Positioning Chinese Archaeology

Nowadays, when we speak of “the world”, it often carries a duality of meaning. On the one hand, there is a system centred around and benchmarked against the West; on the other, a pluralistic system without a fixed centre. If we could utilise the former in positioning Chinese archaeology, it would be necessary to ascertain the corner within which Chinese archaeology resides. Yet if we were to employ the latter, we risk the disorientation that comes with the lack of a standard, though I am inclined to believe that this is the inevitable trend. The reality of Chinese archaeology lies in the tension between these two paradigms. Thus, to position Chinese archaeology, we may first need to address the matter of the reference system.