Early China Series: Divergent Paths
From The Observatory
Date
February 27, 2026
Location
Faculty House, Columbia University
Area
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“Divergent Paths: Ritual, Power, and Collective Action in Liangzhu and Shijiahe”
This talk explores how collective action shaped social complexity in two of early China’s prominent late Neolithic centers: Liangzhu and Shijiahe. Both sites, dating to around 5500 BP, achieved large-scale urbanism and undertook extensive public works, yet they diverged significantly in political organization, ritual practice, and elite infrastructure.
Drawing on recent archaeological findings, I argue that while Liangzhu reflects a model in which elite control and symbolic monopolies were central to power, Shijiahe presents a more decentralized structure characterized by inclusive ritual practices and minimal elite materialization. By analyzing construction methods, labor organization, and ritual distribution, I suggest that collective action could generate contrasting trajectories of governance and social cohesion. These two cases demonstrate the multilinear nature of social development and highlight how ritual and labor mobilization functioned both as instruments of elite authority and as expressions of communal agency.Key Speaker: Liye Xie
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Tang Canter for Early China
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The Tang Center for Early China is dedicated to the advancement of the understanding of the richness and importance of early Chinese civilization as a part of a broader common human heritage. It is committed to doing so through both solid scholarship and broad public outreach.
