Bronze industry, stylistic tradition, and cultural identity in ancient China: Bronze artifacts of the Zhongshan State, Warring States Period (476--221 BCE)

Ancient Chinese writings suggest that the state of Zhongshan of the Warring States Period (476--221 BCE) was founded by a group of northern pastoralists called the White Di during the fifth century BCE. Artifacts of Zhongshan manufacture and use were identified with the excavation of the tomb of King Cuo (d.c. 313 BCE) in Hebei Province in the 1970's. My dissertation concentrates on the bronzes from Cuo's tomb and rethinks the Zhongshan bronze industry and its relation to ethnic and cultural identity, gender, and statecraft. These are new issues in the study of Chinese archaeological material, and involve the analysis of style, iconography, technique, bronze inscriptions, burial practice, and historical texts.; In my view, temporal-spatial distributions of stylistic similarities in material culture do not passively reflect ethnic entities, because ethnicity is not monolithic. Ethnicity has overlapping boundaries; ethnic identities are transient and they are subject to change under different socio-political and economic circumstances. Instead of trying to identify ethno-specific artifacts, therefore, I analyzed how the Zhongshan kings used bronzes creatively as social signifiers under specific historical conditions, and how trade impacted bronze styles. Through their variations in style, inscriptions, and placement in burial, Zhongshan bronzes reflect specific historical events of the time and the political concerns of their patron. For instance, the sudden style change during the fourteenth year of King Cuo's reign (314 BCE) was probably triggered by Zhongshan's military success in the same year against the state of Yan. The long inscriptions on three bronze ritual vessels and an architectural plan on a bronze panel, all from Cuo's tomb, suggest that these bronze artifacts were designed and produced in order to maintain the political order in Zhongshan.; In conclusion, the cultural identity constructed by Zhongshan kings was a unique one which synthesized the traditions upon which it was collectively built. The Zhongshan kings negotiated their cultural identities, asserted their power, and communicated political messages through the design and display of bronze artifacts.