This book examines the organization of specialized salt production at Zhongba, one of the most important prehistoric sites in the Three Gorges of China's Yangzi River valley. Rowan K. Flad demonstrates that salt production emerged in the second millennium BCE and developed into a large-scale, intense activity. As the intensity of this activity increased during the early Bronze Age, production became more coordinated, perhaps by an emergent elite who appear to have supported their position of authority by means of divination and the control of ritual knowledge. This study explores evidence of these changes in ceramics, the layout of space at the site and animal remains. It synthesizes the data retrieved from years of excavation, showing not only the evolution of production methods, but also the emergence of social hierarchy in the Three Gorges region over two millennia.

Examines the organisation of specialised salt production at Zhongba, one of the most important prehistoric sites in China.

The Aobo tu, the 'Illustrated Boiling of Sea Water', was completed and published by Chen Chun in 1334. It is the world's earliest extant work exclusively dealing with salt production and salt production techniques. The first part of this book focuses on the technical, fiscal, administrative, social and economic background of the Aobo tu. It also provides the reader with information on the various editions and related material. This is followed by a complete annotated translation and the reproduction of two different sets of illustrations. By combining research on various aspects of the salt industry during the Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1271-1368) periods, a better understanding of the fiscal and economic importance of this crucial sector can be gained.

This is the world's earliest extant work dealing with the salt industry, providing information on the technical, fiscal, administrative, social and economic background and its editorial history. It includes a complete annotated translation and reproductions of the illustrations.

Ancient Central China provides an up-to-date synthesis of archaeological discoveries in the upper and middle Yangzi River region of China, including the Three Gorges Dam reservoir zone. It focuses on the Late Neolithic (late third millennium BC) through the end of the Bronze Age (late first millennium BC) and considers regional and interregional cultural relationships in light of anthropological models of landscape. Rowan K. Flad and Pochan Chen show that centers and peripheries of political, economic and ritual activities were not coincident, and that politically peripheral regions such as the Three Gorges were crucial hubs in interregional economic networks, particularly related to prehistoric salt production. The book provides detailed discussions of recent archaeological discoveries and data from the Chengdu Plain, Three Gorges and Hubei to illustrate how these various components of regional landscape were configured across Central China.

Applies the 'life history' of objects approach to China's prehistoric, early dynastic and more recent material culture.

Resource competition, mineral scarcity, and economic statecraft -- What are rare earths? -- Salt and oil : strategic parallels -- How China came to dominate the rare earth industry