An Archaeological Study of Early Chinese Cities

Abstract

This paper discusses the emergence and development of early Chinese cities through archaeological data. It begins with the analysis of the appearance and development of prehistoric settlement in China and moves to compare capital and provincial cities of Xia, Shang, and Western Zhou periods. Then it completes with the discussion of the archaeological data of urban sites from the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. It is possible to understand the major trends in the change and development of early Chinese cities in three phases. First settled villages appeared about 10,000 years ago together with the Neolithic culture of agriculture and pottery production, and gradually became more formalized and extended in time. In late Neolithic period of Longshan culture, walled settlements were constructed to house a few thousand inhabitants; thus this period may be considered to be at the threshold of early Chinese urban development. Cities were firmly established during Shang and Western Zhou periods. Capital and provincial cities were built all over in major areas of China as foci of political, religious, and military activities. Monumental building of palaces and temples were constructed on the rammed-earth foundation at the center of a walled city. The majority of city residents are related in kinship, agriculture was the main basis of the their subsistence economy, and the full-time craft production was conducted in small-scale in order to cater mostly the ruling elite of the city. In the following periods of Spring and Autumn and Warring States, a huge number of cities were. constructed and the formal layout of a city was established in the process of a rapid and large-scale urbanization. A most typical city consisted of a walled palace (cheng) of the ruling family and a residential area (guo) for the remaining people. The economic function of the city was rapidly expanded to accommodate active commerce, trade, and craft production, and the market as an essential component of a city became the center of economic exchange and social activities. The city of this period evolved into a non-kinship based social institution, a full-fledged urban space, that included inhabitants of various social statuses and occupations.