Violence, Kinship and the Early Chinese State

The Shang and their World

Roderick Campbell author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:3rd May '18

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Violence, Kinship and the Early Chinese State cover

The violence of war and sacrifice were not the antithesis of civilization at Shang Anyang, but rather its foundation.

This book is for readers interested in the archaeology and history of ancient states. It aims to speak to audiences of both anthropologists and Chinese historians alike. It will be of interest to those wanting an up-to-date understanding of China's first historical dynasty and one of the world's primary civilizations.Situated between myth and history, the Shang has been hailed both as China's first historical dynasty and as one of the world's primary civilizations. This book is an up-to-date synthesis of the archaeological, palaeographic and transmitted textual evidence for the Shang polity at Anyang (c.1250–1050 BCE). Roderick Campbell argues that violence was not the antithesis of civilization at Shang Anyang, but rather its foundation in war and sacrifice. He explores the social economy of practices and beliefs that produced the ancestral order of the Shang polity. From the authority of posthumously deified kings, to the animalization of human sacrificial victims, the ancestral ritual complex structured the Shang world through its key institutions of war, sacrifice, and burial. Mediated by hierarchical lineages, participation in these practices was basic to being Shang. This volume, which is based on the most up-to-date evidence, offers comprehensive and cutting-edge insight into the Chinese Bronze Age civilization.

'… this book puts scholarship on the Shang on an entirely new level. It is a must-read for any scholar interested in early China or in exploring how Chinese evidence can reshape theoretical paradigms in history and the Social Sciences.' Lothar von Falkenhausen, Journal of the American Oriental Society

ISBN: 9781107197619

Dimensions: 235mm x 158mm x 21mm

Weight: 720g

358 pages