Jade material has a long tradition in China to symbolize the composure
found within a gentleman who conducts with virtue. Confucius said that
jade recomposes the mind and soul by its very symbolic nature. The
elties in China's neolithic past were the ones whom first introduced
jade fineries as a high culture to China. Their artisans worked jade
material to design and create jade articles whose forms are still
popularly recognized as the ritual objects and fixtures of Chinese
social customs and culture.
The distributive epicenter of these objects was discovered to be on the
east coast of China and particularly on the
lower stretches of the
Yangtze river where close to 90 percent of the objects were found. The
ones discovered within the western hinterlands of China were diminished
in size and proportion.
Of the objects found within the neolithic of China, there are three
recurrent forms found over a range covering roughly half the current
area within China. These forms are known today as the bi disk, the cong
tube, and the yazhang tablet.
The bi disk is what you saw during the 2008 olympics which was held in
China. On the back of each medal that was awarded the top athletes a
jade bi was adfixed. Used as decor they represent wealth and influence
and in the athlete's case they represented the prestige they earned.
The cong tube was used by Chinese since ancient times to worship and
communicate with the spiritual foundation of the cosmos. Its lasting
influence is conveyed within the urns Chinese use to place incense
sticks as part of the offerings presented in the annual ceremonies which
honor their deceased ancestors
The yazhang tablet is a ceremonial object which presented symbolic value
of officialdom and were plaques of recognition carried by state
officials running the empire of China.
Fu Hao, a woman general who lived during the Shang dynasty period, had a
burial filled with the aforementioned objects of value. Her tomb thus
captures the essence of Chinese culture, during the Shang dynasty, which
had continuity which began during the neolithic age of China where
Liangzhu culture and civilization once presided over half its current
territory.
The floor level housed the royal corpse and most of the utensils and
implements buried with her. Rare Jade artifacts, such as those of the
Liangzhu culture, were probably collected by Fu Hao as antiques and
while some of the bronze artifacts were probably used by the lady and
her household others inscribed with her posthumous name of Mu Xin were
undoubtedly cast as grave goods.[6] The artifacts unearthed within the
grave consisted of:
755 jade objects (including Longshan, Liangzhu, Hongshan and Shijiahe cultural artifacts)[7]
564 bone objects (including 500 hairpins and 20 arrowheads)
468 bronze objects, including over 200 ritual bronze vessels,[8] 130
weapons, 23 bells, 27 knives, 4 mirrors, and 4 tiger statues.[9]
63 stone objects
11 pottery objects
5 ivory objects
6,900 cowry shells (used as currency during the Shang Dynasty)
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As you can see no objects pertaining to the Yangshao were discovered.
Edited by theSinitic - 09-Jun-2014 at 03:28