Background
Kwang-chih Chang was born on April 15, 1931, in Peiping (now Beijing), China. He was the son of Chang Wo-chun and Lo Hsin-hsiang.
No. 1, Section 4, Roosevelt Rd, Da’an District, Taipei City, Taiwan 10617
In 1950, Kwang-chih Chang entered National Taiwan University, and then, in 1954, he received a Bachelor of Arts.
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
In 1960, Kwang-chih Chang received a Doctor of Philosophy from Harvard University.
(K. C. Chang approaches the civilization of ancient China ...)
K. C. Chang approaches the civilization of ancient China from the point of view of an anthropologist as well as from an archaeological perspective. He brings to bear on his subject familiarity with the Chinese materials and with the related data essential to placing the Chinese experience in context.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0674219996/?tag=2022091-20
1976
(In the first edition of this book, published in 1963, the...)
In the first edition of this book, published in 1963, the author presented a theory of the development of human culture in China during the late prehistoric and early historic periods. He postulated a continuous cultural development in the so-called Nuclear Area of north-central China, which ultimately spread out in all directions, and reconstructed the cultural growth of early China and its surrounding regions during the period extending from the Middle Pleistocene to the founding of the Ch'in Dynasty in 221 B.C. New archaeological data from China between 1963 and 1966 confirmed and strengthened Chang's theory at many points, and in this thoroughly revised and up-to-date edition the author presented his updated thinking on the ancient Chinese cultural development as well as added a wealth of new material and additional illustrations.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300021445/?tag=2022091-20
1977
(Leading scholar K. C. Chang challenges long-standing conc...)
Leading scholar K. C. Chang challenges long-standing conceptions of the rise of political authority in ancient China. This strikingly illustrated book is a persuasive demonstration of the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to the study of early civilizations.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004C453JI/?tag=2022091-20
1983
(Paleolithic sites from one million years ago, Neolithic s...)
Paleolithic sites from one million years ago, Neolithic sites with extraordinary jade and ceramic artifacts, excavated tombs and palaces of the Shang and Zhou dynasties―all these are part of the archaeological riches of China. This magnificent book surveys China’s archaeological remains and in the process rewrites the early history of the world’s most enduring civilization.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300093829/?tag=2022091-20
2002
Kwang-chih Chang was born on April 15, 1931, in Peiping (now Beijing), China. He was the son of Chang Wo-chun and Lo Hsin-hsiang.
In 1950, Kwang-chih Chang entered National Taiwan University, and then, in 1954, he received a Bachelor of Arts. In 1960, he received a Doctor of Philosophy from Harvard University.
Kwang-Chih Chang taught at both Yale University and Harvard from 1961 to 1977. After first teaching at Yale and chairing its Department of Anthropology, he returned to Harvard in 1977, where he also chaired the Department of Anthropology, and in 1984 he was named the John E. Hudson Professor of Archaeology at Harvard.
Little in the study of early China was alien to Kwang-Chih Chang, and there is probably cultural significance as he placed the archaeological evidence in fuller anthropological perspective. He wrote, for example, on such topics as the origins of Chinese culture (both Neolithic and Bronze Age), early man, carbon-14 dating and chronology, ceramic horizons, Neolithic jades, the origins of agriculture, settlement archaeology (a field he helped establish, starting with the 1968 volume he edited), the circum-Pacific culture area, trade, bronze inscriptions and motifs, food and food vessels, state formation, urbanism and capitals, the nature of early Chinese kingship, shamanism, myth and ritual, temple names, lineage systems, the archaeology of Chu, the comparative study of ancient civilizations, and archaeological theory.
A sampling of his books alone suggests the great contributions K.C. Chang made to the field. First and foremost were the four editions of The Archaeology of Ancient China that he produced. These volumes, crammed with information and each indispensable when it appeared, descriptions of the Chinese Neolithic and early Bronze Ages, but they also provided revised analytical structures as K.C. took account of the flood of new excavation reports that started to appear toward the end of the Cultural Revolution.
(Paleolithic sites from one million years ago, Neolithic s...)
2002(In the first edition of this book, published in 1963, the...)
1977(Leading scholar K. C. Chang challenges long-standing conc...)
1983(K. C. Chang approaches the civilization of ancient China ...)
1976Chang believes Chinese archaeology in current scholarly literature often associates itself unilaterally with technology or the fine Arts.
In 1979 Chang became a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences. From 1994 to 1996, he served as a Vice-President of the Academia Sinica in Taiwan.
Chang was a student of many of the giants in the fields of archaeology, anthropology, and ethnology, and he in turn trained multiple generations of students who carry forward both his research interests and his love for teaching.
Kwang-chih Chang was married to Li Hwei. They had two children.