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East Asian Civilization
By the Early Holocene (9600–6200 B.C.E.), over 35 human settlements are
documented by archaeologists across northern China, Korea, and Japan. By
2000 B.C.E., Japanese communities are exchanging local goods across the
island, something not seen in China at the time, but meanwhile in China, evi-
dence of status differences—perhaps between chief-like figures or shamans and
ordinary people—is showing up in burials such as at Dawenkou where high-
ranking villagers were sent off with elaborate ceramics and jade items, clasping
tusks from water deer.
The first site that might be identified as a “state” is an archaeological site
known as Erlitou, actually a cluster of sites that include Erlitou itself as the pri-
mary center, three secondary centers, five large villages, and many small villages
(Barnes 2015:191). What gave Erlitou the advantage over other settlements in
the early second millennium? Probably the development of bronze vessel cast-
ing, made possible by technology imported from the steppes and by deposits of
copper, lead, and zinc in nearby mountains. Erlitou is thought by many scholars
to be the capital of the earliest Chinese dynasty known from ancient texts (and
sometimes thought to be mythic): the Xia.
Archaeologists tend to identify states by evidence of social stratification,
usually found in elite houses and burials, while others look for evidence of
administration, that is, something beyond domestic units. But the ancient texts
of China and Korea identify a state as a place where a chief or king is
ensconced within walls. Ancient walled cities did indeed denote fortified cen-
ters of power and authority; they also implied the power of a strongman who
could mobilize the labor needed to construct such a wall.
The small settlements of Korea and Japan interacted with those of China
over the next centuries, and by Western Zhou dynasty times (1046–771 B.C.E.)
rice had been introduced to Korea, and Zhou coins and swords found their way
to Korea and Japan. Japan was inaccessible enough that it could escape the
growing impact of the Han Dynasty military, but Japanese chieftains were
drawn into the tribute system that rewarded them with exotic gifts like polished
mirrors and swords. Korea was closer and more vulnerable: by 108 B.C.E. Chi-
nese military outposts were set up in northern Korea in the region of modern
Pyongyang and more northern areas. Thus, Chinese influence grew more pow-
erful along a number of lines.
And, moving forward, by the eighth century C.E., an “East Asian civiliza-
tion” had emerged based on a shared religion (Buddhism), a shared state phi-
losophy (Confucianism), and a shared bureaucratic structure founded on