Coastal culture and religion in early China: A study through comparison with the central plain region

This dissertation identifies and introduces the culture of the coastal region in early China from the Neolithic through the early historic period, with a focus on its religious aspect. In analyzing the religious tradition of the coastal region, the author also compares it with that of contemporaneous central plains region, conventionally known as mainstream Chinese religion. The primary purpose of the dissertation is to challenge the conventional view of a homogenous early Chinese culture, explore the cultural and religious plurality of early China, and provide a more solid basis for discourses on the origins of Chinese religions.; The first half of the dissertation includes a survey of related fields and an introduction to the recently identified coastal culture in early China. The survey covers the fields of the Wu-Yue culture, the Hundred Yue culture, and the Yi culture—all located within or linked with the coastal culture. It provides a summary of the archaeological research in the past few decades and a critical review of the common agendas of the fields. It is then followed by an introduction to the recent scholarship that establishes the identification of an early coastal culture, and a discussion of the physical features of the culture.; The second half of the dissertation focuses on the religious aspect of the coastal culture, comparing it with that of the central plains culture. It includes two parts, the first part studies the cemetery layouts of both cultures, establishing the regionality of the central plains religious tradition (which is centered on lineage hierarchy and commonly considered as the “pan-Chinese” tradition) and the separate identity of the coastal religious culture. The second part aims to reconstruct the actual content of coastal religion, comparing it with an analysis of the religious paradigm of the central plains region. The dissertation concludes that the coastal religious tradition was fundamentally different from the central plains tradition, as shown in various aspects including the structure of the pantheon, the location of worship sites, and the views concerning the destiny of the dead and the relationship between the dead and the living.