Ancient Central China Centers and Peripheries along the Yangzi River

"Provocatively using the term 'Central China' for eastern Sichuan, Chongqing, Hubei, and Hunan, the authors bring to the fore the crucial role of the Three Gorges, a periphery that has been overlooked in most historical and archaeological studies. Their multifaceted approach completely reshapes our understanding of early southwest Chinese cultures." - Alain Thote, Directeur d'etudes, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris "This splendid book offers new theoretical insights and substantive evidence that transforms our understanding of the emergence of China's antiquity in the heartlands of its earliest cultural complexity. With expertise and style, the authors implicate environmental conditions, political developments, economic processes, and the role of religious rituals in the cultural landscape in the emergence of China's ancient civilization." -C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky, Harvard University "Ancient Central China provides the first ever comprehensive survey of the region in question by integrating multiple, overlapping topographies of natural environment, research history, political narrative, archaeological culture, economic activity, and ritual performance. It presents a cogent case of dynamic relationship between center and periphery. A must-read for anyone interested in ancient China, and a very valuable contribution to world archaeology." -Jay Xu, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco "In Ancient Central China, Flad and Chen create a data-rich and theoretically significant volume that presents a compelling contemporary synthesis for this fascinating region. A case study replete with plentiful and well-elucidated local knowledge, couched within a broad comparative perspective, the volume offers significant new insight into the development of political complexity, social and ritual identity, and the nature of interregional entanglements." - Tina Thurston, University at Buffalo, State University of New York