Stamps of New China Eastern Zhou Dynasty Bronzes

The State Postal Bureau’s latest set of special stamps for 2003 features Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-256 B,C.) bronzes. This eight-stamp set is the third to feature this type of relic; a set issued in 1964 depicted bronzes from the Yin Dynasty (14th-11th century}, and one featuring Western Zhou Dynasty (11th century-771 B.C.) bronzes was released in 1982.The Eastern Zhou Dynasty followed the Western, and during this period, bronze vessel casting developed remarkably. Artifacts from this period include sacrificial vessels, musical instruments, utensils, weapons and tools.One of these pieces, a rectangular tray decorated with tortoise and fish patterns, dates back to the late Spring and Autumn

Historical Tracing of the Ideological Attribute of “Virtue”

Tracing back to the historical occurrence of“virtue”,it can be found that it originated from political practice and is an effective political technology with strong historical and political attributes.Among the core concepts of Confucianism,such as benevolence,rites,virtue,etc.,virtue should be the earliest to appear.Rites can be regarded as the daily,technical and detailed representation of virtue,while benevolence contains not only all ethical expectations of virtue,but also more complex humanistic information with more explicability.In contrast,“virtue”,with its rich practical color and ancient political experience,appears so simple that when it is regarded as an ideological concept,it is almost covered by the more mature“benevolence”with similar connotation,and overshadowed by richer“rites”.Therefore,virtue is the predecessor of rites and benevolence,which is the historical pedigree of the core concepts of Confucianism.

C and N stable isotope analysis of human and animal bones at the Beiqian site

The Beiqian site,located in Jimo city,Qingdao,went through three archaeological excavations,and a large number of human and animal bones in the Dawenkou culture and the Zhou Dynasty period were unearthed.By carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis,the diet of ancestors is expected to be recovered,and the domesticated plants and animals will be discussed.The investigated results showed that the food structure of ancestors in both periods included food crops,mainly C4 foods,and meat,mainly marine shellfish and livestock.For domestic pigs,they mainly eat C3 plants,and were affected by the lifestyle of ancestors.This study also showed that the diet of ancestors is the shellfish rather than marine fish despite the Beiqian site is located near the shoreline.We can conclude that the diet of ancestors in Dawenkou culture period included millet crops(C4plants),shellfish,marine food,and livestock,representing the lifestyle of farming,domestication,and fishing,supplemented by hunting.In the Zhou dynasty period the meat resource was enriched by domesticated animals and marine fisheries,and the living conditions were significantly improved.

Geographic distribution of archaeological sites and their response to climate and environmental change between 10.0–2.8 ka BP in the Poyang Lake Basin, China

The temporal-spatial geographic distribution of archaeological sites and its feature between 10.0-2.8 ka BP （ka BP= thousands of years before 0 BP, where ＂0 BP＂ is defined as the year AD 1950） were determined, based on GIS spatial analysis in the Poyang Lake Basin. The relationship between geographic distribution of sites of different periods under subsis- tence existence of ancient civilizations, climate and environmental change was investigated. The results revealed numerous archaeological sites of the Neolithic Age （10.0-3.6 ka BP）. The sites were mainly located in the northern part of the Poyang Lake Basin, a hilly and mountainous area with many river terraces suitable for the development of human civilization. The number of archaeological sites rapidly increased during the Shang and Zhou dynasties （3.6-2.8 ka BP） and spread widely on the floodplains of the middle and lower reaches of Ganjiang River and onto the west, south, and southeast beach areas of the Poyang Lake. Holocene records of climate change suggested that it was possible that climate fluctuations had a great impact on human evolution in the study area. Before 3.6 ka BP, westward and northward expansion of Neolithic cultures in the Poyang Lake watershed occurred under the background of climate amelioration （becoming warmer and wetter）. The ancient people lived in the hilly areas with high elevation. The simple mode of a fishing and gathering economy was mostly suited to this area in the early Neolithic Age. The scope of human activities was expanded and cultural diversity developed in the late Neolithic Age. However, with population growth and increasing survival pressure in a dry-cold climatic stage after 3.6 ka BP, this sim-pie living mode had to be abandoned, and various forms of economy, the majority being ag- riculture, were developed on flood plains of the lower reaches of numerous rivers around Poyang Lake. This promoted flourishing of the Bronze culture of South China.