In demanding that humankind be examined not merely in a single manifestation but “in all its variation” (Kluckhohn 1955:320), American anthropology has as one of its main objectives the formulation of true universals that may exist in the process of the evolution of cultures and societies. In this regard one of the major accomplishments of American anthropology is in our understanding of how civilizations arose in the New World as an indigenous and independent process and of how this process both resembles and differs from similar processes in the Old World. An examination of the ancient Chinese civilization serves a similar purpose.

Ancient China is unique for the study of cultural and social evolution, for only in this area of the world do we have at our disposal a combination of several kinds of data that are not available together elsewhere: abundant archaeological material, mostly brought to light in the last thirty to forty years; enormous quantities of textual and inscriptional material left from and pertaining to the earliest Chinese civilizations; and a vast continuum of history from the first civilizations to the present day, which provides us with endless opportunities to apply the methods of ethnoarchaeology and the direct historical approach. From these sources a reasonably complete picture of the beginning of Chinese civilization has now emerged.

Beginning of Chinese civilization

Authentic written records from ancient China begin with the Shang (c. 1750–1100 B.C.) and Zhou (c. 1100–220 B.C.) dynasties, and both dynasties have been archaeologically substantiated (see, e.g., Chang 1980).