Gender and Chinese Archaeology

Edited by Katheryn M. Linduff, Yan Sun

Publication date:

26 July 2004

Length of book:

384 pages

Publisher

AltaMira Press

ISBN-13: 9780759104082

The roles of women in Chinese archaeology, with only a few exceptions, have at worst been overlooked, and at best consigned to conventional Marxist theory that prescribes formulaic frameworks for understanding gender—until now. Renowned archaeologist Katheryn M. Linduff and fellow researcher Yan Sun have brought together a fascinating collection that reexamines gender in ancient Chinese cultures. Acknowledging and negotiating the complications that challenge their efforts, the authors analyze and begin to reconstruct the roles of women in various regions of China from the late Neolithic to the early Empire period. Topics range from mortuary ritual, social status and structures of power, economic influences on cultural practice, textile production, and art in these early Chinese societies. This book is a must for students, professors, and practitioners of archaeology that seek a more complete examination of the archaeological record, for scholars in the fields of Asian Studies, Art History, and Chinese History more generally, as well as for those interested in the roles of women in ancient Chinese society.

Part 1 Foreword Part 2 Introduction: Gender and Chinese Archaeology Part 3 PART I: THE NEOLITHIC PERIOD Chapter 4 Chapter 1: Marxist and Post-Marxist Paradigms for the Neolothic Chapter 5 Chapter 2: Mortuary Ritual in Northwestern China Chapter 6 Chapter 3: The Late Neolithic Cemetery at Dadianzi, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Part 7 PART II: SHANG DYNASTIC PERIOD Chapter 8 Chapter 4: Queens and Royal Ladies at Anyang Part 9 PART III: ZHOU DYNASTIC PERIOD Chapter 10 Chapter 5: Ritual Practice, Status, and Gender Identity: Western Zhou at Baoji Chapter 11 Chapter 6: Gender Differentiation in Jin State Jade Regulations Chapter 12 Chapter 7: Gender, Status, Ritual Regulations, and Mortuary Practice in the State of Jin Chapter 13 Chapter 8: Female and Male Status Displayed at the Maoqinggou Cemetery Chapter 14 Chapter 9: Gender and Kinship in Burial Practice at the Pinyang Site Part 15 PART IV: HAN-DATE PERIOD Chapter 16 Chapter 10: Female Divinities in Han Dynasty Representation Chapter 17 Chapter 11: Figures Horsemen in the Dian Culture of Yunnan Chapter 18 Chapter 12: Textile Production and Female Status in Bronze Age Yunnan Part 19 Glossary Part 20 Bibliography Part 21 Index Part 22 About the Contributors

Gender and Chinese Archaeology is the first book to consider gender in the archaeological record of China. Linduff and Sun have assembled a group of China specialists who read the primary literature in Chinese archaeology and apply sophisticated analyses of gender to artifacts and sites. The chapters range from Neolithic sites to the Han Dynasty. Far from showing a monolithic disregard of women in early China, this book reveals many different gender roles and ideologies. The variation in gender in these times and places, depending sometimes on class or age or other attributes, is one of the important messages of the book.