The role of jade in the Late Neolithic culture of ancient China: The case of Liangzhu

Large numbers of Late Neolithic jade-yielding sites have come to light in a broad expanse of China in the past two decades. In particular, the unprecedented quality and quantity of the Liangzhu jades, recovered from sites in the Lower Yangtze River Valley of southeastern coastal China, have attracted the attention of many scholars in recent years.; This study is an attempt to take the Liangzhu culture as a case study for the analysis of the cultural setting of Chinese Late Neolithic jade. These jades are regarded not only as pure art forms but as important cultural documents. On the basis of the archaeological distribution of Chinese jades found at Late Neolithic sites, an attempt is made to situate the Liangzhu culture and its jades within the context of the whole period and to compare it with other groups. Following a detailed investigation of the placement of jades within Liangzhu burials and their distribution among Liangzhu culture sites, ideas about the social and political significance of these jades are then offered.; The special nature of bi and cong, the divine symbols of Heaven and Earth in early Dynastic China, and their characteristic placement in earlier Liangzhu graves, strongly support the suggestion that, as early as 3000 BC, these jade objects were important components of the ritual ceremony, as well as symbols of political authority. The widespread distribution of bi and cong outside the Liangzhu domain signals the expansion of the Liangzhu sphere of influence and points to its central role in the integration of Chinese culture through the operation of inter-regional interaction. It thus recasts the whole problem of the nature of Liangzhu society and challenges the orthodoxy of giving primacy to the North in the development of Chinese civilization.