Liangzhu culture and its challenges to traditional narratives of civilization emergence in China

Since its discovery, the Liangzhu Culture amazed the public with its unprecedentedly levels of development rivaling most of its contemporaneous and postdating Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age cultures in the world. Yet, this culture has also puzzled scholars as its achievements were notably made in absence of two primary traditional presumptions of civilization emergence: writing and metallurgy. Through a review of existing archeological scholarship, this paper begins with exploring alternative pathways that the Liangzhu Culture might have pursued in its emergence and early state formation process, primarily the strategy of religious or ideological manipulation. Then, the paper proposes a novel idea that Liangzhu expansions into northern China was accompanied by an exportation of the Liangzhu model of early state formation, leading to the emergence of proto-states pertinent to the Longshan Culture. Finally, this paper analyses how the Liangzhu model of civilization emergence and its exportation northwards challenges traditional narratives of civilization emergence in China.