Bulletin

Issue: January/February 2004

Books

Resources help shape early China

La Trobe University senior lecturer in Archaeology, Dr Li Liu, is co-author of a new book, State Formation in Early China, published in Britain by Duckworth.

In this work Dr Li and co-author, Professor Xingcan Chen of the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, challenge traditional theories of state formation in China.

Using an interdisciplinary approach by analysing data from archaeology, geology, cultural geography, ethno-history and ancient texts, the authors show how the procurement of key external resources especially metal and salt drove the dynamics of state formation in early China from 1800-1400 BC.

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