Identity Construction And Cultural Identity

Jade is a representative artifact of the Liangzhu Culture,and there are about 500 jade burials published to date.As an important link in the social relations of Liangzhu Culture,jade vessels of Liangzhu also play an important role in constructing and maintaining the identity of local people and gathering cultural consensus.Combining the newly published excavation materials of Liangzhu Culture,especially the superimposed and breaking relationships and the evolutionary trends of major pottery in typical sites:Liangzhu Culture can be optimally adjusted to three phases including six stages.As a result,the stage characteristics of Liangzhu jade can be grasped.From the situation of jade types,quantities and locations of each phase,Liangzhu jade has formed a fixed combination including ritual jade,decorative jade and end ornaments with the main artifacts in early Liangzhu Culture.This jade tradition was inherited by the late Liangzhu Culture,showing a more stable style of jade use.The early Liangzhu culture formed a new decorative custom and fashion represented by conical jade as head ornaments(waist ornaments),neck ornaments represented by jade beads and jade tubes,and ceremonial ornaments represented by "Cong"(small Cong),crown ornaments and trident-shaped ware,which is obviously different from ornament tradition with in Songze Culture.Thus.the early Liangzhu people constructed a new cultural identity based on the innovative adoption for usage of jade,and this cultural identity was inherited and maintained in the middle and late Liangzhu Culture.In addition,Liangzhu people distinguish the internal members of society into different positions based on jade rites and the number of jade,and then identify the political(hierarchical)identity of Liangzhu people.The above jade style and jade norms were generally accepted in various regions and periods of Liangzhu Culture,they coalesce to form a cultural consensus among the Liangzhu people.The identification and maintenance for "identity" and "culture" shared by the regional people is an important basis for the emergence of "state" in Liangzhu Culture.Although Liangzhu culture had foreign exchanges and spread,other regions always identified their group identity with their own pottery rituals or jade vessels.A comparative study shows that jade has also become a material curier to construct the identity of self-group and distinguish the identity of others.