Page 539 - The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology: Celebrated Discoveries from the People’s Republic of China

expanding and then contracting. Because of the interactions and influences between the Chu
culture and other cultures, its characteristics altered from one phase of its history to another.
One constant of Chu culture, in fact, was continuous change in every phase and every
geographical district. 4
The geography of the Chu culture exemplifies its fluidity. The large distribution of archae-
ological remains that bear Chu traits does not completely match the area traditionally associ-
ated with Chu territory. In the beginning, the community of Chu inhabitants was presumably
one of many communities that had features in common with others over a wide area. But after
its indigenous growth and development, the Chu began to influence other cultures — and to a
greater extent than they influenced the Chu. Therefore, the individual traditions that at one
point or another likely characterized several coexisting communities or kingdoms (such as the
states of Cai, Zeng, or Sui) diminished in strength to become secondary characteristics because
of the dominant influence of Chu. As a result, they were incorporated into the greater cultural
sphere of Chu. From this analysis, the archaeological Chu culture can be understood to encom-
pass both a narrow and a broad definition. The narrow definition is limited to remains found
only within the Chu domain, that is, the Chu culture generally known today. The broad defini-
tion encompasses the remains that exhibit significant Chu characteristics beyond political or
temporal boundaries.

Prior to World War II, the properties of an archaeological culture were defined as a group
of coexisting artifacts (as well as residential sites and tomb burials) exhibiting common charac-
teristics. During the 19605, international scholarship began to incorporate concepts of anthro-
pology into archaeology, drawing in the material (or technological), the social, and the spiritual
aspects of the culture. In China, beginning in the late 19505, the study of social structure was
added to this list. The end of the 19805 brought the notion of "cultural concept" into the study
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of Chu culture. In that context the study of "culture " in archaeology has grown close to meth-
ods used by historians and anthropologists. In 1995, Hubei Education Publishing issued a land-
mark, eighteen-volume work on Chu culture, Chuxue wenku (The Chu study series), a publication
that treats three aspects of Chu culture — material, social, and philosophical. Since many
scholars have acknowledged the broad scope of Chu culture, this publication should encourage
and make available more comprehensive studies.

TWO MAI N COMPONENT S IN THE FORMATIO N OF CHU CULTUR E
Ancient texts contain abundant references to the origin and enfeoffment of Chu ancestors,
as well as to the geographical location of the earliest Chu domain. Early historical texts of the
Warring States period (475-221 BCE), identify the "first ancestor" of the Chu as a member of the
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Zhurong clan residing in the south. Two sections of the Classic of Poetry contain a narrative by
a Shang descendant describing a community of Chu people during the reign of King Wu Ding

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