Interpreting Cultural Exchange along China's Northern Frontier in the Third Century BCE

Talk by Xiaolong Wu, Hanover College


Thursday, February 26, 2015
2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
Dodd Hall 161



Focusing on the recently discovered Majiayuan cemetery in Gansu Province, this talk discusses the rich remains in those tombs in the context of contemporaneous finds along China’s Northern Frontier as well as those further west on the Eurasian steppe. The highly mixed and innovative cultural phenomena observable in those finds are analyzed in relation to cultural hybridity and the Post-colonial paradigm, revealing social and economic implications of the cultural exchange between China and its northern pastoral neighbors.

Xiaolong Wu studied Chinese Archaeology at Peking University and received a PhD in Art History from the University of Pittsburgh. He is currently Associate Professor of Art History at Hanover College in Indiana. His research focuses on Chinese art and archaeology of the late Zhou period and is specifically concerned with the role of material culture in the construction of political and cultural identities. His book manuscript titled Material Culture and Political Power in Ancient China: Archaeology and History of the Zhongshan State is currently under the second round of review with Cambridge University Press.


Sponsor(s): Center for Chinese Studies

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