Ancient Chinese Tombs, Their Treasures, and China Today

The Manchester China Institute (MCI)promotes excellence in China studies at the University of Manchester. MCI hosts in-person talks, workshops, and roundtables, and well as webinars with a global reach. Our public events are free and open to all. The University of Manchester is committed to academic independence and thefreedom of speech. The views speakers present are entirely their own, and do not represent those of the University of Manchester or the Manchester China Institute and its directors.

Manchester China Institute

In this in-person talk, Dame Jessica Rawson explores ancient Chinese tombs, their treasures, and relevance in today's China.

Historic Reading Room, John Rylands Research Library and Institute

Drawing from Professor Jessica Rawson's new book Life and Afterlife in Ancient China, Professor Rawson will discuss the significance of China's ancient early tombs which built a major architectural tradition from 3000 BC to the 19th century, an unrivaled source of information on the wider political and social contexts, illustrating important parallels with the modern Chinese state and society.This event is part of a new Chinese Culture Lecture Series organised by the Manchester China Institute and Manchester Museum, also marking the opening of the new China Culture Gallery at the Manchester Museum.

About the SpeakerProfessor Jessica Rawson is a Research Associate at the University of Oxford School of Archeology. She was Merton’s first female Warden, serving for 16 years from 1994 to 2010 and also Pro Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford from 2006 to 2011. Jessica was appointed Professor of Chinese Art and Archaeology at Oxford in 2000. She has since supervised the theses of a large number of graduate students. Professor Rawson is also an Honorary Professor at Peking University and the China Academy of Art, Hangzhou. She read History at the University of Cambridge and then went on to the University of London, where she completed a further degree in Chinese Language and Literature. She began her career in the Civil Service as Assistant Principal at the Ministry of Health, before going on to the British Museum to serve over the years 1968-1994 as Assistant Keeper, Deputy Keeper, and finally, Keeper of the Department of Oriental Antiquities.Selected Publications<ul><li>Chinese jade from the Neolithic to the Qing, London: British Museum Press, 1995.</li><li>Mysteries of Ancient China, London: British Museum Press, 1996.</li><li>&quot;Ancient Chinese rituals as seen in the material record&quot;, in J. Laidlaw and J. McDermott (eds), Court and State rituals in China, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1999, 20-49.</li><li>&quot;Western Zhou archaeology&quot;, in M. Loewe and E. Shaughnessy (eds), The Cambridge History of Ancient China, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1999, 352-449.</li><li>&quot;Cosmological Systems as Sources of Art, Ornament and Design&quot;, Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, no. 72 (2000), pp. 133-189.</li><li>With Evelyn Rawski (ed.), China: The Three Emperors 1662-1795, London 2005.</li><li>The British Museum Book of Chinese Art (2 ed.),British Museum Press, 2007.</li><li>&quot;Miniature Bronzes from Western Zhou tombs at Baoji in Shaanxi Province&quot;, Radiance between Bronzes and Jades—Archaeology, Art and Culture of the Shang and Zhou Dynasties. Taipei: Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica. 2013. pp. 23–66.</li><li>&quot;Ordering the exotic: ritual practices in the Late Western and Early Eastern Zhou&quot;, Artibus Asiae. 73 (1): 5–76, 2013.</li><li>&quot;Shimao and Erlitou: new perspectives on the origins of the bronze industry in central China&quot;, Antiquity, 91 (335), 2017.</li></ul>

Ancient Chinese Tombs, Their Treasures, and China Today

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