Abstract
Archaeological finds are of paramount importance for anyone who attempts to understand seriously the formation and development of the civilization of a country. Without evidence provided by the excavated testimony and documents and materials handed down from the past, many historical records can be regarded at best as “traditions.”
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Notes
- 1.
Translation by James Legge. See The Chinese Classics, with a translation, critical and exegetical notes, prolegomena, and copious indexes by James Legge, Vol. 5, Shanghai: East China Normal University Press, 2011, pp. 731. Legge’s transliteration of Chinese characters is all converted to the pinyin system, and his translation is used for all quotations from the Spring and Autumn Annals in this book, except where it is noted otherwise. (translator’s note, henceforth indicated by Yu)
- 2.
Translation by D. C. Lau. See The Analects, translated with an introduction by D. C. Lau, London: Penguin Books, 1979, p. 68. His translation is used for all quotations from The Analects in this book, except where it is noted otherwise. (Yu)
- 3.
Glyn Daniel, The First Civilizations: the Archaeology of Their Origins, New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1968, p. 25. (Yu)
- 4.
Such terms as morphoscopy and the like are Marc Kalinowski’s; see his “Divination and Astrology: received texts and excavated manuscripts,” in China’s Early Empires: A Re-appraisal, ed. Michael Nylan and Michael Loewe, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010, pp. 339–366. (Yu)
- 5.
For discussions of English translation of the term wuxing, refer to The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 1, p. 750; Michael Nylan, “Yin-yang, five phases, and qi,” in China’s Early Empires, p. 398. In this book wuxing is translated mostly into five phases, and sometimes five elements, or five agents, depending on the context in which it is used. (Yu)
- 6.
Translation by Xianyi Yang and Gladys Yang, in Lu Xun, A Brief History of Chinese Fiction, tr. Xianyi Yang and Gladys Yang, Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 2009, p. 12. (Yu)
- 7.
Translation by Anne Birrell, in The Classic of Mountains and Seas, translated with an Introduction and Notes by Anne Birrell, London: Penguin Books, 1999, p. 48. (Yu)
- 8.
Translation is Birrell’s, The Classic of Mountains and Seas, translated with an Introduction and Notes by Anne Birrell, London: Penguin Books, 1999, p. 115. (Yu)
- 9.
Translation by James Robert Hightower, in The Poetry of T’ao Ch’ien, translated with Commentary and Annotation by James Robert Hightower, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970, p. 241. The names of the characters in the book are changed to conform to Birrell’s translation to achieve unity in translation. (Yu)
- 10.
Translation by Birrell, op. cit., p. 141. (Yu)
- 11.
Birrell, op. cit., p. 110. (Yu)
- 12.
Birrell, op. cit., p. 191. (Yu)
- 13.
Chuanming Meng, “Shan hai jing zuozhe jiqi chengshu niandai zhi chongxin kaocha,” Taipei, Zhongguo xueshu niankan, Vol. 15, March 1994, p. 264. (Author’s note; henceforth, all notes provided by the author are unmarked to differentiate them from the notes provided by the translator.)
- 14.
References in translation were made to Joseph Needham, Science and Civilization in China, Vol. 3, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005, pp. 501–502. (Yu)
- 15.
Cf. Yuese Li, Zhongguo kexue jisShi Hu, Vol. 5, Beijing: Science Press, 1976, pp. 12–14.
- 16.
Jiegang Gu, “Qin Han tongyi de youlai he Zhanguo ren duiyu shijie de xiangxiang,” in Gushi bian, Shanghai: Shanghai Classics Publishing House, 1982, p. 8.
- 17.
Zheng Chang, Shan hai jing guankui, Shijiazhuang: Hebei University Press, 1991, p. 32.
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Gan, C. (2019). Archaeological Finds and Origins of Chinese Civilization. In: A Concise Reader of Chinese Culture. China Insights. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8867-5_1
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