decorated earthenware bowls (see “Chinese Earthenwares and
Stonewares,” page 196) even before the invention of the potter’s wheel
in the fourth millennium BCE. In the third millennium, the Yangshao
potters of Gansu Province formed by hand and then painted vessels
(FIG. 7-2) of astonishing sophistication. The multiplicity of shapes
suggests that the vessels served a wide variety of functions in daily life,
but most of the finds come from graves. Decoration is in red and
brownish-black on a cream-colored ground. Some pots and bowls in-
clude stylized animal motifs, but most feature abstract designs. The
painters reveal a highly refined aesthetic sensibility, effectively inte-
grating a variety of angular and curvilinear geometric motifs, includ-
ing stripes, zigzags, lozenges, circles, spirals, and waves.
SHANG DYNASTYDuring the past century, archaeologists
have begun to confirm China’s earliest royal dynasties, long thought
to have been mythical. In 1959 excavators found what they believe to
be traces of the Xia (ca. 2000–1600 BCE), China’s oldest dynasty, at
Yanshi in Henan Province. Much better documented, however, is the
Shang dynasty (ca. 1600–1050 BCE), the first great Chinese dynasty of
MAP7-1China during the Tang dynasty.
Kyongju
SokkuramDatong Beijing LelangQianxianLintong JiaxiangXi’an (Chang’an)Luoyang
LongmenYanshiKaifeng (Bianliang)NingboHangzhou
(Lin’an)MawangduiSanxingdui ChengduYingxian
Yungang Mancheng(Yin) AnyangWuwei
JincunDunhuangBay of
BengalBay of
BengalSouth China
SeaSouth China
SeaEast
China
SeaEast
China
SeaYellow
SeaYellow
SeaSea of
JapanSea of
JapanPhilippine
SeaPhilippine
SeaPACIFIC
OCEANPACIFIC
OCEANBrahmaputra
R.M
ek
on
gR
.Chan
gJiangHuangHe(YellowR.)Ya
lu
R.GangesR.Lake
BalkhashXiJiang(Y
angtzeR.)Taklimakan
Desert
Mount
GrMt.Wutai TohameatWallKAZAKHSTANKYRGYZSTANINDIA
BANGLADESHBHUTANMYANMAR
(BURMA)THAILANDLAOS
VIETNAMPHILIPPINESTAIWANCHINA
MONGOLIARUSSIAJAPANSOUTH
KOREANORTH
KOREANE
PA
LNEI MONGOL
(INNER MONGOLIA)
XINJIANGTIBETSICHUANHUNANHENANHEBEI
SHANXI
GANSUMANCHURIASHANDONG0 250 500 miles
2500 500 kilometersTang empire
(618–906)
Korea
Extent of
modern ChinaLand routes of the Silk Road,
courtesy Silk Road Project7-2Yangshao Culture vases, from Gansu Province, China, mid-third
millennium bce.
Neolithic Chinese artists produced vessels of diverse shapes even
before the invention of the potter’s wheel and decorated them with
abstract motifs in red and brownish-black on a cream-colored ground.
182 Chapter 7 CHINA AND KOREA TO 1279