o Based on the systematic review of the previous research results in kinship and social grouping ... more o Based on the systematic review of the previous research results in kinship and social grouping studies on the Zhuang people the paper points out that there are three elemental features in the light of kinship and social grouping in the traditional Zhuang society i. e. the centralized social value system which emphasizes the seeking of common ground while reserving the differences personhood of fostering and social formation on the basis of residential territory. These features could be interpreted through the process of civilization of the Zhuang which was influenced by the Confucian and Daoism and the patriarchal kinship system to certain extent and in different modes in general.
Initial Social Complexity in the Middle Reaches of
the Yangtze River (4300B.C. ~ 2000B.C.)
Init... more Initial Social Complexity in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River (4300B.C. ~ 2000B.C.)
Initial social complexity is closely related to the study on the origin of civilization, and is exclusively concerned with how a simple and egalitarian primitive society transforms to a rank society that is often characterized by the specialization of manufacture and exchange, vertical distinction of the society, and the redistribution of wealth and other rare and scarce resources. This dissertation consists of four chapters. By processing the archaeological data available in a systematic way, it discusses the natural environments, cultural serials, social distinction and stratification, social organization and its structure within the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in the late Neolithic Age, thus induces the adjustment and evolution of various of social relationship in different stages of this period. Chapter One elaborates the background of environments and archaeological cultures. Firstly, the geomorphology, the flux of air temperature, the vicissitude of water levels and the expansion and shrinkage of the lakes in the middle period of Q4 in Jianghan Plain that is an ecological transitional area characterized by great flux and instability are reconstruct. There used to exist two warm periods in the early stages of Daxi Culture and Shijiahe Culture, and two cold periods in the late stage of Daxi Culture, the early stage of Qujialing Culture, and the late stage of Shijiahe Culture. In the warm periods, the air temperature rose but the lake shrank, thus makes it propitious to the development of society and culture. However, in the cold periods, the air temperatures decreased and the lakes expanded which may destroy the homestead of some groups. Secondly, upon the basis of reviewing the previous achievements, a new cultural serial has been reconstituted, and their characteristics have been described respectively, which mainly includes Daxi Culture, Tangjiagang Culture, Youziling Culture and Pre-Qujialing Culture in Daxi Period(4300B.C.-3000B.C.), Qujialing Culture in Qujialing Period (3000B.C. -2600 B.C.), Shijiahe Culture and Post-Shijiahe Culture in Shijiahe Period (2600B.C.- 2000B.C). Chapter Two probes into the main causes of initial social complexity from the perspective of economy and population. It mainly discusses the types of subsistence economy, the population pressure, the specialization in handicraft industry, and the emergence of exchange from an archaeological point of view. Such cases as stone instruments manufacture in Three Gorges area, stone products trade along the Yangtze River, jade workshop at Luojiabailing site, development of spinning and textile handicraft industry and pottery manufacture in Shijiahe-sites are discussed in great detail. Chapter Three focuses on the patterns of settlements. From the angle of the microsettlments patterns, and through some case studies such as Huanglianshu site, Xiaojiawuji site, it is held in the dissertation that family was the most basic social unit acting as ordinary consumer unit and the organizer of production. In Qujialing Period, the settlements had a strong impression of integrity in its inner space distribution and programming, which may mean that the groups control the land resources and have great influences upon their members. Ancestor-worship began to appear in Qujialing Period. The relationship of settlements is discussed from the viewpoint of the macrosettlement patters. The phenomena such as unusual deformities of skeletons, increases of arms like arrowheads and Yue-axes, the building of big defense works, show the influences of conflicts and wars upon the group relations and social structures in the initial social complexity. Generally speaking, in Qujialing Period, conflicts and wars took place in the name of public interests of the groups. However, public power may become prerogative and be replaced by linage through the manipulation of the dignitaries in Shijiahe Period. The distribution of fortresses and other central settlements affected by the prehistory wars prevent the expedition from extending to the far reach. In the above-mentioned backgrounds, the relationship among settlements underwent great change. In Daxi Period, settlements were the highest social organizational units, each of which had got no subordinators. Late on, differentiations among settlements became more and more conspicuous, and a trend of localization and centralization emerged, some settlements became bigger and bigger with fast increase in population, at the same time, their status became more and more important, and finally came to be the center of the region, attached to them were some small settlements. All of them constitute a social-political community within the settlements. In the east of the Hanjiang River, there were two levels of administrations of big and small centers called united complex chiefdom; while at the same time, only one level of administration centers existed in other areas. In such areas as the western Hubei Province, Dongting Lake, and the Tang-bai River Basin, there existed several social-political communities across the settlements. The average distance between any two of them is about 30-40 kilometers, so they could compete with each other and thus constitute a social-cultural interaction network in the above-mentioned regions. Chapter Four deals with the mortuary variability and social differentiations, which mainly analyzes the quantities and types of mortuary artifacts, and the distribution of tombs by adopting some social statistical techniques. From the middle stage of Daxi Period on, vertical distinctions like wealth differentiations occurred between groups, families and individuals. In Qujialing Period, wealth differentiations increased greatly in different groups but slackened among members of the same group. However, it augmented rapidly in both two aspects in Shijiahe Period. Three- rank System was most probably an ordinary phenomenon from late Daxi Period on, and some communities may have developed more complex and institutional rank systems in Shijiahe Period. Two modes of social rank constitution might have come into being in this process: one is pyramid mode, and the other is olive mode. In the pyramid mode, the majority is in the lowest rank, all the highest and the second social positions signify the superstrata of the society. However, in the olive mode, the majority occupies the middle position, some social elite may ascend to a higher position, and those suffering from misery may descend to the lowest rank at the same time. In the distribution of cemeteries, consanguineous lineage is the dominant principle, and the social estate system became important in Shijiahe Period. The initial dynamics of social complexity in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River come from the interaction of population, culture, natural environments fluctuation and social backgrounds. The direct impetus of which is the population pressure caused by the degradation of natural environments in late Daxi Period and early Qujialing Period. Concomitant with population pressure, a series of changes such as technical innovations, labor division, conflicts and wars also exert a positive effect to the process of social complexity. But the suspension of this process is the outcome of the joint effect of intensification of the internal social conflict, the degradation of natural environment and the conquest by the external enemy.
o Based on the systematic review of the previous research results in kinship and social grouping ... more o Based on the systematic review of the previous research results in kinship and social grouping studies on the Zhuang people the paper points out that there are three elemental features in the light of kinship and social grouping in the traditional Zhuang society i. e. the centralized social value system which emphasizes the seeking of common ground while reserving the differences personhood of fostering and social formation on the basis of residential territory. These features could be interpreted through the process of civilization of the Zhuang which was influenced by the Confucian and Daoism and the patriarchal kinship system to certain extent and in different modes in general.
Initial Social Complexity in the Middle Reaches of
the Yangtze River (4300B.C. ~ 2000B.C.)
Init... more Initial Social Complexity in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River (4300B.C. ~ 2000B.C.)
Initial social complexity is closely related to the study on the origin of civilization, and is exclusively concerned with how a simple and egalitarian primitive society transforms to a rank society that is often characterized by the specialization of manufacture and exchange, vertical distinction of the society, and the redistribution of wealth and other rare and scarce resources. This dissertation consists of four chapters. By processing the archaeological data available in a systematic way, it discusses the natural environments, cultural serials, social distinction and stratification, social organization and its structure within the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in the late Neolithic Age, thus induces the adjustment and evolution of various of social relationship in different stages of this period. Chapter One elaborates the background of environments and archaeological cultures. Firstly, the geomorphology, the flux of air temperature, the vicissitude of water levels and the expansion and shrinkage of the lakes in the middle period of Q4 in Jianghan Plain that is an ecological transitional area characterized by great flux and instability are reconstruct. There used to exist two warm periods in the early stages of Daxi Culture and Shijiahe Culture, and two cold periods in the late stage of Daxi Culture, the early stage of Qujialing Culture, and the late stage of Shijiahe Culture. In the warm periods, the air temperature rose but the lake shrank, thus makes it propitious to the development of society and culture. However, in the cold periods, the air temperatures decreased and the lakes expanded which may destroy the homestead of some groups. Secondly, upon the basis of reviewing the previous achievements, a new cultural serial has been reconstituted, and their characteristics have been described respectively, which mainly includes Daxi Culture, Tangjiagang Culture, Youziling Culture and Pre-Qujialing Culture in Daxi Period(4300B.C.-3000B.C.), Qujialing Culture in Qujialing Period (3000B.C. -2600 B.C.), Shijiahe Culture and Post-Shijiahe Culture in Shijiahe Period (2600B.C.- 2000B.C). Chapter Two probes into the main causes of initial social complexity from the perspective of economy and population. It mainly discusses the types of subsistence economy, the population pressure, the specialization in handicraft industry, and the emergence of exchange from an archaeological point of view. Such cases as stone instruments manufacture in Three Gorges area, stone products trade along the Yangtze River, jade workshop at Luojiabailing site, development of spinning and textile handicraft industry and pottery manufacture in Shijiahe-sites are discussed in great detail. Chapter Three focuses on the patterns of settlements. From the angle of the microsettlments patterns, and through some case studies such as Huanglianshu site, Xiaojiawuji site, it is held in the dissertation that family was the most basic social unit acting as ordinary consumer unit and the organizer of production. In Qujialing Period, the settlements had a strong impression of integrity in its inner space distribution and programming, which may mean that the groups control the land resources and have great influences upon their members. Ancestor-worship began to appear in Qujialing Period. The relationship of settlements is discussed from the viewpoint of the macrosettlement patters. The phenomena such as unusual deformities of skeletons, increases of arms like arrowheads and Yue-axes, the building of big defense works, show the influences of conflicts and wars upon the group relations and social structures in the initial social complexity. Generally speaking, in Qujialing Period, conflicts and wars took place in the name of public interests of the groups. However, public power may become prerogative and be replaced by linage through the manipulation of the dignitaries in Shijiahe Period. The distribution of fortresses and other central settlements affected by the prehistory wars prevent the expedition from extending to the far reach. In the above-mentioned backgrounds, the relationship among settlements underwent great change. In Daxi Period, settlements were the highest social organizational units, each of which had got no subordinators. Late on, differentiations among settlements became more and more conspicuous, and a trend of localization and centralization emerged, some settlements became bigger and bigger with fast increase in population, at the same time, their status became more and more important, and finally came to be the center of the region, attached to them were some small settlements. All of them constitute a social-political community within the settlements. In the east of the Hanjiang River, there were two levels of administrations of big and small centers called united complex chiefdom; while at the same time, only one level of administration centers existed in other areas. In such areas as the western Hubei Province, Dongting Lake, and the Tang-bai River Basin, there existed several social-political communities across the settlements. The average distance between any two of them is about 30-40 kilometers, so they could compete with each other and thus constitute a social-cultural interaction network in the above-mentioned regions. Chapter Four deals with the mortuary variability and social differentiations, which mainly analyzes the quantities and types of mortuary artifacts, and the distribution of tombs by adopting some social statistical techniques. From the middle stage of Daxi Period on, vertical distinctions like wealth differentiations occurred between groups, families and individuals. In Qujialing Period, wealth differentiations increased greatly in different groups but slackened among members of the same group. However, it augmented rapidly in both two aspects in Shijiahe Period. Three- rank System was most probably an ordinary phenomenon from late Daxi Period on, and some communities may have developed more complex and institutional rank systems in Shijiahe Period. Two modes of social rank constitution might have come into being in this process: one is pyramid mode, and the other is olive mode. In the pyramid mode, the majority is in the lowest rank, all the highest and the second social positions signify the superstrata of the society. However, in the olive mode, the majority occupies the middle position, some social elite may ascend to a higher position, and those suffering from misery may descend to the lowest rank at the same time. In the distribution of cemeteries, consanguineous lineage is the dominant principle, and the social estate system became important in Shijiahe Period. The initial dynamics of social complexity in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River come from the interaction of population, culture, natural environments fluctuation and social backgrounds. The direct impetus of which is the population pressure caused by the degradation of natural environments in late Daxi Period and early Qujialing Period. Concomitant with population pressure, a series of changes such as technical innovations, labor division, conflicts and wars also exert a positive effect to the process of social complexity. But the suspension of this process is the outcome of the joint effect of intensification of the internal social conflict, the degradation of natural environment and the conquest by the external enemy.
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the Yangtze River (4300B.C. ~ 2000B.C.)
Initial social complexity is closely related to the study on the origin of civilization, and is exclusively concerned with how a simple and egalitarian primitive society transforms to a rank society that is often characterized by the specialization of manufacture and exchange, vertical distinction of the society, and the redistribution of wealth and other rare and scarce resources.
This dissertation consists of four chapters. By processing the archaeological data available in a systematic way, it discusses the natural environments, cultural serials, social distinction and stratification, social organization and its structure within the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in the late Neolithic Age, thus induces the adjustment and evolution of various of social relationship in different stages of this period.
Chapter One elaborates the background of environments and archaeological cultures. Firstly, the geomorphology, the flux of air temperature, the vicissitude of water levels and the expansion and shrinkage of the lakes in the middle period of Q4 in Jianghan Plain that is an ecological transitional area characterized by great flux and instability are reconstruct. There used to exist two warm periods in the early stages of Daxi Culture and Shijiahe Culture, and two cold periods in the late stage of Daxi Culture, the early stage of Qujialing Culture, and the late stage of Shijiahe Culture. In the warm periods, the air temperature rose but the lake shrank, thus makes it propitious to the development of society and culture. However, in the cold periods, the air temperatures decreased and the lakes expanded which may destroy the homestead of some groups. Secondly, upon the basis of reviewing the previous achievements, a new cultural serial has been reconstituted, and their characteristics have been described respectively, which mainly includes Daxi Culture, Tangjiagang Culture, Youziling Culture and Pre-Qujialing Culture in Daxi Period(4300B.C.-3000B.C.), Qujialing Culture in Qujialing Period (3000B.C. -2600 B.C.), Shijiahe Culture and Post-Shijiahe Culture in Shijiahe Period (2600B.C.- 2000B.C).
Chapter Two probes into the main causes of initial social complexity from the perspective of economy and population. It mainly discusses the types of subsistence economy, the population pressure, the specialization in handicraft industry, and the emergence of exchange from an archaeological point of view. Such cases as stone instruments manufacture in Three Gorges area, stone products trade along the Yangtze River, jade workshop at Luojiabailing site, development of spinning and textile handicraft industry and pottery manufacture in Shijiahe-sites are discussed in great detail.
Chapter Three focuses on the patterns of settlements. From the angle of the microsettlments patterns, and through some case studies such as Huanglianshu site, Xiaojiawuji site, it is held in the dissertation that family was the most basic social unit acting as ordinary consumer unit and the organizer of production. In Qujialing Period, the settlements had a strong impression of integrity in its inner space distribution and programming, which may mean that the groups control the land resources and have great influences upon their members. Ancestor-worship began to appear in Qujialing Period.
The relationship of settlements is discussed from the viewpoint of the macrosettlement patters. The phenomena such as unusual deformities of skeletons, increases of arms like arrowheads and Yue-axes, the building of big defense works, show the influences of conflicts and wars upon the group relations and social structures in the initial social complexity. Generally speaking, in Qujialing Period, conflicts and wars took place in the name of public interests of the groups. However, public power may become prerogative and be replaced by linage through the manipulation of the dignitaries in Shijiahe Period. The distribution of fortresses and other central settlements affected by the prehistory wars prevent the expedition from extending to the far reach. In the above-mentioned backgrounds, the relationship among settlements underwent great change. In Daxi Period, settlements were the highest social organizational units, each of which had got no subordinators. Late on, differentiations among settlements became more and more conspicuous, and a trend of localization and centralization emerged, some settlements became bigger and bigger with fast increase in population, at the same time, their status became more and more important, and finally came to be the center of the region, attached to them were some small settlements. All of them constitute a social-political community within the settlements. In the east of the Hanjiang River, there were two levels of administrations of big and small centers called united complex chiefdom; while at the same time, only one level of administration centers existed in other areas. In such areas as the western Hubei Province, Dongting Lake, and the Tang-bai River Basin, there existed several social-political communities across the settlements. The average distance between any two of them is about 30-40 kilometers, so they could compete with each other and thus constitute a social-cultural interaction network in the above-mentioned regions.
Chapter Four deals with the mortuary variability and social differentiations, which mainly analyzes the quantities and types of mortuary artifacts, and the distribution of tombs by adopting some social statistical techniques. From the middle stage of Daxi Period on, vertical distinctions like wealth differentiations occurred between groups, families and individuals. In Qujialing Period, wealth differentiations increased greatly in different groups but slackened among members of the same group. However, it augmented rapidly in both two aspects in Shijiahe Period. Three- rank System was most probably an ordinary phenomenon from late Daxi Period on, and some communities may have developed more complex and institutional rank systems in Shijiahe Period. Two modes of social rank constitution might have come into being in this process: one is pyramid mode, and the other is olive mode. In the pyramid mode, the majority is in the lowest rank, all the highest and the second social positions signify the superstrata of the society. However, in the olive mode, the majority occupies the middle position, some social elite may ascend to a higher position, and those suffering from misery may descend to the lowest rank at the same time. In the distribution of cemeteries, consanguineous lineage is the dominant principle, and the social estate system became important in Shijiahe Period.
The initial dynamics of social complexity in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River come from the interaction of population, culture, natural environments fluctuation and social backgrounds. The direct impetus of which is the population pressure caused by the degradation of natural environments in late Daxi Period and early Qujialing Period. Concomitant with population pressure, a series of changes such as technical innovations, labor division, conflicts and wars also exert a positive effect to the process of social complexity. But the suspension of this process is the outcome of the joint effect of intensification of the internal social conflict, the degradation of natural environment and the conquest by the external enemy.
the Yangtze River (4300B.C. ~ 2000B.C.)
Initial social complexity is closely related to the study on the origin of civilization, and is exclusively concerned with how a simple and egalitarian primitive society transforms to a rank society that is often characterized by the specialization of manufacture and exchange, vertical distinction of the society, and the redistribution of wealth and other rare and scarce resources.
This dissertation consists of four chapters. By processing the archaeological data available in a systematic way, it discusses the natural environments, cultural serials, social distinction and stratification, social organization and its structure within the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in the late Neolithic Age, thus induces the adjustment and evolution of various of social relationship in different stages of this period.
Chapter One elaborates the background of environments and archaeological cultures. Firstly, the geomorphology, the flux of air temperature, the vicissitude of water levels and the expansion and shrinkage of the lakes in the middle period of Q4 in Jianghan Plain that is an ecological transitional area characterized by great flux and instability are reconstruct. There used to exist two warm periods in the early stages of Daxi Culture and Shijiahe Culture, and two cold periods in the late stage of Daxi Culture, the early stage of Qujialing Culture, and the late stage of Shijiahe Culture. In the warm periods, the air temperature rose but the lake shrank, thus makes it propitious to the development of society and culture. However, in the cold periods, the air temperatures decreased and the lakes expanded which may destroy the homestead of some groups. Secondly, upon the basis of reviewing the previous achievements, a new cultural serial has been reconstituted, and their characteristics have been described respectively, which mainly includes Daxi Culture, Tangjiagang Culture, Youziling Culture and Pre-Qujialing Culture in Daxi Period(4300B.C.-3000B.C.), Qujialing Culture in Qujialing Period (3000B.C. -2600 B.C.), Shijiahe Culture and Post-Shijiahe Culture in Shijiahe Period (2600B.C.- 2000B.C).
Chapter Two probes into the main causes of initial social complexity from the perspective of economy and population. It mainly discusses the types of subsistence economy, the population pressure, the specialization in handicraft industry, and the emergence of exchange from an archaeological point of view. Such cases as stone instruments manufacture in Three Gorges area, stone products trade along the Yangtze River, jade workshop at Luojiabailing site, development of spinning and textile handicraft industry and pottery manufacture in Shijiahe-sites are discussed in great detail.
Chapter Three focuses on the patterns of settlements. From the angle of the microsettlments patterns, and through some case studies such as Huanglianshu site, Xiaojiawuji site, it is held in the dissertation that family was the most basic social unit acting as ordinary consumer unit and the organizer of production. In Qujialing Period, the settlements had a strong impression of integrity in its inner space distribution and programming, which may mean that the groups control the land resources and have great influences upon their members. Ancestor-worship began to appear in Qujialing Period.
The relationship of settlements is discussed from the viewpoint of the macrosettlement patters. The phenomena such as unusual deformities of skeletons, increases of arms like arrowheads and Yue-axes, the building of big defense works, show the influences of conflicts and wars upon the group relations and social structures in the initial social complexity. Generally speaking, in Qujialing Period, conflicts and wars took place in the name of public interests of the groups. However, public power may become prerogative and be replaced by linage through the manipulation of the dignitaries in Shijiahe Period. The distribution of fortresses and other central settlements affected by the prehistory wars prevent the expedition from extending to the far reach. In the above-mentioned backgrounds, the relationship among settlements underwent great change. In Daxi Period, settlements were the highest social organizational units, each of which had got no subordinators. Late on, differentiations among settlements became more and more conspicuous, and a trend of localization and centralization emerged, some settlements became bigger and bigger with fast increase in population, at the same time, their status became more and more important, and finally came to be the center of the region, attached to them were some small settlements. All of them constitute a social-political community within the settlements. In the east of the Hanjiang River, there were two levels of administrations of big and small centers called united complex chiefdom; while at the same time, only one level of administration centers existed in other areas. In such areas as the western Hubei Province, Dongting Lake, and the Tang-bai River Basin, there existed several social-political communities across the settlements. The average distance between any two of them is about 30-40 kilometers, so they could compete with each other and thus constitute a social-cultural interaction network in the above-mentioned regions.
Chapter Four deals with the mortuary variability and social differentiations, which mainly analyzes the quantities and types of mortuary artifacts, and the distribution of tombs by adopting some social statistical techniques. From the middle stage of Daxi Period on, vertical distinctions like wealth differentiations occurred between groups, families and individuals. In Qujialing Period, wealth differentiations increased greatly in different groups but slackened among members of the same group. However, it augmented rapidly in both two aspects in Shijiahe Period. Three- rank System was most probably an ordinary phenomenon from late Daxi Period on, and some communities may have developed more complex and institutional rank systems in Shijiahe Period. Two modes of social rank constitution might have come into being in this process: one is pyramid mode, and the other is olive mode. In the pyramid mode, the majority is in the lowest rank, all the highest and the second social positions signify the superstrata of the society. However, in the olive mode, the majority occupies the middle position, some social elite may ascend to a higher position, and those suffering from misery may descend to the lowest rank at the same time. In the distribution of cemeteries, consanguineous lineage is the dominant principle, and the social estate system became important in Shijiahe Period.
The initial dynamics of social complexity in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River come from the interaction of population, culture, natural environments fluctuation and social backgrounds. The direct impetus of which is the population pressure caused by the degradation of natural environments in late Daxi Period and early Qujialing Period. Concomitant with population pressure, a series of changes such as technical innovations, labor division, conflicts and wars also exert a positive effect to the process of social complexity. But the suspension of this process is the outcome of the joint effect of intensification of the internal social conflict, the degradation of natural environment and the conquest by the external enemy.