China & Inner Asia: Table of Contents
Organizer: David S. Nivison, Stanford University
Chair: John S. Major, Book of the Month Club
Discussants: David S. Nivison, Stanford University; Sarah Allan, Dartmouth College; John Knoblock, University of Miami, Florida; Robert E. Murowchick, Harvard University; David W. Pankenier, Lehigh University; Edward L. Shaughnessy, University of Chicago; Lothar von Falkenhausen, University of California, Los Angeles
In more than two thousand years of historical research there has been no agreement on the dates of dynasties, reigns and major events in China prior to the Gong He Regency (841–828 b.c.). Accordingly, in late 1995 the State Council, People’s Republic of China, inaugurated a multi-disciplinary "Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Project," mobilizing numerous scholars and scientists in the PRC in fields bearing on this problem, such as history, archaeology, and astronomy. The Chinese organizers plan various conferences, and the publication of "Collected Reports," in late 1999. Meanwhile a volume is planned in Beijing for late 1997 presenting the major research throughout the world on the date of the Zhou conquest of Shang. Several of the proposed roundtable participants will be represented (in Chinese) in this book; others are in close touch with the Project.
This roundtable will examine the prospects and rationale of the Project. Matters of fundamental importance are involved, e.g., the cult of the dead, the structures of power, and the nature of the calendar. Some scholars rely primarily on archaeology and site analysis, others on astronomical evidence, others on dated inscriptions; yet others interpose cautions based on art forms. All must watch for errors in their own work. This planned interdisciplinary exchange will promote new insights for the entire field. A resume of roundtable discussions will appear in Early China News. The resume will also be sent to the organizers in Beijing, for possible publication there.