eternal Army: The Terracotta Army of the First
Chinese Emperor. White Star: Vercelli.
Ledderose, Lothar. 2000. A Magic Army for the Emperor. In Ten Thousand
Things - Module and Mass Production in Chinese Art (pp51-73). Princeton:
Princeton University Press.
Wu, Yongqi, Zhang, Tinghao, Petzet, M., Emmerling, E., and Blänsdorf, C.
(eds.). 2001. The polychrome of antique sculptures and the Terracotta Army
of the First Chinese Emperor - Studies on Materials, Painting Techniques and
Conservation. Paris: ICOMOS.
Li, Xiuzhen, Bevan, A., Martinon-Torres, M., Rehren, Th., Cao, Wei, Xia, Yin,
and Zhao, Kun 2014. Crossbows and imperial craft organisation: the bronze
triggers of China’s Terracotta Army. Antiquity vol. 88: 126-140.
Beven, A., Li, Xiuzhen, Martinon-Torres, M., Green, S., Xia, Yin, Zhao, Kun,
Zhao, Zhen, Mao, Shengtao, Cao, Wei and Th. Rehren. 2014. Computer
version, archaeological classification and China’s Terracotta Warriors. Journal
of Archaeological Science, Vol. 49, pp.249–254.
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Martinón-Torres, M., Li Xiuzhen, Bevan, A., Xia Yin, Zhao, Kun, and Th.
Rehren. 2012. Forty thousand arms for a single emperor: from chemical data
to labor organization in the production of bronze arrows for the Terracotta
Army. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, October.
Week 3 Han Empire: Cities, villages and life
The ephemerality of the Qin Empire did not stop its unprecedented and
influential legacy from being inherited by the Han Empire. Benefiting from this
and with its own innovations, the Han Empire throve for nearly four hundred
years. This lecture will introduce the major cities and some typical villages
during the Han in the light of recent archaeological discoveries and pay
attention to the economic development and daily life of the time.
Essential reading
Zhongshu Wang (translated by K. C. Chang and collaborators), 1982. Han
Civilization. New Haven/London: Yale University Press.
Chun-shu Chang, 2007. The Rise of the Chinese Empire, Volume 1. Chapter
one, Part one. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Michael Loewe, 2006. The Government of the Qin and Han Empirs: 221 BCE
– 220 CE. Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett.
Michael Loewe, 1986. The structure and practice of government. In Denis,
Twitchett and Michael Loewe (eds.), The Cambridge History of China Volume
1: The Ch’in and Han Empires, 221 BC- AD 220. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Optional reading
Michael Loewe, 1990. The Pride That Was China. London: St. Martin’s Press.
Michael Nylan and Michael Loewe (eds.), 2010. China’s Early Empires: A Reappraisal. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Denis Twitchett and Michael Loewe (eds.), 1986. The Cambridge History of
China Volume 1: The Ch’in and Han Empires, 221 BC- AD 220. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. Other chapters
Huacheng Zhao (translated by Andrew H. Miller), 2014. New explorations of
Early Qin Culture. In Yuri Pines et al. (eds.), Birth of an Empire: The State of
Qin Revisited. Berkeley/London: University of California Press.
Michael Nyland and Griet Vankeerberghen (eds.), 2015. Chang’an 26 BCE:
An Augustan Age in China. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
Anthony J. Barbieri-Low, 2007. Artisans in Early Imperial China.
Seattle/London: University of Washington Press.
Walter Scheidel (ed.), 2015. State Power in Ancient China and Rome. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
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Steinhardt, Nancy Shatzman, 2014. Chinese architecture in an age of turmoil,
200-600. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press
Week 4 Quest for immortality: Han elite tombs and brick tombs
Agricultural and technological developments, economic surplus, and political
stability brought about by the establishment and expansion of the Han Empire
has fundamental influence in cosmology, religion and belief of that time. The
idea of the quest for eternality had deeply penetrated into the society.
Featuring on the mausoleums and elite tombs, as well as the burials of the
ordinary people, this lecture aims to reconstruct the Han cosmology, religion
and belief.
Essential reading
Jessica Rawson, 1999. The eternal palaces of the Western Han: A new view
of the universe. Artibus Asiae, 59: 5-58.
Michael Loewe, 1979. Ways to Paradise: The Chinese Quest for Immortality.
London: George Allen & Unwin.
Michael Loewe. 1986. The religious and intellectual background. In Denis,
Twitchett and Michael Loewe (eds.), The Cambridge History of China Volume
1: The Ch’in and Han Empires, 221 BC- AD 220. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Hung Wu. 1989. The Wu Liang Shrine: The Ideology of Early Chinese
Pictorial Art. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Chapters Three and Four.
Optional reading
Michael Loewe, 1982. Chinese Ideas of Life and Death, Faith, Myth and
Reason in the Han Period (202 BC – AD 220). London: George Allen &
Unwin.
Nickel Lukas, 2012. Brick built heavens: Cosmic symbolism in tomb
architecture and painting of the Han Period. In Jungmann Burglind, Schlombs
Adele and Tred, Melanie (eds.), Shifting Paradigms in East Asian Visual
Culture: A Festschrift in Honour of Lothar Ledderose / Grenzverschiebungen
in der visuellen Kultur Ostasiens: eine Festschrift für Lothar Ledderose, Edited
by Burglind Jungmann, Adele Schlombs, and Melanie Trede. Berlin: Reimer
Publishers.
Ann Paludan, 1991. Chinese Spirit Road: The Classical Tradition of Stone
Tomb Statuary. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
Wilma Fairbank, 1942. A structural key to Han mural art. Harvard Journal of
Asiatic Studies. 7: 52-88.
L. Kesner, 2007. Face as Artifact in Early Chinese Art. Res: Anthropology and
Aesthetics, 51: 33-56
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A, Selbitschka, 2015. Miniature tomb figurines and models in pre-imperial and
early imperial China: origins, development and significance. World
Archaeology. 47: 20-44.
Week 5 After Han: Advancement and innovation in a chaotic time
China was split into different parts after the collapse of the Han Empire. The
ruling by some nomadic groups coming from the North also brought cultures
from their original places into central China. This period thus also witnessed
active cultural interactions between central China and its neighbors. This is
reflected in both daily and after lives and were profoundly influential in
Chinese history. The lecture examines archaeological discoveries of cities,
tombs and artefacts.
Essential reading
Albert E. Dien, 2007. Six Dynasties Civilization. New Haven/ London: Yale
University Press.
Albert E. Dien (ed.), 1990. State and Society in Early Medieval China. Hong
Kong: Hong Kong University Press and Stanford University Press.
Albert E. Dien, 1991. A New Look at the Xianbei and their Impact on Chinese
Culture. In George Kuwayama (ed.), Ancient Mortuary Traditions in China.
Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Annette L. Juliano, 1976. Art of Six Dynasties: Centuries of Chang and
Innovation. Chinese House Gallery.
Hung Wu, 2000-3. Between Han and Tang: Religious Art and Archaeology in
a Transformative Period. Beijing: Cultural Relics Press. Part Three: Temple,
Grotto, and Icon.
Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt, 1999. Chinese Imperial City Planning. Honolulu:
University of Hawaii Press.
Optional reading
Albert E. Dien, 1987. Chinese Beliefs in the Afterworld. In Quest for Eternity:
Chinese Ceramic Sculptures from the People’s Republic of China. Los
Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Albert E. Dien. 1974. The Yeh-hou chia-chuan and its Use as
Historiographical Source. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 34: 221-247.
Chauncey S. Goodrich, 1984. Riding astride and the saddle in ancient China,
Harvard Journal of Asian Studies, 44: 279-306
John Kieschnick, 2003. The Impact of Buddhism on Chinese Material Culture.
Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Acques Gernet, 1995. Buddhism in Chinese Society: An Economic History
from the Fifth to the Tenth Centuries. New York: Columbia University Press.
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David Andrew Graff, 2002. Medieval Chinese Warfare 300-900. London:
Routledge.
Northern Wei sculpture:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/419971/Northern-Weisculpture
Week 6 Reading week
Week 7 Chang’an and Luoyang cities of the Tang dynasty
Following yet another ephemeral but influential dynasty, Sui, the Tang court
reunited China after a long, chaotic time. Chang’an became the capital again
and its construction was reached to a new level. Chang’an was used in
parallel with Luoyang, another city that saw major development in
construction. This lecture will introduce recent excavations at these two most
important sites and discuss daily life in the cities and their influence other
Asian cities.
Essential reading
Xinian Fu, 2002. The Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties. In Nancy Steinhardt (ed.),
Chinese Architecture. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt, 1999. Chinese Imperial City Planning. Honolulu:
University of Hawaii Press.
Charles Benn, 2002. China’s Golden Age: Everyday Life in the Tang Dynasty.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Optional reading
Nancy Steinhardt, 2004. The Tang architectural icon and the politics of
Chinese architectural history. The Art Bulletin, 86: 228-254.
Joseph Needham, 1986. Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Physics
and Physical Technology, Part 2, Mechanical Engineering. Taipei: Caves
Books Ltd.
Denis Twitchett, 1970. Financial Administration under the Tang. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Victor Cunrui Xiong, 1993. Sui Yang Di and the building of Sui-Tang Luoyang.
The Journal of Asian Studies, 52: 66-89.
Jonathan Karam Skaff, 2012. Sui-Tang China and its Turko-Mongol
Neighbors. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Roel Sterckx, 2002. The Animal and the Daemon in Early China. Albany:
State University of New York Press.
Week 8 Mausoleums and tombs of the commoners in Tang Dynasty
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Without exception, the Tang rulers also considered afterlife as a very
important part in their present life. The choice of geographic locations and the
construction of mausoleums and tombs were closely tied with the political
discourse of the royal court and individuals. Religions, with new forms and
elements, also played a very important part in burials. These issues will be
discussed in the light of recent excavations.
Essential reading
Tonia Eckfeld, 2005. Imperial Tombs in Tang China, 618-907: The Politics of
Paradise. London: Routledge.
Mary H Fong, 1991. Antecedents of Sui-Tang burial practices in Shaanxi.
Artibus Asiae, 51: 147-198.
Patricia Karetzky, 1996. Arts of the Tang Court. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Optional reading
Stephen Little, et al. (eds.). 2000. Taoism: and the Arts of China. Chicago: Art
Institute of Chicago, in association with University of California.
Mary H Fong, 1984. Tang tomb murals reviewed in the light of Tang texts on
painting. Artibus Asiae 45: 35-72.
Michael Sullivan, 1984. The Arts of China. Berkeley: University of California
Press. Chapter 7.
Read excavation reports in Chinese Archaeology. Beijing: China Social
Sciences Press. Available online via University Library gateway; also hard
copies in my office.
Nigel Wood, 2007. Chinese Glazes: Their Origins, Chemistry and Re-creation.
London: University of Pennsylvania.
Qinghua Guo, 2004. Tomb architecture of dynastic China: Old and new
questions. Architectural History, 47:1-24.
Week 9 Silk Road, religions and interactions
The development of the Silk Road was made possible along with the growth,
expansion and fluctuations of the Chinese Empires. It became, as described
by some, a highway for cultural and economic interactions between China and
its western counterparts. Amongst the new cultural elements introduced to
China, Buddhism was the most important one that gradually become
profoundly influential to the politics and society of China. This lecture will
discuss the discourse of the Silk Road, the encounter of local and exotic
religions and interactions.
Essential reading
John Kieschnick, 2003. The Impact of Buddhism on Chinese Material Culture.
Princeton: Princeton University Press.
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Frances Wood, 2002. The Silk Road: Two Thousand Years in the Heart of
Asia. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Fuxi Gan et al. (eds.), 2009. Ancient Glass Research along the Silk Road.
New Jersey/London: World Scientific.
Jian Li (ed.), 2003. The Glory of the Silk Road: Art from Ancient China.
Dayton: Dayton Art Institute.
Optional reading
Judith Lerner, 2005. Aspects of assimilation: The funerary practices and
furnishings of Central Asians in China. Sino-Platonic Papers, 168: 22-23.
Acques Gernet, 1995. Buddhism in Chinese Society: An Economic History
from the Fifth to the Tenth Centuries. New York: Columbia University Press.
Elfriede Knauer, 1998. The camel’s load in life and death: Iconography and
ideology of Chinese pottery figurines from Han to Tang and their relevance to
trade along the Silk Roads. Zurich: Akanthvs, Verlag Fur Archaologie.
Xinru Liu, 2010. The Silk Road in World History. New York/Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Johan Elverskog, 2010. Buddhism and Islam on the Silk Road. Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press.
Week 10 Song Dynasty: City life and commerce
Song was a period when seeds of commercialization were planted and
developed. This has fundamentally transformed cities and lives of the time.
Archaeological discoveries, albeit fragmentary, provide valuable information
for these aspects. More importantly, Song is a period when silk and porcelain
production was soared and when international trade was further strengthened.
This lecture will also introduce recent discoveries on these two important
issues.
Essential reading
Stacey Pierson, 2009. Chinese Ceramics. London: Victoria and Albert
Museum.
Stacey Pierson (ed.), 2004. Song Ceramics: Art History, Archaeology and
Technology. London: SOAS.
Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt, 1999. Chinese Imperial City Planning. Honolulu:
University of Hawaii Press.
Victor F. S. Sit, 2010. Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and
Development. New Jersey/London: World Scientific.
Optional reading
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Zhiyan Li et al. (eds.), 2010. Chinese Ceramics: From the Paleolithic Period
through the Qin Dynasty. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Victor F. S. Sit, 2010. Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and
Development. New Jersey/London: World Scientific.
Nigel Wood, 2007. Chinese Glazes: Their Origins, Chemistry and Re-creation.
London: University of Pennsylvania.
Adam T. Kessler, 2012. Song Blue and White Porcelain on the Silk Road.
Leiden: Brill.
Jacques Gernet, 1962. Daily Life in China: On the Eve of the Mongol
Invasion, 1250-1276. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Peter, Lorge, 2005. War, Politics and Society in Early Modern China, 9001795. London: Routledge.
Week 11 Painting, calligraphy and intellectual life
This lecture deals with two most distinctive and salient features in the art of
historical China: painting and calligraphy. But instead of just focusing on these
two aspects, artists and development of intellectual life behind these two
forms of art will be also discussed. Related to these is the epigraphic tradition
throughout the later part of imperial China. The last part of the lecture will
discuss the development of epigraphy in China and its social significance.
Essential reading
Peter Miller and Francois Louis (eds.), 2012. Antiquarianism and Intellectual
Life in Europe and China. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Robert E. Harrist, 1995. The artist as antiquarian: Li Gonglin and his study of
early Chinese art. Artibus Asiae, 55: 237-280.
Craig Clunas, 2004. Superfluous Things: Material Culture and Social Status in
Early Modern China. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Chapter 4.
Amy McNair, 1994. The engraved model-letters compendia of the Song
Dynasty. The Journal of the American Oriental Society, 114: 209-225.
Amy McNair, 1995. Engraved calligraphy in China: recension and reception.
The Art Bulletin, 77: 106-114.
Optional reading
Lothar Ledderose, 2000. Ten Thousand Things: Module and Mass Production
in Chinese Art. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Robert Poor, 1965. Notes on the Sung Dynasty Archaeological Catalogs.
Archives of the Chinese Art Society of America. 19: 33-44.
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Yun-Chiahn Chen Sena, 2007. Pursuing Antiquity: Chinese Antiquarianism
from the tenth to the thirteenth century. Online PhD dissertation.
Von Lothar Falkenhausen. 1993. On the historiographical orientation of
Chinese archaeology. Antiquity 67: 839-949.
Nicola Di Cosmo and Don J. Wyatt (eds.), 2003. Political Frontiers, Ethnic
Boundaries, and Human Geographies in Chinese History. London: Routledge.
Essay topics
Discuss the rise of Qin and its relationships with its neighboring groups, using
at least one archaeological example.
Discuss and compare pottery figurine production in Qin and Han periods.
Discuss the introduction and spread of Buddhism into China and significance,
using archaeological examples from Han Dynasty, Southern and Northern
Dynasties OR Tang Dynasties.
Discuss the changes in city planning in Tang Dynasty.
Discuss and compare daily life in Tang and Song China, using archaeological
examples from each period.
Discuss the importance of artworks to the study of archaeology and history of
the later part of imperial China, using at least one example.
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