Event: Author Spotlight: Economic Trends in China During the Age of Confucius

The Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press invites you to celebrate the publication of Economic Trends in China During the Age of Confucius (1000–250 BC): The Archaeological Evidence. Join us for a conversation with the book’s author, Professor Lothar von Falkenhausen, as he details the book project and his research. A reception with light refreshments will follow the presentation.

Registration is required. RSVP online

About the book

About the middle of the first millennium BC, continental East Asia saw the rise of a market economy in which a metallic currency was beginning to play an important role. The following centuries were a time of unprecedented economic florescence. Technological innovations and intensification in the rural sector enabled significant demographic growth: the number of cities multiplied, and as their function morphed from élite ceremonial centers to densely populated hubs of mass-production and trade, a new urban culture came into being. Rather than depending on an individual’s descent and kinship, social divisions were now mainly wealth-based, and the pervasive use of writing enabled new intellectual breakthroughs. Complementing relevant textual studies, this book surveys the currently available archaeological evidence of this transformation, tracing its preliminary stages back to the beginning of the first millennium BC and following its development down to the onset of China’s imperial age.

About the Author

Lothar von Falkenhausen is Distinguished Professor of Chinese Archaeology and Art History at UCLA, where he has taught since 1993. His research concerns the archaeology of the Chinese Bronze Age, focusing on large interdisciplinary and historical issues on which archaeological materials can provide significant new information. He has published copiously on musical instruments, including a book, Suspended Music: Chime Bells in the Culture of Bronze Age China (1993). His book Chinese Society in the Age of Confucius (1000-250 BC): The Archaeological Evidence (2006) received the Society for American Archaeology Book Award. Falkenhausen was co-Principal Investigator of an international archaeological project on ancient salt production in the Yangzi River basin (1999-2004) and is presently serving as Instructor of Record of the International Archaeological Field School at Yangguanzhai (2010–). He was Associate Director of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA from 2004 to 2014.