ASIAN 104 : THE ORIGINS OF
CIVILIZATION IN CHINA
Robin McNeal
340 Rockefeller Hall
255-3162
Email: rm253@cornell.edu
Office hours: Wednesdays 10:00 – 11:00 AM
Thursdays 11:30 AM- 12:30 PM
This class will examine archaeological research and scholarly writing concerning the
origins of civilization in China, including the emergence of the state; the origins of
writing; ritual, religious and mortuary practices; comparative studies of early
civilizations; and the existence of competing centers of civilization in what is now China.
Our focus will be on archaeological theories and archaeologically discovered materials,
but we will examine such related disciplines as art history, history, and paleography.
Students will pay attention to how arguments are constructed within these fields, and
what styles of writing are most commonly employed, but our goal for writing, more
generally, will be to focus attention on how to write solid academic papers for all
undergraduate courses in the humanities and social sciences.
Textbooks:
Li Liu and Xingcan Chen, State Formation in Early China
Norman Yoffee, Myths of the Archaic State
Lothar von Falkenhausen, Chinese Society in the Age of Confucius
K. C. Chang, Art, Myth and Ritual: The Path to Political Authority in Ancient China
Additional readings:
There are many other assigned readings for the course. Some are available through the
database JSTOR or other online datatbases, to which Cornell has a subscription and to
which all Cornell students have access. Additional readings will be provided on the
course website or as handouts in class.
Students are expected to read and take careful notes on the materials for each class
session, and come to class ready to discuss these readings. Related to this, students are
required to keep a reading journal for the course, to be discussed in more detail in class.
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All written work for this course should conform to standard academic practices of
citation and format. Please avoid unusual fonts or layouts. As always, keep in mind that
plagiarism is a serious offense and will not be tolerated. If students have any questions or
concerns about proper citation and use of sources, please see me in advance.
Grades:
There will be 6 papers handed in during the semester. Each counts for 10% of the grade.
There will be regular weekly assignments, which all together will account for another
10% of the grade. The remaining 30% will reflect your regular participation in the class
(this IS a seminar, after all), which will in part be measured by your reading journal,
which I will collect a couple of times during the semester.
WEEKLY CLASS PLAN
Refer to Reading Assignments posted on the website for more details

Week 1
Tuesday January 22 and Thursday January 24
Introduction, course particulars, and problems of the course

Week 2
Tuesday January 29 and Thursday January 31
Civilization, Sages, and the Late Neolithic in China
Paper #1 due in class Tuesday 1/29/08

Week 3
Tuesday February 5 and Thursday February 7
The Bronze Age and the Xia (?)

Week 4
Tuesday February 12 and Thursday February 14
The Shang and the role of violence in early states
Paper #2 due in class Thursday, 2/14/08
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
Week 5
Tuesday February 19 and Thursday February 21
The Meaning of Shang Bronzes

Week 6
Tuesday February 26 and Thursday February 28
Western Zhou and Ritual

Week 7
Tuesday March 4 and Thursday March 6
Mortuary Practices
Paper #3 due in class Tuesday, 3/4/08

Week 8
Tuesday March 11 and Thursday March 13
Multi-State system and spread of Zhou culture
FALL BREAK

Week 9
Tuesday March 25 and Thursday March 27
The Spring and Autumn Period and Urbanism
Paper #4 due in class Thursday, 3/27/08

Week 10
Tuesday April 1 and April 3
The Writing System

Week 11
Tuesday April 8 and Thursday April 10
Peripheries: Sanxingdui
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
Week 12
Thursday April 17
Peripheries: Jiangxi
NOTE: NO CLASS TUESDAY APRIL 15TH!
Paper #5 due in class Thursday, 4/17/08

Week 13
Tuesday April 22 and Thursday April 24
Peripheries: Hunan

Week 14
Tuesday April 29 and Thursday May 1
The Warring States era and the establishment of empire
Paper #6 due in class Thursday, 5/1/08
***
Together with all the members of this Department, I respect and uphold University
policies and regulations pertaining to racial or ethnic discrimination, sexual harassment,
assistance available to handicapped, visually and/or hearing impaired students, the
observance of religious holidays, and plagiarism. All students are advised to become
familiar with the respective University regulations and are encouraged to bring any
questions or concerns to my attention.
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