CHINA ARQUEOLOGIA golden-age-chinese-archayeolog

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Jade cong
Height 10 (3 7s), exterior diam. 8.4 cm (3 3 /s),
interior diam. 6.6 (2 5 A)
Liangzhu Culture, c. 3200-2000 BCE
From Fanshan, Yuhang, Zhejiang Province
Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Archaeology,
Hangzhou
Of all the diverse jade objects associated with the
Liangzhu culture, the cong displays the most complex
form: a cylindrical tube encased in a square
prism that gently tapers from top to bottom, usually
divided into evenly spaced tiers by horizontal
grooves. Cong vary in size, from short examples with
one or two tiers to large, pillarlike examples that
stand as high as 30 centimeters tall with as many as
fifteen tiers. 1 Their projecting collars span a range
of thickness and rotundity, and their corners are
variously rounded or sharply angled. Each of the
four corners is generally decorated with a face
motif sculpted in low relief or engraved in fine lines;
these motifs range from simple masks comprising
only circular eyes and a bar-shaped mouth to complex
faces with intricate scrollwork. Most cong have
a glossy finish; finely polished examples may be
quite lustrous.
The function and meaning of cong remain enigmatic.
Centuries of speculation have focused on
theories proposed in Late Zhou and Han texts that
postdate the Liangzhu culture by two or three thousand
years and are for that reason irrelevant to
how these objects were used in Neolithic times.
(The term cong itself derives from texts of the Late
Zhou period and, though descriptively useful, is
archaeologically meaningless.) In recent years
some scholars have attempted to relate the cong
to totemism and shamanism by applying Western
anthropological theories to the study of jades; 2
others warn that such analogies should be treated
with great caution. 3
Given their impressive size and weight, most
cong could not have been worn as personal ornaments.
Their discovery in predominantly large,
lavishly furnished tombs suggests that cong probably
signified wealth and privileged social status.
However, they may have served other functions as
well. In a tomb at Sidun, Jiangsu province, numerous
cong lay in a circle around the tomb occupant,
suggesting that they had been arranged for a
specific religious or ritual purpose. 4
The recurring motif of superimposed faces, as
seen on this cong, 5 probably grew out of an image
combining a human figure with a monster's face, of
which the decoration on a cong recently unearthed
at Fanshan, Yuhang, Zhejiang province, provides a
detailed example. 6 The upper part of the image
seems to represent a human figure wearing a fanshaped
feather headdress. A band of incised angular
spirals encircles its trapezoidal face; two pairs of
concentric circles and two superimposed rectangles
121 LIANCZHU CULTURE