236 - Catalogue of Select Jades in the National Palace Museum – Volume One 237

However, there is also a shared cultural substratum between eastern and western China, and that
Part Two: Eastern Chinese Jade Culture from is a highly developed jade culture. People here long ago viewed “jade” as something containing a
Prehistoric Times to the Xia Era “vital essence”; that “vital essence” or “essential breath” meant “energy,” and the ancients believed
that the only substances that could be made into ritual objects for communicating with the
spirits were those containing a high amount of this essential energy.

Eastern China’s location is shown in light green in Map F. Moving from north to south, there
are the Northeast Plain, the North China Plain, the Middle to Lower Yangtze Plain, and the
Pearl River Delta, and dividing them are the Liaodong Hills, Shandong Hills, Southeast Hills,
and Nanling Mountains. In this book we shall discuss the jade culture of eastern China from
9,000 to 3,600 years ago (7000-1600 BCE) in three sections, based on geographic location and
chronology.

In geology, the large low, flat region in continental East Asia that connects to the sea is called “the
Third Tier.” As shown in Map F, it is separated from “the Second Tier,” which has many high
mountains and plateaus, by the series of mountain chains from the Greater Khingan Range to
the Xuefeng Mountains. I. Prehistoric Jade from the Northeast
(ca. 7000–2000 BCE)
In this book, what in geology is called the Third Tier and Second Tier is called the “eastern
Chinese region” (or eastern China) and “western Chinese region” (western China). Perhaps
Geographically, China’s northeast is comparatively isolated. Its current administrative divisions
because the natural ecology of the two regions differ from each other, the material and spiritual
include: Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning provinces, and the eastern part of Inner Mongolia
cultures of the two regions have also differed substantially from each other, since distant
Autonomous Region. There are two places in this region where the world’s earlier jade culture
antiquity.
may have developed. One was the Xiaonanshan Culture, in the Amur River basin, and the other
was Xinglongwa Culture, to the west of the Liao River. Based on carbon-14 testing, there are
two places in this region where the world’s earlier jade culture may have developed. One was
the Xiaonanshan Culture, in the Amur River basin, and the other was Xinglongwa Culture, to
the west Liao River. Based on carbon-14 testing, The former is about 9000 years old, The latter
is about 8200 years old., as I have mentioned in the general introduction. The two areas marked
“Round jade disk cultural sphere,” and “Ear pendant-and-dagger ornament cultural sphere”
Mt.
an

Eastern clearly point out the differences between these two areas’ representative jade objects.
ing

China
r kh

About 6,500 years ago (4500 BCE), after the Xinglongwa Culture, in the area west of the
ate
G re

Liao River, there was the Hongshan Culture. After approximately one thousand years of
Mt.

development, during the Hongshan Culture’s late period (i.e., 3500-3000 BC), perhaps after
ang

Western
having been stimulated by influences from the Yangshao Culture in the Yellow River basin,
Taih

China
Erlitou Hongshan Culture had reached a high level of cultural development. It left behind temples,
t.

altars, piled-rock tombs, and other constructions of very impressive scale – and its jade art had
M
Wu

also reached a pinnacle.

Eastern
China
.

The Hongshan Culture produced more than thirty kinds of jade objects. Besides simple
Mt
ng

tubes, beads, pendants, and linked disks, there were all kinds of abstract, semi-abstract, and
efe

representational jade carvings, with mostly animal subjects.337 If we further divide these by the
Xu

periods of the sites, then we find that the early phase of late Hongshan Culture (3500-3300
Map F: Relative Locations of Eastern and Western China, and the Location of BCE) produced only jade rings and tube-shaped objects with flared mouths. Most of the other
Erlitou jade objects belong to very late-period Hongshan Culture (3300-3000 BCE).338
238 - Catalogue of Select Jades in the National Palace Museum – Volume One 239

a b

Fig. 165: Hooked cloud-shaped

object, late Hongshan Culture,
length 17.9 cm, unearthed at Fig. 171: Toothed bi disk, Xiaozhushan Culture middle stratum. Fig. 172: Jade awl-shaped object, small bi disks,
Niuheliang. a. Color photograph. b. Line drawing. Diameter 6.5 cm, hole toothed bi disks, and other objects, Xiaozhushan
diameter 1.2 cm, thickness 0.8 cm, unearthed at Wujiacun. Culture upper stratum, unearthed at Sipingshan.

bracelets are male and pairs of bracelets are female, verification of the gender from the bones is
Fig. 166: Jade object with toothed Fig. 167: Jade ornament with Fig. 168: Jade pig-dragon, late lacking.342
animal mask pattern, late a pair of owls’ heads, late Hongshan Culture, height 10.3 cm,
Hongshan Culture, length 14.2 cm, Hongshan Culture, length 12.9 unearthed at Niuheliang.
unearthed at Niuheliang. cm, unearthed at Niuheliang.
The objects of Figs. 165 to 170 were all unearthed from Niuheliang, a very late period
Hongshan Culture site (3300-3000 BCE).343
a b

While the cultures in the area west of the Liao River were thriving, the main culture to the east
of the Liao River was the Xiaozhushan Culture, which endured for a long period of time. One
middle-period (4000-3000 BCE) Xiaozhushan culture site, Wujiacun, Guangludao, Changhai,
in Dalian City, yielded a quaint toothed bi disk (Fig. 171), but one of the teeth was broken, so
a hole was drilled near the break; the disk’s cross-section is shaped like a willow leaf, and the
central hole is pear-shaped. This may be representative of the earliest toothed bi disks. 344 The
upper strata of Xiaozhushan Culture (2500-2000 BCE), at sites such as Guojiacun, Sipingshan,
Dongdashan, and Wenjiatun, have all yielded toothed disks345 (Fig. 172). Wenjiatun may have
been the hub for making small bi disks, toothed disks, jade tubes, and so on.346 On examination,
Fig. 169: Jade human figurines, late Hongshan Culture. a. Color Fig. 170: Tube-shaped object with the images of the toothed disks of Dongdashan and Wenjiatun still preserve the willow-leaf
flared mouth, late Hongshan culture.
photograph. b. Line drawing. Height 18.5 cm, unearthed at Niuheliang.
cross-section of middle strata Xiaozhushan Culture disks.347
Height 13.7 cm, unearthed at
Niuheliang.

Many scholars believe that the Dalian area may have been the origin of toothed bi disks,348 but
later on, once the form was transmitted to the Shandong Peninsula, it developed a local style (to
Statistical analysis of the Hongshan jade types, numbers, dimensions, and degree of coarseness be discussed below), and then went on to cross the Taihang Mountains to the region of present-
or fineness reveals a correlation with the status of the tomb. Hooked cloud-shaped objects, jade day Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces.349
objects with toothed animal mask patterns, tube-shaped objects with flared mouths, 339 jade
bi disks, squared bi disks, three-holed objects, plaque ornaments with animal mask patterns, Around 5,000 years ago (3000 BCE), the Hongshan Culture gradually faded. The area west of
human figures, pig-dragons, soft-shelled turtles, tortoises, and other jades sculpted into animal the Liao River then developed, in succession, the Xiaoheyan Culture (3000-2500 BCE) and
forms are found only in large central tombs, secondary large central tombs, and tombs with the lower stratum of the Xiajiadian Culture (2100-1300 BCE). Round bi disks of stone were
“A-grade, type I” stone coffins.340 Moreover, many categories of jade objects have relatively fixed popular in the former, but painted pottery was more popular in the latter, so that most of the
positions in the tombs. For example, most of the tube-shaped objects with flared mouths are jade objects unearthed from the relevant sites were either left from earlier ages or had been
placed under the tomb occupant’s head; most of the hooked cloud-shaped objects and the jade transported from elsewhere, and some show signs of reworking.350
objects with toothed animal mask patterns are placed upside-down and lined up on the tomb
occupant’s chest; most of the jade pig-dragons are placed on the tomb occupant’s chest; most of Therefore, after 3000 BCE, jade craft in the northeast region basically entered a decline after
the jade tortoises and soft-shelled turtles are set in the tomb occupant’s grasp; most of the jade having achieved a high level of development. Botanists and ecologists think that the main
bi disks are placed symmetrically on the tomb occupant’s left and right. In tombs with B- and reason for it was that the global climate had changed, becoming cooler.351 Other scientists think
C-grade, type I stone coffins, one finds only jade bi disks (both round and squared), linked disks, that a thousand years of extensive land-clearing and cultivation led to large-scale wind erosion,
ring bracelets, and pendants.341 Although some scholars think that tomb occupants with single which in turn led to a cultural decline.352 However, the jade objects in the northeast region
240 - Catalogue of Select Jades in the National Palace Museum – Volume One 241

were originally closely related to culture based on hunting and fishing353 – agriculture was not
II. Prehistoric Jade from the Shandong to Lingnan Regions
the main occupation of people in the Hongshan Culture. Archaeological materials show that
the Hongshan Culture was tending to move southward, so the decline of its culture was not (ca. 4000–2200 BCE)
necessarily caused by a worsening climate.354
This section will discuss the jade culture before 2200 BCE of the eastern China region outside
But regardless of the cause for its decline, at least by 2000 BCE, the Liao River basin area of the northeast. Geographically, this region’s northernmost area is the Shandong Peninsula
was no longer doing any major production of jade. The document, “The Tribute of Yu” (“Yu between the East China Sea and Mt. Tai; the middle includes the middle and lower stretches
gong”) in The Classic of History (Shang shu), which dates to the Eastern Zhou period, may well of the Yangtze River and today’s provinces of Hubei, Hunan, Anhui, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, and
have preserved genuine cultural and geographic records from the two major Chinese river Zhejiang; and its southernmost region corresponds to Guangdong province, south of the
basins from the second millennium BCE.355 It has only two records relating to jade: that “Yang Nanling Mountains.
Region” produced yao and kun, and “Yong Region” produced qiu, lin, and langgan – it does not
mention Ji Region producing jade, and it says nothing of the local products from areas north However, when exploring the very ancient jade culture of this vast territory, we need to begin
of Ji Region. However, the same classic’s “The Testamentary Charge” (“Gu ming”), which with the middle and lower Yangtze region, then move on to the Shixia Culture of the Lingnan
is a document from the time of King Cheng of Zhou, clearly mentions “jade of the eastern region and the Dawenkou Culture of the Shandong region.
barbarians” together with “jade from Yue” and “large jade.” This provides further evidence
that around 1000 BCE, the rulers of the Yellow River basin understood that there were three
different regional traditions surrounding jade ritual objects.356 1. The Mid- to Lower Reaches of the Yangtze:
The Gaomiao, Hemudu, Beiyinyangying, Majiabang, Lingjiatan,
In sum, China’s northeast may have been one of the earliest region in the world to develop
jade art.357 Scholars who have analyzed the types of animal motifs appearing in Hongshan jade
Songze, Liangzhu, and Other Cultures
carvings find that most of them depict forest or grassland creatures like bears, tigers, (wild)
pigs, and eagles; there are also plenty of tortoises, fish, and so on.358 The decorative patterns on Starting around 5800 BCE, the Gaomiao Culture developed in the mountainous area in
the jade carvings are concise, with nothing superfluous, often suggesting animal heads, bird the upper Yuan River in Hunan. The animal mask patterns, with wings and fangs, that the
wings, and so on with only the barest necessary incisions. Sometimes shallow round sculpturing Gaomiao people incised into their pots were very striking.362 A little later in time, the people
techniques express the heads and facial features with subtle accuracy. The commonly used tile- of the Hemudu Culture, which spread through the Yuyao Plain in Zhejiang, were incising into
groove pattern follows the contours of the object. Furthermore, the objects manifest a skilled their pottery deity-ancestor masks that had round eyes and were crowned with caps in the
use of the way light reflects from the surface, so that the decorative pattern is sometimes visible, shape of the character jie 介 , flanked right and left with a pair of birds; these were found in
sometimes hidden, and a sense of three-dimensionality, layering, and mystery is produced.359 the third stratum of the site (ca. 4500-4000 BCE; see Fig. 069 in the General Introduction).363
Such a technique was applied for the purpose of fully showing the rounded glossiness of the These very ancient spirit-images on pottery frequently appear throughout prehistoric eastern
jade, with the hope that jade’s natural properties would effect pure, sacred communication China – in all periods and regions – and on their jade carvings as well. That includes the slightly
between humankind and the gods.360 Some scholars also believe that most of the raw Hongshan earlier Lingjiatan and Liangzhu Cultures and the slightly later Shandong and Post-Shijiahe
jade material had been pebble jade from riverbeds and had undergone long-term rolling and Cultures.364
polishing in water, so that the people of the Hongshan Culture thus created their distinctive art
of small, rounded, variously curved forms.361 We shall discuss the Lingjiatan and Liangzhu Cultures in Part Two and the Shandong Longshan
and Post-Shijiahe Cultures in Part Three, because the latter two belong to a later period.

Five to six thousand years ago, in the Yangtze and Huai River region, there were the
Beiyinyangying Culture (ca. 4000-3000 BCE) and Lingjiatan Culture (ca. 3600-3200 BCE); in
the area around Lake Tai there were the Majiabang Culture (ca. 5000-3900 BCE) and Songze
Culture (ca. 3900-3300 BCE).

No works in nephrite jade have been thus far been unearthed from the Beiyinyang Cultures365
– only decorative huang and tube pieces made from chalcedony, a kind of quartz.366 By contrast,
in the Lingjiatan, Majiabang and Songze Cultures, an abundance of works in nephrite jade
have been discovered, though there are still a good number of personal accessory items made of
quartz and chalcedony.
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a This shows us that among the lower Yangtze communities around the fourth millennium BCE,
the function of decorative ear pendants – adorning the ear – had changed, and that a new
adornment for the ear, the ear plug, may at first been worn together with the ear pendant, but
later on only the ear plug was worn. Moreover, these gradually grew in size until they reached
b
diameters of around four centimeters.374 However, their rate of distribution in Liangzhu
Culture was not high. Although this type of ear ornament existed in other regions at the same
time, for example in the Daxi Culture of the upper Yangtze and the Dawenkou Culture of the
lower Yellow River, most of these were not jade, and their numbers are limited.375 It appears
that during the Neolithic era, jade plugs were not made in large quantities in eastern China.
Fig. 173: Pair of jade ear plugs, Fig. 174: Agate decorative ear Fig. 175: Jade decorative ear
Lingjiatan Culture, diameter pendant, Lingjiatan Culture, pendant, Lingjiatan Culture,
1.6 cm. a. Color photo. b. Line diameter 5.2 cm, unearthed at diameter 5.1 cm, unearthed at
drawing. Unearthed at Lingjiatan. Lingjiatan. Lingjiatan. Lingjiatan sites have also yielded a large number of jade huang-pieces (which resemble segments
of bi disks). Some scholars have compiled statistics on the various kinds of jade huang appearing
in Lingjiatan tombs of different sizes, their numbers and placements, and have determined that
the quantity of funerary jade huang signifies the status of the tomb occupant.376 The greatest
number of jade huang was found in Lingjiatan tomb 87 M15: as many as thirty were placed on
In tombs from the Lingjiatan Culture, one often finds large quantities of jade bladed objects the chest and on the sides of the head of the tomb occupant. The tomb occupant of Lingjiatan
and personal accessory items, including beads, tubes, decorative ear pendants, ear plugs, huang tomb 87 M8 was wearing more than ten jade bracelets, triangular in cross-section (thick on the
pieces, bracelets, and so on, made of either nephrite or quartz-type minerals.367 It is first inside and thin on the outside), on each arm – an impressive sight.377
necessary to explain the difference between decorative ear pendants (ershijue), which have a
gap, and ear plugs (erdang), which do not. In footnote 62 in the General Introduction, I have
In addition, the Lingjiatan Culture produced many small jade bi disks, some of which have
explained that calling the kind of jade gapped ring-shaped object shown in Figs. 024, 174, and
rather large central holes. Scholars have sometimes called these “hoops” (huan), but I would
175 jue was a major mistake perpetrated by Wu Dacheng in his Illustrated Studies on Ancient
recommend following Xia Nai’s suggestion of calling all such disks having rectangular cross-
Jade (Guyu tukao) published in 1889. However, because the archaeological community is in the
sections bi disks, regardless of the relative size of the hole.378 If the hole is large, the object may
habit of calling these simply jue, I have written an article recommending the name be changed
be called a “bi disk with large hole.” In tombs of the Lingjiatan Culture, relatively few these
to “decorative ear pendants” (ershijue), at least to indicate that the initial purpose of this type of
small bi disks are worn directly on the tomb occupant’s body, but they are often stacked in line
jade was to adorn the ear.
or inserted vertically at the head-end and foot-end of the coffin. They are said to be “coffin
ornaments.”379
In the lower Yangtze cultures of Hemudu, Majiabang, and Beiyinyangying, the decorative
ear pendants were still used to adorn the ears, and they often appear at the two sides of tomb
Besides the aforementioned object categories, the most amazing objects from the Lingjiatan
occupants’ heads.368 However, as we head into the Lingjiatan and Songze Culture periods, a new
Culture are full-body human figures, flying birds, coiled dragons, tortoise shells, and jade
kind of jade ear decoration appears – ear plugs (erdang or ershuan). Lingjiatan tomb 87 M14
plaques with incised eight-pointed star patterns (Figs. 176-180).380 Although the Lingjiatan and
yielded a pair of jade ear plugs (Fig. 173) and a pair of jade and agate decorative ear pendants
(Figs. 174, 175) of widely different sizes. They not only came from the same tomb but were also Hongshan Cultures were far apart from each other geographically, there are many similarities
found very near each other.369 One scholar believes that they were worn together as a set.370 of subject-matter and means of expression in their sculpted jades. Li Xinwei was the first to
The tombs of the Lingjiatan Culture have yielded many jade decorative ear pendants, and one propose the idea of “an elite network of exchange” to explain this phenomenon.381
(Lingjiatan 07M23) even yielded nearly twenty of them, scattered in many places in the tomb.
It has been inferred that they may have been sewn into the fabric of the burial covering.371 A few years ago, most scholars believed that the Hongshan Culture was influenced by the
Lingjiatan Culture, but after having thoroughly compared both cultures’ jades, I think that
From the Majiabang to early Songze Cultures in the Lake Tai area, decorative ear pendants the Lingjiatan jade sculptures, which feature mostly incised lines, are simpler than those of
were quite popular, but by the late Songze Culture they do not appear very often.372 As we Hongshan, which show greater skill with tile-groove patterns and raised string line patterns.382
approach the early Liangzhu Culture a bit later on, we see relatively flat decorative ear pendants Liu Guoxiang, who has recently sorted through all the Hongshan Culture data, thinks that
into which holes may also be drilled, and these are strung together with many small bi disks apart from the jade rings and tube-shaped objects with flared mouths that appeared in the early
(called “round tablets” [yuanpai] in the reports) into a decorative item worn on the chest.373 The phase of late Hongshan Culture, other jade objects with sculpted patterns – pig-dragons, girdle
National Palace Museum has in its collection an early Liangzhu decorative ear pendant with pendants with hooked cloud patterns, birds, and human figures – belong mostly to the late
hole, shown in Plate I:086. By the late Liangzhu period, however, decorative ear pendants no phase of late Hongshan Culture. (3300-3000 BCE).383 Hence we can be sure that in general the
longer appear. jades of Hongshan Culture are slightly later than those of Lingjiatan Culture.
244 - Catalogue of Select Jades in the National Palace Museum – Volume One 245

a b images of the Shandong Longshan and Post-Shijiahe Cultures also have such holes, but most
have wide circles around the perimeters. Some scholars think that the kind of ear ornaments
they used were the ear plugs mentioned above (Fig. 179).386

The Songze Culture, spread through the area around Lake Tai, also had smooth polished
gapped ear pendants, ear plugs, long, narrow, semicircular huang pieces, half bi disk-shaped
Fig. 176: Jade human figurine, Lingjiatan Fig. 177: Jade coiled Fig. 178: Jade eagle, Lingjiatan huang pieces, small bi disks, and so on. They had two common types of wrist ornaments: one
Culture, height 8.7 cm. a. Line drawing of front, dragon, Lingjiatan Culture, width 6.35 cm, unearthed
back and side views of entire figure. b. Color Culture, diameter 3.9- at Lingjiatan (98 M29-6). was a round jade tube, and the other was a bi disk with a narrow flange and large hole. Both
photo of head (detail, front). Unearthed at 4.4 cm, unearthed at
Lingjiatan (98 M29:16). Lingjiatan (98 M16:2).
types are often called “bracelets” (zhuo), and the latter kind is often called a “ring” or “hoop”
(huan). As I have argued above, objects that have rectangular or near-rectangular cross-sections
a b should all be called bi disks, and those with proportionately large central holes may be called “bi
disks with large holes.”387 These bi disks with large holes remained popular as wrist ornaments
through the late phase of the early Liangzhu Culture, as shown by Fig. 033 in the General
Introduction.

Most noteworthy are the kind of small jade ornaments (Figs. 181 and 182) that suddenly
Fig. 179: Jade turtle shell, Lingjiatan Culture, lengths 9.4 and 7.9 cm. Fig. 180: Jade turtle and jade oval appeared during the late Songze period; archaeologists customarily call these “dragon-head
a. The two parts separated. b. The two parts together. Unearthed at objects in shape of turtle, in situ at
Lingjiatan (87 M4:35, 29). tomb occupant’s waist, Lingjiatan ornaments” (longshoushi).388 Their forms consist of a proportionately large head connected to a
Culture, unearthed at Lingjiatan (07
M23). curved, smooth polished body. Most of them, like the one in Fig. 181, connect the head with
the tail, but some, like the one in Fig. 182, leave a gap between the head and tail.

In 1987, two pieces of jade sculpted into the forms of the carapace and plastron of a turtle shell Scholars think these late Songzi Culture “dragon-head ornaments” emerged due to influence
were excavated from Lingjiatan tomb no. 4, and between them was inserted a jade plaque with from distant cultures, like the Hongshan Culture west of the Liao River.389 Chinese belief in
an incised pattern; Fig. 179a, b shows the carapace and plastron apart and fitted together. At dragons has a very long history, and of course there are no “dragons” in the natural world, but
the time most scholars thought that this provided evidence that the people of Lingjiatan had by analyzing historical texts and images, we can tell that our ancestors assembled the image
been influenced by the plastron divination of the Dawenkou culture in the Shandong region, of divine, spiritual “dragons” from snakes, lizards, and other animals with long, curving bodies.
but were here using jade to create an imitation turtle shell. However, in 2007, during the fifth There has always been a special emphasis on the dragon’s great powers of transformation.390
excavation of Lingjiatan, three jade turtle shells were unearthed from the no. 23 tomb, where
they were found at the tomb occupant’s waist (Fig. 180). Each of them used a single piece of As discussed in the General Introduction, the area west of the Liao River and the Lake Tai
jade, and the spaces between carapace and plastron were hollowed out to form a kind of oval region in prehistory each had two entirely different forms of “dragons.” The first derived from
tube. When unearthed, inside each tube there were several jade slips. The archaeologist who reptiles and may directly be called “dragons.” The other is probably a kind of “animal embryo,”
unearthed them, Zhang Jingguo, called the more realistic one of them a “jade turtle,” and the and archaeologists who have explored the Hongshan Culture call them “pig-dragons” (zhulong;
other two, which already had the more abbreviated forms of a tube-shaped object with flared Figs. 027-030). The kind of creature from the Lake Tai area with a long snout, horns, and
mouth, “oval objects in the shape of turtles.” He thought that the tube-shaped object with perhaps a flying mane, like that shown in Fig. 183, is a “dragon.”391 The kind of creature with
flared mouth of the Hongshan Culture (Fig. 170) was very similar to the Lingjiatan Culture’s
oval-shaped object in the form of a turtle, and that they may have been used for divination.384
a b a b
Having thoroughly compared jades from the Lingjiatan and Hongshan Cultures, I think the
Lingjiatan jades are ornamented more often with incised lines, making them plainer than the
Hongshan jades with their tile-groove and raised string patterns. I find that in both the actual
turtle shells unearthed from Dawenkou and the jade turtle shells from Lingjiatan, part of the
tail end of the plastron is purposely cut away, which would have some special meaning.385

To date six jade human figurines have been unearthed from Lingjiatan sites. Although some Fig. 181: Jade animal-dragon, late Songze to early Liangzhu Culture, Fig. 182: Jade animal-dragon, late
length 1.2 cm. a. Color photograph. b. Line drawings from various Songze to early Liangzhu Culture, height
are standing and others appear to be half-squatting (Fig. 176), they all have their hands held up perspectives. Unearthed from no. 51 tomb, Xiantanmiao, Haiyan. 3.1 cm. a. Color photograph. b. Line
to their chests; all are wearing belts, bracelets, and sharp-pointed caps, and their eyes appear to drawings from various persectives.
Unearthed from no. 8 tomb, Pu’anqiao,
be closed. It is worth noting that their earlobes all have large holes in them. The spirit-ancestor Tongxiang.
246 - Catalogue of Select Jades in the National Palace Museum – Volume One 247

short, protruding ears and a wide snout, like those shown in

北
Figs. 181 and 182, should be a kind of “animal embryo.” The
ancients worshipped mysterious life forces, and the larval forms
of insects and embryonic forms of mammals had the greatest
27 26
powers of growth and transformation. I have recommended Changzhou site lust

that the “pig-dragons” should instead be called “animal-dragons”

(shoulong). Plates I-134 and I-135 show examples of this 25

Fig. 183: Jade dragon, early Wuxian-Kunshan

type of jade animal-dragon in the National Palace Museum Liangzhu Culture, height 0.9 cm, 23
24
site cluster
21 22
20
collection. unearthed from no. 7 tomb,
Qingpu site cluster
Zhaolingshan, Kunshan. 18

19

The “animal-dragon” pattern circulated from the late Songze to Deqing site cluster
a b 14
17
early Liangzhu periods and may be used as a decorative motif
Haiyan-Pinghu site
on jade tubes, jade huang-pieces, small round tablets, awl- 4 5 15
16
cluster
6 13
shaped objects, and bracelet-shaped objects (Figs. 184-186).392 3
7
12 Tongxiang-Haining
2 8 10
9
11
site cluster
Ring-shaped objects sculpted with animal-dragon patterns 1 Linping site cluster
are commonly called “Chiyou rings.”393 Plates I-107, 128, and Liangzhu site cluster

136-138 are all Liangzhu Culture jades with animal-dragon

Map G: Distribution of Liangzhu Culture and Site Clusters
patterns.
(Map based on and redrawn from Nakamura Shin’ichi, “Liangzhu wenhua de yizhi qun”)

After one has a grasp of the general appearance of the jades

from the Lingjiatan and Songze Cultures of the lower Yangtze its early period; the famous Mt. Yao (Yaoshan) and Mt. Fan (Fanshan) were important tomb
between five and six thousand years ago, and then looks at the grounds for the nobility of the time.396 In the vast region north of the Yangtze, one can also find
Fig. 185: Jade huang piece with
jades from the Liangzhu Culture that developed from them, animal-dragon pattern, early traces of the northward transmission of Liangzhu Culture. Although Huating in Xinyi, Jiangsu
Liangzhu Culture, width 8 cm.
one can have a deeper understanding of the use of fine jade as a a. Color photograph. b. Line is a Dawenkou Culture site, many Liangzhu Culture jades have also been unearthed there.397
spirit-medium in the early beginnings of Chinese civilization. drawing of detail. Unearthed from
Recently 284 tombs have been excavated in Jiangzhuang, Xinghua, Jiangsu, and these have
no. 11 tomb, Yaoshan.
yielded jade bi disks with incised marks for communicating with the spirits.398
Around 3300 to 3200 BCE, the Songze Culture gradually
developed into the Liangzhu Culture, which continued for another thousand years or so to From the Songze to Liangzhu periods, jade technique clearly advanced. Scholars have observed
2100 BCE or even beyond that.394 Liangzhu Culture was spread across a rather wide area but that during the first period, “objects were shaped from slices of jade,” but during the later period,
was concentrated primarily south of the Yangtze. Nakamura Shin’ichirō has divided Liangzhu “objects were shaped from jade cylindrical blocks,” meaning that the jade-carvers would first
sites into eight site clusters (Map G),395 with the densest areas to the east and south of Lake make a hollow tube-shaped object, and then cut it into slices or into segments (for instance,
Tai. Since the Liangzhu Culture is named after the place where it was first discovered, in for bi disks or cong tubes). This enables a sharp increase in the number of finished objects.399
Liangzhu Town, Yuhang District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang, the cluster to which that site The Liangzhu Culture produced around thirty types of jade objects.400 The scholarly world
belongs is called the “Liangzhu site cluster.” Judging from current archaeological data, the has generated a wealth of research on them, but I think there is still room to go deeper. In this
Liangzhu site cluster may have been the most prominent center for the enter culture during regard, I shall briefly discuss four points.

a b a b (1) On the decorative patterns of Liangzhu jades:

Virtually all Liangzhu jades apart from jade bi disks may have sculpted decorative patterns,
which the archaeological community has divided into two main types, called “dragon-head
patterns” and “animal-mask patterns.” However, the second may have evolved from the first.401
As shown in Figs. 187 to 189, the two protruding ears above the eyes evolve into the crescent-
Fig. 184: Tube with animal-dragon Fig. 186: Bracelet with animal-dragon pattern, early Liangzhu Culture,
shaped “eyelids” diagonally above the two large round eyes of the “animal-mask pattern.” We
pattern, early Liangzhu Culture, height diameter 8.2 cm. a. Color photograph. b. Line drawings. Unearthed from can also clearly see that as the protruding ears developed into eyelids, the animals gradually
2.71 cm, unearthed from no. 16 tomb, no. 1 tomb, Yaoshan.
Fanshan. went from being toothless to having a row of teeth, and in the end they grew fangs.402
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Fangs are characteristic of carnivores. The word for “beast” or “animal” (shou) in Chinese is
actually a general term for mammals – animals that are born live, have hair, and drink milk 立耳 立耳蛻變中

when young – and of course that includes the fanged “tiger.” However, the “dragon” is a “spiritual 月牙形眼瞼

animal” imagined from long-bodied reptiles like snakes and alligators, but through the ages they
were not depicted with fangs. 有明顯獠牙
無牙 有牙列

With this clarification, we can properly name the patterns. Now that we agree that Figs. 181,
Fig. 187: Jade tube with Fig. 188: Jade tube with animal mask Fig. 189: Jade post-shaped object
182, and 184-187 to Figs. 188 and 189 depict the development of a certain “animal” from animal-dragon pattern, pattern, unearthed at Yaoshan (detail). with animal mask pattern and obvious
unearthed at Yaoshan fangs, unearthed at Yaoshan (detail).
embryo to adult, then Figs. 181, 182, and 184-187 should be the “animal embryo.” Above, I
(detail).
have recommended that the customarily used term “dragon-head pattern” (longshou wen) should
be changed to “animal-dragon pattern” (shoulong wen). I think it is most likely that they depict
a
the imagined form of the “tiger embryo.”

Fig. 190a shows a well-known object, called the “king of the jade cong tubes,” which was
unearthed from the no. 12 tomb at Fanshan.403 Above and below in the rectangular center
area delineated by a pair of vertical grooves on each of the four sides, carved in shallow relief
and with incised lines, there are the patterns shown in Figs. 190c, d. Most archaeologists call
these “spirit-emblems” or “animal mask patterns with divine men’s faces,” thinking these are
“divine men” straddling “divine animals.” Elsewhere on the object’s surface, there are two squat
“mask patterns” symmetrically formed around each corner and set above and below each other.
The ones on top are called “divine man patterns” and the ones below are called “divine animal b c

patterns,” and it is thought that they relate to the “animal mask patterns with divine men’s faces”
at the center of each of the sides. The red arrows in Fig. 190 point to the “divine man pattern”
and the green arrows point to the “divine animal pattern.” I think that the element interpreted
as a “divine man” (shenren) should be called a “deity-ancestor” (shenzu), i.e., a deceased
d
ancestor who would also be a bridge between the living and the gods. Moreover, the element
interpreted as a “divine animal [mammal]” (shenshou) should be called a “numinous animal”
(shenling dongwu) because the bottom halves of Figs. 190c and d feature birds’ claws. For ease of
understanding, I would suggest that these be called “mask patterns with small eyes” and “mask
patterns with large eyes.”404
Fig. 190: Jade cong tube, Liangzhu Culture, height 8.9 cm, width 17.6 cm, hole diameter 3.8-5.0 cm. a. Color
photograph. b-d. Line drawings. unearthed from no. 12 tomb, Fanshan.
In short, whether we call the motifs of Figs. 190c, d “divine man-animal mask patterns” or
“deity ancestor-animal mask patterns” or “mask patterns with small and large eyes,” we can all
agree that the upper and lower motifs are separate from each other. However, after examining
many such decorative patterns, Fang Xiangming realized that the main subject or part of these (2) On the categories of Liangzhu jade objects:
decorations is actually the one on the bottom, the “animal mask image,” and that what is set
above it is only a large “cap.” The main element of this “cap,” which may be called a “cap in the Although there are many categories of jade objects from the Liangzhu Culture, most on analysis
form of a divine man,” is the “cap in the shape of the character jie [ 介 ].”405 This kind of pattern were used as ornaments or insignia for the aristocracy. They were worn directly as accessories on
lays the foundation for worshipping the “deity-ancestor.”406 Fang Xiangming’s interpretation of the body, or they were added (inlaid, sewn, or assembled) to other ornaments such as wooden
the Liangzhu Culture decorative patterns indeed made it possible to grasp their inner meaning. handles for yue axes. Most decorative jades in the forms of birds, fish, and turtles had holes
Zhang Chi, who had a similar view, noted, “There are many examples of the original form of the drilled into their backs and were sewn into the lower part of tomb occupants’ robes.408 I think
animal mask appearing in isolation, but the original form of the human mask seldom appears these were expressions of the prehistoric eastern Chinese worship of animal spirits – they
in isolation. Hence the animal mask alone has a divine quality, and the human and animal mask hoped that these spirits could help the deceased ascend to heaven quickly. Even though this
together express a realm in which the human and divine are as one.”407 element of the culture went into more than a thousand years of silence, it would later experience
a resurgence, as we seen in the section on “Chu-style Funerary Jade in the Warring States and
Western Han Eras” in the General Introduction.
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Among the Liangzhu decorative jades, two types of 成組錐形器 a c

瑁
b
head-ornaments are most noteworthy: cap-shaped
objects and three-pronged objects. The first were
used by both men and women, and at first they were
a kind of decorative backing on the top of a comb

三叉形器
used to hold their hair in place. However, starting
in the early period of the culture, it became popular
to have a shape like that of the character jie ( 介 ) 冠狀器

carved into the top-middle edge of the piece, which 鐓

Fig. 191: Various jade objects by head of
signified communication with the gods. Fig. 070 in tomb occupant, no. 10 tomb, Yaoshan.

the General Introduction shows a cap-shaped object Fig. 193: Jade yue axe blade (length 16.3 cm), mao (width 7.7 cm), and dui (width 7.2 cm), early Liangzhu

鏤空紋玉璜
Culture. b, c. Diagrams showing how parts were attached to handle.
unearthed at Xindili. Its shape may have originated
with the “animal mask pattern with a pair of birds”
created by the people of the Hemudu Culture (Fig.

冠狀器
the conditions of numerous unearthed objects, Fang Xiangming thought that although it was

玉璜
069). possible the incised marks may have been pressed under the handle, the objects could also have
remained intact after being set into the hollowed-out cavity of the wooden handle, with the
The three-pronged objects are found mostly in the incised marks possibly exposed bundled line patterns by the hole, but instead have a “V” shape
site clusters to the south and southeast of Lake Tai. 成組玉管 painted in red. Some also have another small hole or half-hole on the top end of the blade. This
The shape may have derived from that of a flying Fig. 192: Various jade objects by head and may have had some symbolic meaning, and it would have been impossible for the handles to
bird. Most are paired with awl-shaped objects and chest of tomb occupant, no. 11 tomb, have covered them up.412
Yaoshan.
adorned the heads of male aristocrats. The jade
decorations that their female counterparts often wore were jade tubes strung together, with The ornament for the axe handle-tip, the mao, is shaped like a jie-shaped cap folded over.413 Fig.
dangling jade huang-pieces. The tomb cluster at Yaoshan were arranged into two lines, north 193b, c basically shows a jade weapon that wears a cap for communicating with the spirits. The
and south, and the tomb occupants to the south were male, while those to the north were people of Liangzhu also put the jie-shaped cap to the ends of knives, sickles, and other such
female. Figs. 191 and 192 show the male and female tombs with their jade objects in situ when bladed objects. Fig. 071 in the General Introduction shows a jade knife with curved blade that
they were unearthed.409 was unearthed at Yaojiashan, Tongxiang, Zhejiang.414 A similar jade knife with curved blade
is also in the collection of the National Palace Museum (see Plate I-148). After its accession,
Statistics on the jade yue axe blades reveals that they were the scarcest ritual objects belonging there were some doubts about its authenticity, but these were finally cleared with the unearthing
only to the highest-ranking figures – they appear only in the highest-ranking tombs. Moreover, of the Yaojiashan knife.415
only one will appear in a tomb, though they may also be accompanied by several ordinary stone
yue axe blades. The stone yue axes may also be given ranks, since particular kinds of stone are
often shaped into fixed yue forms with particular placements.410 During the early and middle (3) On the jade bi disks, emblems, and jade birds of Liangzhu
periods, jade yue are relatively thick and short, and the workmanship neat and regular. During
the late period, they gradually become thinner and longer, with a more protruding curved blade In the General Introduction we have seen how the jade bi disk was the earliest form, and that
and slightly upturned at both ends. However, their finish is coarser, and sometimes one can it reached a high level of development in prehistoric times, in both eastern and western China.
also see line-cutting marks. Most of the jade yue axe blades are placed between the hand and We have also seen how in early Liangzhu tombs the small jade bi disks were usually strung
shoulder, and some still have their wooden handles. At the top and bottom end of the wooden together and spread over the tomb occupant’s chest, while the large-holed bi disks were often
handles, there are also jade decorations known respectively as mao and dui. worn over the wrist.

On the surface near the handle-holes of jade yue axe blades from aristocratic Yaoshan and However, the Liangzhu Culture also produced many mid-sized disks with diameters of 10 cm
Fanshan tombs, one often finds bundled line patterns that were incised with a sharp tool (Fig. or more, and large disks with diameters greater than 20 cm. There is even one with a diameter
193a). For a time, people mistakenly believed that these were cord abrasions accumulated over a of 32.5 cm and thickness of 1.55 cm, shown in Fig. 035. The general tendency is that the disks
long period of time, but on closer inspection it was discovered that most of these parallel incised gradually increased in size toward the late period of Liangzhu Culture.416 The people of Liangzhu
lines do not extend to the edge of the object. They were also extraordinarily shallow, and if cords were also aware of the different kinds of jade, and they used different colors to make different
had been tied at these places they would not have more securely fastened the blades to the objects. Most of the jade bi disks were of dark color, containing higher levels of iron. For this
handles. (Fig. 193b, c).411 Furthermore, some yue axe blades do not have incised After examining reason, some scholars think the concept of “azure heaven” (cangtian) developed around this time.417
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The vast majority of jades in the Liangzhu Culture feature decorative patterns relating to Tongxiang (Fig. 195), 423 did a b
divine emblems, as mentioned above. Jade bi disks are the only type of object that remains the gossip stop.424 One scholar
undecorated, and of all the object types, they have the greatest variation in terms of their thinks these are sculpted
placement in the tomb.418 They may be set below the tomb occupant’s back, or to the side of versions of the incised “bird –
the head, or on the chest, and a large number are piled by the feet. They are often placed on tall pillar – altar” emblems and
the coffin. When the wood of the coffin collapses, the disks may fall, so that the excavating should be considered a kind Fig. 195: Jade bird, very late Liangzhu Culture, height 2.3 cm. a. Color
photograph. b. Line drawings. Unearthed from trash pit at Xindili.
archaeologist often mistakenly thinks they were used as lids for pottery.419 of variant of the late Liangzhu
jades.425
The late Liangzhu period not only produced many large bi disks – it also frequently ground
out recessed arcs around the perimeters of disks ranging approximately between 1.2 and 1.5
cm. Most noteworthy, however, is that their surfaces will often have very light, shallow incised (4) On the square bracelets and jade cong tubes of Liangzhu
emblems usually relating to heavenly images. “Emblems” are not equivalent to “decorative
patterns.” Decorative patterns are made to be easily seen, but these “emblems” are very light and In the past thirty years, the jade cong tubes of the Liangzhu Culture have been a focus of intense
shallow – made in a way to prevent ordinary people from seeing them. They can only function scholarly research. However, if we closely examine these objects, we may wonder whether the
as “secret codes” in the communication between humans and deity ancestors.420 A jade bi disk archaeologists who during the 1980s unhesitatingly called all of the unearthed jade objects of
with such incised emblems, now in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, may be the kind shown in Figs. 196-199 “cong tubes” had been misled by the late Qing scholar Wu
seen in Fig. 035.421 Dacheng (1835-1902) and Duanfang (1861-1911). In fact, the short
tubes of Figs. 196 and 197 were worn by the Liangzhu people on the
Fig. 194 presents six “bird – tall pillar – altar” emblems that were incised on very late period wrists; the outer contour of them are not square, they were bracelets
Liangzhu Culture jade bi disks and cong tubes. Emblem C is incised on a very late period jade (zhuozi). The objects of Figs. 198 and 199 are the sacred, ritual objects
bi disk in the National Palace Museum collection, but the disk’s perimeter was once cut away, they used with the jade bi disks – those are cong tubes.
so the back of the bird is missing (Plate I-160). Based on research that has been done, we
know that this emblem conveys what the Liangzhu people imagined about the origins of clan During the early period of Liangzhu Culture, virtually all jade objects
ancestors: the god of heaven’s “mysterious bird” comes down to earth and orders a woman on that were made as aristocratic ornaments – not including jade bi disks,
earth to conceive a son, and she later gives birth to a “sunbird” (yangniao) wearing a jie-shaped but including things worn on the head, around the neck or wrists, or
cap and bearing, with outstretched wings, the sun on its back.422 sewn into clothing – could be carved with various patterns that were
related to spiritual emblems. From objects and their placement in
This Museum also purchased on the open market two rather quaint jade objects each showing “a tombs such as the no. 11 tomb, Pu’anqiao (Fig. 200)426 and no. 137
bird standing on a tall pillar” (Plates I-172, I-173). Each has a small hole toward the bottom of
the pillar, used perhaps to insert an object representing the “altar.” Although these two objects
are a bit awkward, these quaint jade objects were once suspected by some jade-lovers in Taiwan
to be forgeries. Not until a similarly rather plain, homely jade bird was unearthed in Xindili,

a b c d e f

Fig. 194: “Bird – tall pillar – altar” emblem incised on six jade bi disks and cong tubes, very late Liangzhu Culture.
a. Emblem height 4.52 cm, incised on jade bi disk in collection of the Freer Gallery of Art. b. Emblem height 4.8
cm, incised on jade bi disk in Lantien Shanfang collection, Taiwan. c. Emblem (damaged) height 4.4 cm, incised
on jade bi disk in collection of National Palace Museum (see Plate I-161). d. Emblem height 3.2 cm, incised in Fig. 196: Jade square Fig. 197: Jade square Fig. 198: Jade cong tube, Fig. 199: Jade cong
jade cong tube in collection of Capital Museum, Beijing. e. Emblem height 4.3 cm, incised on jade bi disk in bracelet, early Liangzhu bracelet, early Liangzhu late Liangzhu Culture, tube, late Liangzhu
Lantian Shanfang collection, Taiwan. f. Emblem height 3.97 cm, incised on jade bi disk in collection of Freer Culture, height 4 cm, Culture, height 5.8 cm, height 15.5 cm, unearthed culture, height 36.1 cm,
Gallery of Art. unearthed from no. 9 unearthed from no. 12 at Pingyao. unearthed from no. 3
tomb, Fuquanshan. tomb, Yaoshan. tomb, Sidun.
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emblems, and of course they could not compare with the status of jade bi disks, which could
never have decorative patterns.

Thus wearing jade square bracelets with various decorative patterns was popular among the
Liangzhu aristocracy during the early period of their culture,430 but we also find large heavy
objects from the same period that could never have functioned as bracelets. For example,
the “king of jade cong tubes” introduced in Fig. 188 above had been placed next to the tomb
occupant’s head. What was its function? That awaits further research.
a b

Fig. 200: No. 11 tomb, Pu’anqiao, early Liangzhu Culture. a. Planar drawing. b. Jade square bracelet worn on However, it is widely known that by the late Liangzhu Culture period,431 this type of square
right wrist of tomb occupant.
bracelet suddenly became squarer and taller, with more segments and with more small-eyed
a b
mask patterns; the central hole became proportionally smaller and the object walls thicker (Figs.
198 and 199). I think that, at the point when the object can no longer function as a bracelet, we
can begin to call it a jade cong tube.

At the same time, the jade bi disks also became thicker and larger, and the central hole became
proportionally smaller. The hole was more often drilled from both sides, so that rotary marks
from the drill are left on the hole’s walls. It too had completely gone beyond functioning as a
bracelet.

Fig. 201: No. 137 tomb, Xindili, middle Liangzhu Culture. a. Planar drawing. b. Jade square bracelet worn on right
wrist of tomb occupant.
Although no matching relationship can be seen in the placement of big, thick bi disks and
multi-segmented cong tubes in late Liangzhu Culture tombs, at that time the kind of emblems
shown in Figs. 035 and 194 were only being incised on the bi and cong, never on any other
tomb, Xindili (Fig. 201),427 we know that jade objects a kind of object.432 Obviously, in late Liangzhu Culture, only the bi and cong could be used as the
of the kind shown in Figs. 196 and 197 were basically
vehicles for communicating secrets with the gods.433
bracelets worn by aristocrats. Because the sculpted
patterns on the jade bracelets’ surface gradually became
After analyzing the relative placement of the various objects in the Fanshan tomb cluster,
more three-dimensional, the bracelets became more
scholars emphasized, “Fundamentally no match can be made among the bi and cong.”434 This is
and more squarish, so that nowadays we usually call
because the Fanshan tomb cluster did not have any actual jade cong tube, and the archaeologists
them “square bracelets” (fang zhuozi).
had been misled by Wu Dacheng’s Illustrated Studies on Ancient Jade, and Duanfang’s Ancient
Jade in Tao’s Studio. They mistakenly believed that the bracelets, aristocratic ornaments, were
Because they are basically bracelets in form and function,
cong tubes, and then they mistakenly treated the cong tubes, bi disks, and yue axes as ritual
we can tell, from the half-finished bracelet unearthed
b Curved, incised nail line objects of equal grade.
at Wujiabu, which bears incised “nail lines” on the two
ends,428 that even though the object’s sides are ground
In fact, in recent years, two late Liangzhu tombs at Yujiashan, Linping, Zhejiang and at
flat, they still need to be rounded off (Fig. 202).429
Jiangzhuang, Jiangsu have each yielded one jade bi disk with inscribed emblems, but it is
impossible to discern from their placement in the tombs any matching relationship between
In other words, during the early period of the Liangzhu Round, incised nail
line for collar
them and the multi-segmented jade cong tubes in the same tomb cluster.435
Culture, the square bracelets and other items like awl-
shaped objects, cap-shaped objects, huang-pieces, tubes,
In the General Introduction, we have already analyzed statistics on the emergence, maturation,
and so on, which were aristocratic ornaments with
and development in the upper Yellow River area of smooth, polished bi disks and cong tubes
sculpted and patterned decorations, primarily served
from 3500 BCE onward, and how equal numbers of these two ritual objects had been buried
the purpose of highlighting the wearer’s special status. Curved, incised nail line
in sacrificial pits. However, because the prehistoric inhabitants of the western China region had
The ritual status of these decorative jades was less Fig. 202: Unfinished jade square bracelet, placed these sets of bi and cong only in sacrificial pits and not in tombs with human remains,
than that of the jade yue axes, which were in principle Liangzhu Culture, height 7 cm, width 8.5
cm. a. Color photograph. b. Rubbing. their accidental discovery did not arouse as much attention, and as a result much valuable
smooth but were occasionally carved with spiritual Unearthed at Wujiabu.
information was lost. When we take a broad view of prehistoric jade culture in general, we can
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clearly see that the “worship of animal spirits” was indeed thriving in eastern China, while the tube with five segments and small- a a

belief in a “round heaven and square earth” and “empathetic resonance among similar things” eyed mask patterns that, during the
had indeed sprouted in western China. Liangzhu Culture period, had been cut
horizontally into two parts, with this
Around 2600 BCE, places in the upper Yellow River region such as Banshan, Caiyuan, being the top part. It still retains two of
436
Keshengzhuang, and so on were in the midst of their “diverse pre-Qijia Cultures” period. the long horizontal ridges of the third
Did a kind of upper-class exchange network exist at the time, through which western ideas segment. 441 Although the surface has
on cosmology and empathetic resonance were spread to the Lake Tai region, where an animal dulled considerably from corrosion, b
spirit-worshipping culture was thriving, which then led to the disappearance of the “animal- I have carefully examined its various
parts and am sure that is a late-period b
dragon pattern” and the diminution of the “animal mask pattern”? To ensure that they too had
“round and square” ritual objects for establishing an empathetic resonance with heaven and Liangzhu Culture jade from the Lake
earth, the people of the Liangzhu Culture could readily take their existing square bracelets and Tai region.442
develop them into big, tall jade cong tubes. Fig. 204: Jade square bracelet,
late Liangzhu Culture, height
I have also carefully examined two 7.4 cm, width of sides 6.4 cm,
outer diameter 6.2 cm, hole
Is this only an inference on my part? More archaeological excavations and in-depth research are jades unearthed from Sanduocun,
diameter 5.6 cm. a. Color
still needed. Haifeng, and am sure that these, too, are photograph. b. Line drawing
(detail). Unearthed
typical examples of Liangzhu Culture at Sanduocun, Haifeng.
jade (Figs. 204, 205).443 Because these
2. The Lingnan region: Shixia Culture had been immersed in seawater, they a
have preserved their original warm
Prehistoric jades have been unearthed at four sites in Guangdong, south of the Nanling yellowish-green color, but erosion on
Mountains, and three of them belong to the Shixia Culture (2800-2200 BCE). The largest, and the decorative patterns indicates that at
one for which formal archaeological reports have been published, is Shixia in Maba Township, some time its owner had worn it for a
437 b
Qijiang County. The other two are at Chuangbanling, to the northeast of Wushi Township, long time, after it was transported from
Qujiang County and at Lumeicun, Fengkai County. The fourth site is in Sanduo Village, the Lake Tai region and before it was Fig. 205: Jade square
bracelet, middle to late
444
Tianqian Township, Haifeng County, Shanwei City. The fourth site is in Yanchang Sanduo lost on the southeast coast. Liangzhu Culture, height 8.4
cm, width of sides 5.6 cm,
Village, Tianqian Township, Haifeng County, Shanwei City. When the residents there were Fig. 206: Jade cong tube, outer diameter 5.4 cm, hole
digging for shells, they accidentally discovered two Liangzhu late Liangzhu Culture, height diameter 4.8 cm. a. Color
a Some of the jades unearthed from
13.8 cm, width of sides 6.8- photograph. b. Line drawing
Culture jade cong tubes with eroded floral patterns; the site is Shixia Culture tombs may have come 7 cm, hole diameter 4.1- (detail). The circles below the
4.3 cm. a, b. Drawings from small eyes may have been
outside of the range of the Shixia Culture.438 directly from the Lake Tai region, but original object. Unearthed added later. Unearthed at
from no. 105 tomb, Shixia. Sanduocun, Haifeng.
some were clearly made locally, south
The jades unearthed from Shixia Culture sites include bi disks, of the Nanling Mountains (i.e., the
yue axe blades, rings, square bracelets, and cong tubes. The first Lingnan region). Chiang Mei-yin has already conducted a thorough and accurate analysis of
two types are always polished smooth, and the latter three types this point.445 For example, the well-known jade cong tube with five segments and small-eyed
are often decorated with mask patterns in the Liangzhu Culture mask patterns which was unearthed from the n. 105 tomb at Shixia (Fig. 206) may well be a
b
style. Two of the jade yue axe blades unearthed at the Shixia site Liangzhu Culture jade transported directly from the Lake Tai region, but because the 1984
were determined by the Guangdong Province Research Center article in which its discovery was first announced reported that it was made of skarn,446 and
for Geoanalysis as being tremolite, so most of the Shixia reports because the jade had become rough and greenish-grey from corrosion, many scholars were
identify the material of the cong tubes with decorative patterns as puzzled by it. In fact, skarn is a petralogical term, and what in mineralogy is called tremolite
439
tremolite. and actinolite may both exist in skarn. Furthermore, geologists who have examined it by eye
consider it to be nephrite consisting of large-grained crystals.447
The Lumeicun, Fengkai and Sanduocun, Haifeng sites are located
Fig. 203: Jade cong tube (cut),
respectively in Guangdong’s mountainous west and coastal late Liangzhu Culture, height The jade objects that are confirmed not to have been transported from the Lake Tai region and
7.4 cm, outer diameter 6.5-
southeast, and they have also yielded one and two Liangzhu 7.2 cm, hole diameter 5.9-6.1 to have been made by people of the Shixia Culture in the Lingnan region consist primarily
Culture jade objects respectively. The one from Lumeicun cm. a. Color photograph. b. of the four objects shown in Figs. 207-210.448 These have also been thoroughly analyzed by
Line drawing. Unearthed from
(Fig. 203)440 probably was once a Liangzhu Culture jade cong Lumeicun, Fengkai. Chiang Mei-yin.449 By analyzing their shapes and decorative patterns, they must have been
258 - Catalogue of Select Jades in the National Palace Museum – Volume One 259

a b a b first time many collected or archaeologically excavated jades that had been accumulating hidden
inside local museums, thus providing abundant raw material for research. In the catalogue, the
c articles by Luan Fengshi and Yang Po were also very helpful in clarifying the complex aspects
of prehistoric jade in this region.455

Fig. 207: Jade-like stone square bracelet, Shixia Fig. 208: Jade-like stone square bracelet, Shixia Culture, The Dawenkou Culture endured for 1,700 years, with early, middle, and late periods divided at
Culture, height 3.3 cm, side width 7.5 cm, outer height 4.4 cm, side width 6.7 cm, hole diameter 5.6 cm,
diameter 8 cm, hole diameter 5.6 cm, unearthed unearthed from no. 17 tomb, Shixia. approximately 3400 BCE and 2800 BCE.456 Early period tombs have yielded a few personal
from no. 69 tomb, Shixia.
ornaments such as huang-pieces, rings, bi disks, bracelets, and so on, some of which may have
come directly from the Beiyinyangying Culture in the Yangtze and Huai River region. By the
a b
middle and late periods (ca. 3400-2300 BCE), Dawenkou Culture was being heavily influenced
by Hongshan and Xiaozhushan Cultures in the northeast and the Liangzhu Culture in the
lower Yangtze. The jade objects that have been unearthed include huang-pieces, small bi disks,
a b linked disks, toothed bi disks, tube-shaped bracelets, awl-shaped objects, and yue axe blades.
By closely examining these jades’ details, one can tell some had been transported directly from
Fig. 209: Jade bracelet with animal-dragon pattern, Fig. 210: Jade bracelet with animal-dragon pattern,
Shixia Culture, diameter 12 cm, hole diameter 7 cm, Shixia Culture, diameter 8.2 cm, hole diameter 5.7 cm, other places, and some were imitations made by the people of the Dawenkou Culture.
height 1.5 cm, unearthed from no. 99 tomb, Shixia. height 2.1 cm, unearthed from no. 42 tomb, Shixia.

Some scholars think that linked disks (lianbi) in which

made by people during the early Shixia Culture period who were influenced by the early the rims of the holes and outer edges are ground thin
Liangzhu Culture jades.450 may have come from the region between the Liao
River and the sea. However, many others, including
The soil in Guangdong is such that buried jade becomes seriously corroded. The decorative me, think that a considerable number of the small bi
patterns on the bracelets with animal-dragon patterns shown in Figs. 209 and 210 were not disks or linked disks with willow leaf-shaped cross-
discovered until after they had been cleaned up, so this information was published much later.451 sections unearthed from Hongshan Culture sites west
of the Liao River may have been transported from
The Shixia Culture bracelets with animal-dragon pattern are generally heavier than their even further north – the Songhua-Amur region.457 We
counterpars from the Liangzhu Culture (Fig. 186), to the point that the individual units of have already introduced the jades from the Liaodong
the pattern cannot cover the entire bracelet. The discovery and analysis of these Shixia Culture region, which include toothed disks and small bi disks
bracelets has given some room for discussion on the origins of two similar objects, shown in – but no linked disks. Therefore, the fact that such Fig. 211: Set of decorative jade rings, mid-
to late Dawenkou Culture, diameters 3-5.1
Plates I-137 and I-138, that had long been held in the Qing palace.452 jade ornaments have been unearthed from Dawenkou cm, unearthed from no. 22 tomb, Yedian.
Culture tombs does not have a simply explanation. For
example, Fig. 211 shows a set of jade ornaments that had been strung together, unearthed at
3. The Shandong Region: Dawenkou Culture Yedian, Zou County. I think that judging from the type of jade being used and the V-shaped
gaps on two sides of some of the objects, at least some of the small bi disks and the linked disk
The Dawenkou Culture (ca. 4000-2300 BCE) was a long-lasting prehistoric culture spread with four holes may have come from the Songhua-Amur region, but the larger linked disk
through the Shandong Peninsula. It is named after one of its important sites, Dawenkou, in the that has two holes, equal-sized “rings,” and a flat, even surface may have been made by middle-
jurisdiction of Tai’an City.453 Earlier we have mentioned how the Lingjiatan Culture, influenced period Dawenkou people who were imitating older jades that had come from elsewhere.
by the Dawenkou Culture belief in turtle spirits, made beautiful jade objects in the shape of
turtle shells, and that the Dawenkou Culture may also have been the origin for the tube-shaped Furthermore, awl-shaped objects and toothed bi disks were respectively typical jade objects
objects with flared mouths in the Hongshan Culture. from the Liangzhu and Xiaozhushan Cultures, but the awl-shaped objects unearthed from
Dawenkou Culture tombs often lack the holes drilled into the ends, and the way they are placed
Yan Shengdong has done a very detailed comparison and analysis of the prehistoric jades that in the tombs also differs (Fig. 212).458 It also seems that the toothed bi disks unearthed from
have been unearthed from the prehistoric sites scattered far and wide through the Shandong Dawenkou tombs rarely have the willow leaf-shaped cross-section (Fig. 213). Consequently,
region and the jades from other surrounding areas with highly-developed jade cultures, such as these were probably made by the people of the Dawenkou Culture.459
the areas to the west and east of the Liao River, the Yangtze and Huai River basins, and area
around Lake Tai, and so on.454 In recent years, moreover, the Shandong Museum has had a During the latter part of late Dawenkou Culture (ca. 2600-2300 BCE), the Hongshan Culture
special exhibition, “The Jade-Enriched East,” and published a catalogue that displayed for the west of the Liao River had already disappeared, but in the tombs of the Xiaoheyan Culture,
260 - Catalogue of Select Jades in the National Palace Museum – Volume One 261

one finds that most of the women wore bi disks of jade-like stone
on their wrists, while the men often had them placed on their
chests and necks.460 During this time, among the late Dawenkou
Culture tombs found in Lingyanghe, Ying County, Shandong
and other sites, one often sees that flanges on the disks worn on
the tomb occupants’ wrists are very wide, but most of these are
thick on the inside, thin on the edges (Fig. 214).461 At the same
Fig. 218: Jade yue axe blade, late Dawenkou Fig. 219: Stone toothed zhang, late Dawenkou Culture,
time, jade bi disks from Liangzhu Culture, in the lower Yangtze Culture, length 17.8 cm, width 7.2 cm, thickness 0.4 length 25 cm, width 7 cm, unearthed from Luoquanyucun.
region, had already become large and heavy, with small central cm, unearthed from no. 117 tomb, Dawenkou.

holes, so that they were entirely unsuited as wrist ornaments. The

Dawenkou custom of wearing wide disks of jade-like stone on
their wrists was later passed to the Shanxi and Shaanxi region. Dantu, Wulian is a large site that straddles the late Dawenkou Culture period and early
Fig. 212: Jade awl-shaped
objects, mid- to late Shandong Longshan Culture period. Since the site’s discovery in 1934, jade objects have been
Dawenkou Culture, length
Two late Dawenkou Culture sites, Lingyanghe and Qiansai, 8-19.5 cm, unearthed from no. collected there several times, and in recent years formal archaeological excavations have been
Zhucheng, have each yielded one round tube-shaped bracelet
62 tomb, Yedian. conducted.464 Scholars who have compiled statistics on the objects there have found that of the
with four smooth-polished rectangular decorative patches on more than thirty jade objects unearthed, around 22 belonged to the late Dawenkou Culture
the outer sides (Figs. 215, 216). The first seems to be marked out period: large, flat-bladed yue axes, large bi disks, small bi disks, pentagonal rings, finger rings,
only with wide incised lines, but the second also features shallow awl-shaped objects, tube-shaped bracelets, toothed bi disks, and cong tubes.465
relief carving – the center line of symmetry in each rectangle
clearly protrudes.462 Dantu, Wulian yielded an object that has four During the middle and late Dawenkou Culture periods, a few of the large sites clearly show
triangular projections rising from the central ring, each topped rising social stratification. Most of the occupants of large tombs had yue axes made from fine
with an approximate right angle and separated from the others jade to symbolize their status. For example, the jade yue axe shown in Fig. 218, with its long,
by a rectangular space on the ring; three deep horizontal grooves narrow trapezoidal shape, is particular to the Shandong region.466
Fig. 213: Toothed jade bi
are incised into the projections, and each groove is slightly ridged disk, late Dawenkou Culture,
diameter 5.3 cm, hole
on both sides. Furthermore, at the end of each set of horizontal diameter 1.8 cm, thickness 0.5 One of the most irresolvable issues in the study of prehistoric jades is the toothed zhang. Figs.
cm, unearthed from Qiansai,
grooves, an eyelike circle has been drilled. This may well have Zhucheng.
012-014 of the General Introduction show a set of jade objects that were unearthed at Simatai,
been influenced by the Liangzhu Culture (Fig. 217). 463 Since Haiyang, Shandong. Some scholars have argued that these objects prove that the jade toothed
the late Dawenkou and late Liangzhu Cultures occurred at the zhang originated in Shandong. If we analyze their shapes and the kind of jade they used,
same time (ca. 2600-2300 BCE), and late Liangzhu Culture had however, they are in fact typical of the inky-dark jade toothed zhang of the Shimao Culture.
already developed the use of ritual jade cong tubes from earlier They are probably examples of objects removed from their original place due to war or some
square bracelets used for personal adornment, as discussed above, other factor and then buried in a distant place.
we may perhaps call the late Dawenkou object from Dantu a jade
cong tube. Three stone toothed zhang have been unearthed in Luoquanyucun, Yinan, Shandong; the one
Fig. 214: Jade-like stone bi
disks, late Dawenkou Culture, designated YL10 is definitely older and plainer than the others (Fig. 219). One scholar has
unearthed at Lingyanghe, Ju
County. classified it as a Dawenkou Culture period object.467 But is that the case? To decide that, we
need to wait for the future emergence of more archaeological data and in-depth research.

With the existing foundation of jade art in the Shandong region, the Longshan Culture was
able to move on to its own unique and creative developments, which we shall discuss in the next
section.

Fig. 215: Line drawing of jade Fig. 216: Jade bracelet, late Fig. 217: Jade cong tube, late
bracelet, late Dawenkou Culture, Dawenkou Culture, height 3.8 Dawenkou Culture, height 3.5 cm,
unearthed at Lingyanghe,Ju cm, outer diameter 7 cm, inner edge width 7.3 cm, hole diameter 6.6
County. diameter 5.8 cm, thickness 0.5- cm, unearthed at Dantu, Wulian.
0.7 cm, unearthed at Qiansai,
Zhucheng.
262 - Catalogue of Select Jades in the National Palace Museum – Volume One 263

jurisdiction of Weifang City.472 Besides Dantu, when developed from a late

III. Longshan to Xia Era Jade from the Shandong, Yangtze-
Dawenkou Culture site to a large middle Shandong Longshan Culture site,
Han, and Central Plains Regions most of the others are only from the middle period of Shandong Longshan
Culture. Some within the archaeological community suspect that no major
(ca. 2300–1520 BCE) jade-producing late period Shandong Longshan Culture site exists. Having
examined the numerous jades that have been passed down through the
Around 2300 BCE, the Liangzhu Culture, which had greatly flourished for a time, began to ages as well as many of the jades that were being circulated in the early
decline. From 2300 to 1800 BCE, what archaeologists call the “Longshan Culture” developed twentieth century, I am sure that, judging from the develop of the forms
virtually at the same pace throughout the vast area that later became the center of Chinese and decorative motifs, late Shandong Longshan Culture did indeed attain a
civilization – the region in the mid- to lower reaches of the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers. The high level of jade production – but it is possible that most of the sites have
names of its various subcultures are each based on their different regions; Table 01 in the been destroyed.
General Introduction in this volume may serve as a reference. In fact, many signs indicate that
both the Post-Shijiahe Culture of the middle Yangtze region468 and the Shimao Culture of The jade bird ornament of Fig. 220 is the only item unearthed in the
northern Shaanxi may both have extended to 1500 BCE or later.469 The various cultures tended Shandong region that may have been inserted into the top of a long pole; Fig. 220: Jade
to surround the Central Plain. bird ornament,
it would have been used in religious ceremonies to call down the souls of
Shandong
deity-ancestors. Jade bird ornaments with a similar function also existed in Longshan Culture,
height 7.2 cm,
Around 2000 BCE, as a result of its special “central” geographic position, the Central Plain the Hongshan and Liangzhu Cultures: I have already introduced the “bird – unearthed at
Dantu.
became the place where different groups of people from all quarters vied for power. This is tall pillar – altar” emblem of Fig. 194 and the jade bird unearthed at Xindili,
where the Xia dynasty is said to have emerged. The Xia dynasty began around 2070 BE.470 shown in Fig. 195. Both of these fine art objects of the Liangzhu Culture
In the Central Plain during this period, three cultures developed in succession: the Henan would have had a similar function.
Longshan Culture (sometimes called the Wangwan III Culture; ca. 2100-1870 BCE), the
Xinchai Culture (ca. 1870-1750 BCE), and the Erlitou Culture (ca. 1800-1520 BCE).471 Jades of the Shandong Longhua Culture typically belong to one of the following four
Currently, most scholars think the latter has the remains of the middle and late Xia dynasty. categories473:
1. Rings and toothed bi disks
Erlitou, Yanshi, Henan, marked with a red circle in Map F above, may have been the location of with the jie-shaped c ap
the Xia dynasty’s capital. Erlitou Culture Periods I and IV overlap respectively with the earlier decoration and toothed bi
Xinchai Culture and the later Shang dynasty. The section “Jade and Silk of Ten Thousand disks with “eastern Chinese-
Realms” in the General Introduction has already briefly described the jade culture of the Xia style feiya” decoration.
period. Illustrations of the former
may be found in Figs.
Erlitou is located in the Central Plain. In the Shandong region to its northeast, the Shandong 073, 074 in the General
Fig. 221: Toothed bi disk, Shandong Fig. 222: Toothed bi disk,
Longshan Culture spread. The Yangtze-Han region to its southwest (corresponding to present- Introduction and Figs. 221, Longshan Culture, maximum Shandong Longshan Culture,
day Hubei province and its surrounding area) is where the Shijiahe Culture and Post-Shijiahe 222 in this section. 474 An diameter 22.5 cm, inner diameter 7.1 outer diameter 12 cm, inner
cm, thickness 0.5 cm, unearthed at diameter 6 cm, gathered at
Culture, were located. illustration of the latter may Dantu. Xizhufeng.

be found in Fig. 075 in the

After 2300 BCE, the Shandong Longshan Culture and the Post-Shijiahe Culture were the two General Introduction. The jie-shaped cap motif during the late Longshan period developed
cultures in eastern China where the art of jade reached a high level of development. The former into the beautiful “eastern Chinese-style feiya” motif, which also circulated in the Post-
is known to have developed from the Dawenkou Culture. However, although the Post-Shijiahe Shijiahe Culture, and it inherited the symbolic significance of the earlier cap motif. Around
Culture was thoroughly accomplished in jade production, the Shijiahe Culture that preceded it 2100 BCE, it spread very widely to the west and southwest and circulated through the Xia,
was not – so where did the Post-Shijiahe Culture’s jadecraft come from? There is still no answer. Shang, and Western Zhou periods.
2. Jade end-bladed objects with the jie-shaped cap form or “eastern Chinese feiya” motif
On the southeast, south, and north sides of the Tai-Yi Mountains in the center of the sculpted into the edge or that have the deity-ancestor mask with the jie-shaped cap inscribed
Shandong Peninsula, centers of jade production formed. Their representative archaeological into the surface. The former includes the jade notched axes of Figs. 004, 072, and 076 in the
sites are, respectively: (1) Dantu, Wulian County and (2) Liangcheng Town, both within General Introduction. An example of the latter is the jade adz of Fig. 223 in this section.
the jurisdiction of Rizhao City; (3) Dafanzhuang and (4) Yinan County, both within the Although it also has a deity-ancestor mask pattern carved into it, the blade portion had
jurisdiction of Linyi City; and (5) Xizhufeng, Linqu and (6) Yuanjia, Changle, both within the obviously been broken in use.
264 - Catalogue of Select Jades in the National Palace Museum – Volume One 265

3. Smooth-polished jade yue axes and knives, in Fig. 232b, c, and d, the first and second faces 228 229
as in Fig. 006 in the General Introduction are upright, looking out on a level, but the third
and Figs. 224, 225 in this section. is upside-down; Fig. 232c shows it right-side up.
4. Toothed zhang, as in Fig. 226. The faces of very beautiful and have a feminine
air, and if we examine them carefully we find a
I once published a few articles on the “eastern hat-brim. In an earlier research article delving
yi-clan deity-ancestor” mask pattern 475 and into such issues, I infer that when the deity-
examined the process by which the jie-shaped ancestor mask pattern has the jie-shaped cap,
cap motif developed into the “eastern yi- as in Figs. 228 and 230, it represents a “yang” or
clan-style feiya” motif (the feiya is a pattern of male deity-ancestor, and when it has a hat, as in
regular notches and protrusions around the Fig. 232, it represents an “yin” or female deity-
Fig. 223: Jade adz blade with incised deity-ancestor
edge of a jade object).476 However, now that mask patter, Shandong Longshan Culture, height ancestor.
18 cm, width 4.9 cm, maximum thickness 0.85 cm,
similar deity-ancestor and feiya motifs have unearthed at Liangcheng Village.
appeared in the middle Yangtze region, I think Generally, since high antiquity, starting from
the terms by which they are referred should pottery of the Gaomiao Culture (ca. 5800-4800
be changed to “eastern Chinese-style deity- BCE), there was a tradition of creating deity-
ancestor” and “eastern Chinese-style feiya.” ancestor masks with grinning mouths, fangs, and
230
birds or birds’ wings on either side. In the pottery
Two jade hairpins (Figs. 228, 232) worn at of the Hemudu III Culture (ca. 4500-4000
Fig. 224: Jade yue axe blade, Shandong Longshan
the head of the tomb occupant of the no. 202 Culture, length 16.9 cm, width 5.2 cm, collected at BCE), there was a tradition of creating deity-
Nanwu, Anqiu.
tomb at Xizhufeng deserve discussion. In that ancestor masks with the jie-shaped cap, large
particular tomb, the inner and outer coffins eyes, and birds on either side (Fig. 069). As such
were intact, and there were many extremely traditions passed down through the Lingjiatan
fine jade yue axes and knives, so archaeologists and Liangzhu Cultures, the mask patterns (Figs. 231

have inferred that the tomb occupant was a 176, 190) evolved, so that by approximately 2100
man of high aristocratic status.477 In the past, BCE, a tradition of carving the binary yang
people generally thought that these hairpins Fig. 225: Jade knife, Shandong Longshan Culture, “jie-shaped cap” and yin “hatted” forms of the
were the work of people from the Shandong length 51 cm, width 22 cm, unearthed at Dantu deity- ancestor pattern in fine jade had emerged
Longshan Culture. But in late 2015, more simultaneously in the lower Yellow River region,
than 200 jade objects were unearthed from the Shandong region, and the middle Yangtze
an urn coffin tomb at Tanjialing, Tianmen, and Yangtze-Han regions. The deity-ancestor
Fig. 228: Jade hairpin with deity-ancestor mask
Hubei, a Post-Shijiahe Culture site; the objects patterns of the Shandong region, also via bladed pattern, Post-Shijiahe Culture (?), height 4.9 cm,
width 9 cm, thickness 0.36 cm, unearthed from no.
of Figs. 229-231 and 233-235 all came from jade objects, passed westward to the middle and 202 tomb, Xizhufeng.
this batch.478 The top-decorations of the jade Fig. 226: Toothed zhang, Shandong Longshan upper Yellow River region.481 Figs. 229-331: Jade plate ornament, jade plate
ornament, jade hairpin, Post-Shijiahe Culture,
hairpins of Figs. 228 and 229 are very similar Culture, length 26 cm, width 6 cm, unearthed at
Luoquanyu.
unearthed at Tanjialing.

to each other, each an openwork deity-ancestor

mask with a pair of large eyes and a jie-shaped
cap, though the triangular point at the exact top-center of the hairpin in
Fig. 228 has disappeared. Therefore, the scholarly community is now more
inclined to believe that the jade hairpins of Fig. 228 may have come from the
Post-Shijiahe Culture.479

hat brim hat brim hat brim

However, a few people have noticed that another hairpin with three human
profiles worn by the tomb occupant of the no. 202 tomb of Xizhufeng may Fig. 227: Diagram
showing a b c d
also have been the work of people of the Post-Shijiahe Culture. 480 This toothed zhang
attachment to Fig. 232a: Hairpin decorated with human faces, Post-Shijiahe Culture (?), full height 10.3 cm, unearthed from no.
hairpin, made with lustrous yellowish-green jade, is extremely fine. As shown wooden handle. 202 tomb, Xizhufeng.
266 - Catalogue of Select Jades in the National Palace Museum – Volume One 267

“Some” of the people of the Yellow River basin during

Red: Exchange of “animal spirit worship” between the north and south in eastern China, 3600-2600 BCE
the Longshan period482 were creating, from the mind’s Blue: Exchange of “cosmological views and concept of empathetic response” between eastern and western
China, 2600-2100 BCE
eye, images of deity-ancestors, with incised lines and
Green: Exchange of “belief in binary deity-ancestors” between the Shandong and Yangtze-Han regions,
raised forms sculpted in relief on bladed objects. The 2100-1800 BCE

adz unearthed at Liangchengzhen (Fig. 223) is the most

famous example,483 and three more examples of deity-
ancestor masks on jade bladed objects may be seen in

Mt.
Plates I-192, I-193, and I-195. The belief in such deity-

an
ing
ancestors crossed the Taihang Mountains to the west.

r kh
Therefore, the kind of jade notched axe with the deity-

ate
ancestor mask unearthed in Licheng County, Shanxi Fig. 233: Jade ornament with deity-

G re
ancestor mask wearing jie-shaped cap,
(Fig. 009) passed even further to the west, so that Post-Shijiahe Culture, unearthed at
archaeologists have also unearthed a large jade knife Tanjialing.

Mt.
with the deity-ancestor mask pattern in Lushanmao,

ang
Yan’an, Shanxi.484

Taih
While the people of the Yellow River basin used bladed

t.
objects as the vehicles for their deity-ancestor images,

M
Wu
the people of the Yangtze-Han region, by contrast,
sculpted the deity-ancestor images onto decorative
objects or pendants. I have also written a study on this
topic. 485 More recently, new materials unearthed at
Tanjialing have confirmed my earlier analysis. Fig. 233
shows a male deity-ancestor: he wears a jie-shaped cap, Fig. 234: Two-headed deity-ancestor
jade figure with loose hair, wearing
has a pair of big round eyes, and on each side, left and hat, Post-Shijiahe Culture, unearthed at
Tanjialing (ear pendant with image of two
right, stands an eagle with characteristic hooked beak. connected heads).
Map H: Three Stages of the Prehistoric “Elite Exchange Network”
Fig. 234, meanwhile, shows a female deity-ancestor:
she wears a “capsized boat-shaped hat” and has long
unbound hair.486

Such yin-yang binary deity-ancestor images developed The scholarly community is still exploring the issue of identifying jades of the Post-Shijiahe
at about the same time in two separate, unconnected Culture. Recently several jade full-body profile figurines of tigers were unearthed at Tanjialing;
regions, the Shandong region and Yangtze-Han region. Fig. 235 shows one. In fact, there are plenty of jade tigers of this shape and form among the
Fig. 235: Jade tiger, Post-Shijiahe Culture,
On analysis, each had its own local traditions and jades passed down through the ages or circulating in the market. Plates I-209 and I-210 show
unearthed at Te anjialing.
impetus for development. Apart from both having two examples in the National Palace Museum collection.
inherited the very ancient beliefs and artistic traditions
of the vast eastern Chinese region, did the rulers of the two areas have an “elite network of We should also note three Post-Shijiahe jade objects that have been unearthed from a late
exchange”? This, too, is a topic deserving further exploration. mid-Shang era (ca. 1300-1250 BCE) tomb, the no. 331 tomb at Xiaotun, Anyang, Henan.487
In addition to a jade hairpin with eagle decoration, an item with characteristic Post-Shijiahe
To conclude this essay, I shall begin by presenting Map H, which outlines the three stages of Culture stylings (Fig. 236), there was a jade figure of a deity-ancestor wearing a feathered cap
the elite exchange network that may have operated in prehistoric China. (Fig. 237) and a jade tiger (Fig. 238), which clearly have the style of Post-Shijiahe Culture but
are not typical forms. They may well have come from the early or middle Shang period (1600-
I remain curious as to how the tomb occupant of the large no. 202 tomb at Xizhufeng, Linqu, 1400 BCE, 1400-1250 BCE),488 when the Post-Shijiahe Culture still existed, but the style of
Shandong could obtain the two exquisite jade hairpins of Figs. 228 and 232. Despite their great its jade objects was gradually changing. The occupant of the no. 331 tomb may have owned the
delicacy and fragility, they still survived their long journey intact to adorn the head of a high- three Post-Shijiahe jades simultaneously, and one cannot exclude the possibility that he may
level powerful figure in the Shandong Longshan Culture. have come from the Yangtze-Han region.
268 - Catalogue of Select Jades in the National Palace Museum – Volume One 269

Table 07: Chronology of Important Jade-producing Archaeological Cultures in Eastern China

I. Songhua-Amur region

Xiaonanshan Culture 7000-6000 BCE

Xinkailiu Culture 6200-4000 BCE

Zuojiashan Culture 5500-3000 BCE

c Hake Culture 5000-3000 BCE

II. Liao River region

a b
Xinglongwa Culture 6200-5400 BCE

Fig. 236: Jade hairpin with eagle Fig. 237: Jade deity- Fig. 238: Jade tiger, late Post-Shijiahe Culture Hongshan Culture 4500-3000 BCE
decoration, Post-Shijiahe Culture ancestor figure wearing period, length 11.7 cm.
Xiaoheyan Culture 3500-2000 BCE
(c shows pattern on back), height plumed cap, late Post-
12.1 cm. Shijiahe Culture period, Xiajiadian Culture, lower stratum 2100-1300 BCE
height 8.5 cm.
Xiaozhushan Culture, middle stratum 3500-3000 BCE
Fig. 236-238 Unearthed from no. 331 tomb, Xiaotun Courtesy of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia
Xiaozhushan Culture, upper stratum 2500-2000 BCE
Sinica.
III. Lower Yellow River region

Dawenkou Culture 4000-2300 BCE

Shandong Longshan Culture 2300-1800 BCE

After one understands the development of jade culture after 2300 BCE – how the eastern IV. Middle Yellow River region

Wangwan Culture III 2100-1870 BCE

Chinese Shandong and Yangtze-Han regions showed abundant creativity when forging their
Xinchai Culture 1870-1750 BCE
own distinct styles – and then observe how these styles blended in the Central Plains, one will
Erlitou Culture 1800-1520 BCE
realize the meaning of the phrase, “All rivers flow into the sea.”
V. Lower Yangtze region

Hemudu Culture, third stratum 4500-4000 BCE

In the section “Jade and Silk of Ten Thousand Realms” in the General Introduction, I explained
Beiyinyangying Culture 4000-3000 BCE
how some of the jade ritual objects of the Xia dynasty in the Central Plains derived from the
Lingjiatan Culture 3600-3200 BCE
jade dagger-axe blades, jade knives, and jade toothed zhang of western China, while others Xuejiagang Culture 3500-2800 BCE
derived from the “eastern Chinese-style feiya” and “handle-shaped objects” of eastern China. Majiabang Culture 5000-3900 BCE
The “eastern Chinese-style feiya” came primarily from the Shandong Longshan Culture, while Songze Culture 3900-3300 BCE
the “handle-shaped objects” came mostly from the Post-Shijiahe Culture. This may perhaps be Liangzhu Culture 3300-2300 BCE
considered an oversimplification of a much more complex set of developments, but I think it VI. Middle Yangtze region
successfully sums up the overall trend. Post-Shijiahe Culture 2100-1700 BCE

VII. Lingnan region

Shixia Culture 2800-2200 BCE