On the evening of May 10, 2024, the first lecture of the 2024 Peking University "University Hall" Lecture Program: Jessica Rosen Lecture Series "Geography, Geology and Climate: The Independent Development of Chinese Society and Material Culture" was held in Philosophy Building 101, with a lecture by Professor Dame Jessica Rawson, a British art historian, archaeologist, sinologist and professor at the University of Oxford, and Professor Shen Ruiwen, Dean of the School of Archaeology, Culture and Museums of Peking University. Translated by Associate Professor Li Wanxin of the School of Archaeology and Museums of Peking University.
Professor Jessica Rosen gave a lecture
Professor Shen Ruiwen presided over the meeting
Translated by Associate Professor Lai Yuen Yan
Lecture scene
With her profound academic background and rich archaeological experience, Professor Jessica Rosen brought an insightful lecture on the independent development of Chinese society and material culture to the audience. Professor Rosen's lecture titled "Geography, Geology and Climate: The Independent Development of Chinese Society and Material Culture" delved into how natural conditions shaped China's unique cultural and social structure, and summarized the four main characteristics of the cultural differences between China and the West: the difference in architectural structure, climate and agriculture, the different development of metallurgy in China and the West, and the systematic evolution of language and writing, and analyzed and explained the reasons for this phenomenon from the perspective of physical geography.
1. The uniqueness of natural conditions and Chinese civilization
At the beginning of the lecture, Professor Rosen first used maps to compare the differences between the geographical environment of China and the West, emphasizing the influence of geographical, geological and climatic conditions on the uniqueness of Chinese civilization. By comparing the geographical characteristics of China with that of Western Europe, she pointed out that China's pocket-shaped geographical environment with few physical barriers provides an open platform and smooth communication channels for the development of agriculture, and the overall monsoon climate provides abundant rain for agriculture – especially in summer, which is in stark contrast to the Mediterranean climate of Western Europe. Professor Rosen pointed out that these climatic conditions not only influenced agricultural patterns, but also contributed to the formation of China's unique social structure and cultural traditions, which are reflected in the material culture, that is, the Chinese culture's unique love for wooden buildings, bronze ritual vessels, jade, and domestic pigs. At the same time, Professor Rosen emphasized that the size of the Tibetan Plateau makes it a difficult existence to cross, unlike the Alps. The existence of this natural barrier also led to the fact that in the early stage of cultural development, the interaction between Chinese and Western cultural systems was not obvious, and it can almost be regarded as the independent development of both sides.
2. The Loess Plateau: China's Geological Gift
Based on the introduction of natural conditions, Professor Rosen first focused on the differences between Chinese and Western architectural structures. Taking the Parthenon as an example, the contrast between the Parthenon and the Forbidden City shows that unlike the stone buildings commonly used in the Western world, ancient Chinese architecture is mostly wood-framed. Professor Rosen believes that this unique architectural style comes from China's unique loess landform, that is, the Loess Plateau provides unique materials and technical support for China's architectural art. Professor Rosen took the Yinxu tomb in Anyang as an example to illustrate the stability of loess and its easy processing characteristics, and believed that the above characteristics of loess have created the unimaginable depth of traditional Chinese tombs in the Western world, and the stability and plasticity of loess also lead to the characteristics of ancient Chinese architecture to highlight the hierarchy of the platform and build wooden buildings on the platform. This architectural characteristic ultimately leads to the architectural space feeling of traditional Chinese architecture that is different from that of traditional Western architecture: unlike the spatial extensibility achieved by creating a height of stone, traditional Chinese architecture constructs the extensibility of horizontal space through pedestals and wooden buildings, and then creates a sense of solemnity. In this part of the presentation, Professor Rosen showed the influence of China's geological features on architectural art by showing pictures of the landforms of the Loess Plateau and ancient Chinese buildings.
3. Climate and Agriculture: The Cornerstone of Chinese Society
Climatic conditions play a key role in China's agricultural development. Professor Rosen believes that the difference in climatic conditions is one of the reasons for the difference in the types of crops cultivated in China and the West. China's agricultural cultivation areas are mostly in a monsoon climate, with rainy summers and open planting space, and the natural advantages of natural geography have promoted the cultivation of rice, which further supports the livelihood of a huge population. In contrast, Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean region are completely incomparable in land use compared with China due to their steep terrain and many obstacles, and their climatic characteristics of winter precipitation ensure the growth of wheat and barley. To a certain extent, China's natural climate and topography have created significant advantages in agriculture. In addition, in addition to the differences in physical geography, the differences in cooking methods in traditional Chinese and Western cultures also affect the differences in food types in agricultural models: ancient China used to cook rice by steaming, while the West preferred to process barley and wheat by grinding, which not only continues to this day and continues to influence people's lifestyles, but also leads to the birth and development of pottery in China to a certain extent, and has profoundly affected China's social structure and cultural traditions. Professor Rosen emphasized that the production and development of pottery are closely related to China's unique natural geographical conditions, climatic environment, and food culture. At the same time, the ritual system is also one of the important elements that cannot be ignored in the development of early pottery, which is not only reflected in the early pottery, but also in the use of metal and jade.
Map of cooking methods by region
（采自Fuller D Q, Rowlands M. Ingestion and food technologies: maintaining differences over the long-term in West, South and East Asia[J]. Interweaving Worlds-systematic interactions in Eurasia, 7th to 1st millennia BC. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2011: 37-60.）
4. Ritual and Bronze: Cross-Cultural Communication and the Core of Chinese Culture
China's physical geography determined its appearance in the early stages of its cultural development: the presence of the Loess Plateau made copper and other metal veins buried deep underground, making it difficult to discover and exploit them immediately. In contrast, in the West, especially in the coastal areas of the Mediterranean, the landforms are mostly covered with rocks, and the contact with metals is relatively simple and direct. The difficulty of obtaining metals led to the use of jade rather than gold and copper in the early stages of cultural development. Coupled with the parallel existence of the pottery ritual system at the same time, when bronze first entered the Chinese cultural system, its use was different from that of the Western cultural system—after the bronze entered the Chinese cultural system, it needed to contact and integrate into the two sets of ritual systems with pottery as the core and jade as the core, and serve the use of pottery, and finally developed a unique development sequence in China, rather than Western weapons and tools. By showing the distribution of metals and jade in China and Europe, Professor Rosen further emphasized that the use of jade and metal objects forms the basis of the differences between China and the West, reflecting the differences in cultural values and social structures between China and the West. However, it cannot be ignored that such differences in cultural systems are not the result of methodology, but purely depend on chance and opportunity – the ease of access to materials. In addition, based on the spread map of metallurgical processes, Professor Rosen pointed out that the exchange and transmission path and mode of cultural resources between jade and metal are two reverse processes, the former spreading westward from the eastern coast of the continent, and the latter spreading eastward from the Balkan Peninsula, and the common denominator of the two is that they both rely on the migration of animals. At the same time, she also pointed out that in the process of cultural transmission, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has played a role as a natural barrier, so that China and the West still maintain a strong independence in cultural exchanges, which is reflected in the development of metallurgy, that is, when metal was introduced into China, it was faced with a set of pottery in terms of quality, type, ornamentality, etc., with high requirements and solid ritual cultural traditions. The emergence of new elements did not shake the original system, on the contrary, China's original cultural system carried by pottery absorbed the existence of metal, borrowed metal elements, made bronze ritual vessels, and transformed them into the existence of the original cultural core.
5. Language and writing: the cornerstone of cultural inheritance
In the last chapter of this lecture, Professor Rosen turns his attention to language and writing. She pointed out that the Indo-European languages use an alphabet system, in which different languages share the same set of letters and scripts, but different languages have different spellings, grammars, and phonics. In contrast, Chinese is an image system, and different characters have fixed meanings, even if they are pronounced differently in different languages, their meanings remain the same. Such fundamental differences shape the different ways of thinking and social structures of the two language systems. The Indo-European writing system combined with the fragmented landforms of the Mediterranean region has promoted the diversity and regionality of the cultural development of the region, and the semantic stability of the Chinese writing system has provided a solid foundation for the inheritance of Chinese culture and ensured the unity of Chinese culture and region in the long historical development process.
VI. Conclusion
At the end of the lecture, Professor Rosen summarized the fundamental role of geography, geology and climate in the independent development of Chinese society and material culture. She pointed out that the differences in physical geography have created different cultural traditions between China and the West. While there are clear differences between the two cultural traditions, each has its own unique features and contributions, and both sides are equal. The two cultures developed steadily and continuously over a long period of time in their respective environments, eventually creating different characteristics of the people of different regions. She encouraged the audience to face up to cultural differences, understand the unshakable and sustainable nature of cultural differences, and recognize the preciousness of cultural differences between China and the West—not only is the cultural difference between China and the West not a negative feature, but also a reflection of the diversity and richness of the world, and as the descendants of different cultures, we should accept the richness brought by these differences.
Professor Rosen's lecture is not only a profound insight into Chinese history and culture from the perspective of physical geography, but also an emphasis on the importance of cross-cultural communication. Her insights not only provide us with a new perspective on understanding the differences between Chinese and Western cultures, but also provide valuable insights on how to promote cultural exchange and understanding in the context of globalization.