What is it about?
K. C. Chang popularized the hypothesis of ancient Chinese shamanism in the 1980s. In his approach, the Neolithic presentational images found in the Neolithic cultures and the animal masks cast on bronze ritual wares of the Shang period are seen as depicting shamanic visions, metamorphoses, or helping spirits. Chang's shamanism theory caused a famous debate in Chinese archaeology.
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Why is it important?
Chang argues that there is strong evidence for the shamanic framework in Chinese Neolithic and Bronze Age materials. However, I question how firmly this cosmological model is actually supported by the archaeological record.
Perspectives
This article does not confine the research only on the yes/no positive way, namely exploring whether the ancient images represent shamanic cosmologies. Rather, it actually explores the anthropological sources in the West and historiographic sources in China. I attempt to show how two different academic traditions are integrated by Chang for his assumption about the formation of the Chinese civilization.
Feng Qu
Liaocheng University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Anthropology and Historiography: A Deconstructive Analysis of K. C. Chang’s Shamanic Approach in Chinese Archaeology, Numen, September 2017, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/15685276-12341478.
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