Qujialing: The State-State of Cities 5,000 Years Ago
Author: Peng Xiaojun
Publisher: Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House
Published: September 2023
A few days ago, the fourth book of the "Early Chinese Civilization Series" edited by the Liangzhu Museum, "Qujialing: The State of All Cities 5,000 Years Ago", was published. The author of this book, Peng Xiaojun of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, led a team to cultivate in Chenghe in Hubei Province for many years, on the basis of which he comprehensively sorted out the Qujialing cultural sites, and then systematically discussed the origin, formation path and appearance characteristics of prehistoric civilization in the region. The book is divided into eight chapters, starting with archaeological academic history, taking cultural analysis as the main body (especially the formation of the ancient city network of Qujialing culture and the daily life of the "residents" of the ancient city), ending with cultural influence, detailed and credible information, rigorous and prudent writing, simple and concise language, which is a must-read for a comprehensive understanding and in-depth study of Qujialing culture and prehistoric civilization.
The Qujialing culture is the most prosperous and powerful archaeological culture in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River 5,000 years ago, rising and scattering in the Two Lakes area. Different from the strong religious culture of Hongshan and the developed jade culture of Lingjiatan, and different from the unified regional state form of Liangzhu and the mature state civilization of Taosi, the Qujialing culture has had close exchanges and interactions with the surrounding archaeological culture with its characteristics of many cities and society, and has had close exchanges and interactions with the surrounding archaeological culture with strong expansion force, contributing unique Jiang Han power to the great process of pluralism and integration of prehistoric China. The Liangzhu culture is an archaeological culture in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River around Taihu Lake at the same time, which can be described as the most dazzling "star" in the "starry sky" on the Chinese land at that time, and also occupies a unique place in the forest of world civilization. This area has maintained extensive exchanges, mutual influence and independent status with other archaeological cultures since the Majiabang culture and Songze culture period.
In particular, in the pre-Qujialing era (pre-Liangzhu era), which is about 6,000 years ago, the Youziling culture as the main source of Qujialing culture and the Songze culture that laid the foundation of Liangzhu civilization, the core area of the two distribution is more of the cultural factors of each other, indicating that the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and the lower reaches of the Yangtze River have had frequent and in-depth interaction. The author pointed out that artifacts such as dings and beans with Qujialing cultural factors appeared in the Liangzhu cultural sites, jade cunning with strong Liangzhu characteristics, and double-nosed pots as daily necessities also appeared in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, indicating that the mutual "infiltration" of the two cultures and the continuous existence of exchanges between the two regions. The "clues" outlined in the book not only provide clues for discussing the cultural and social differences of Liangzhu and the long-distance exchanges between prehistoric civilizations, but also highlight that at the beginning of the formation of Chinese civilization, the diversified interaction laid the historical foundation for later integration.
After the Liangzhu Ancient City site was successfully inscribed on the World Cultural Heritage List in 2019, how to deepen research and continue to explain the value of Liangzhu heritage has become a must-solve problem for Liangzhu Museum. It should be noted that Liangzhu, as the first archaeological site to empirically verify the history of Chinese civilization for more than 5,000 years, stems from the achievements in the highly developed material and spiritual fields of the Liangzhu period, and secondly benefits from the continuous absorption of advanced factors in the surrounding areas. It is necessary to look at the origin and development of Liangzhu civilization from the perspective of China as a whole and even East Asia, and understand the social complexity process in various places in the late Neolithic period from the perspective of "in Liangzhu, reading China, and seeing the world", and adopt extensive comparative research to become a feasible idea.
Through the interpretation of representative archaeological cultures of the same period, the historical process of small regions is clarified, and the process of pluralism and integration of large regions of Chinese civilization is paved, so as to promote the further in-depth archaeological research of Liangzhu culture and promote the exploration and research of the origin of early civilization. As a result, the "Early Chinese Civilization Series" came into being and received funding from the 2023 National Publishing Fund. The series of books is prefaced by Wang Wei, chairman of the Chinese Archaeological Society and member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and is written by front-line archaeologists. In 2022, "Hongshan: The Straight Root System of Chinese Culture", "Lingjiatan: The Pioneer of Chinese Civilization", "Tao Temple: The Starting Point of the Core Formation of Chinese Civilization" have been published, and archaeological and cultural monographs such as "Liangzhu" and "Dawenkou" will be published in the future.
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