Materiality and Divine Construction of Liangzhu Jade Artifacts—An Aesthetic Path from Mineralogy to Sensory Anthropology

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-611-6_129How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Liangzhu jade artifacts; Materiality; Divine construction; Tremolite; Sensory anthropology; Material aesthetics; Cross-civilizational comparison

Abstract

The jade ritual object system of the Liangzhu Culture, with tremolite jade (nephrite) as its core material, is the prehistoric source of the Chinese civilization’s aesthetic tradition of “using jade to convey the Dao”. This article uses the theory of material agency and sensory anthropology as the methodological framework, combined with mineralogical evidence and archaeological studies, to systematically analyze how the physical properties of Liangzhu jade, such as structure, luster, hardness, hardness, acoustic qualities, and durability, are transformed through the multi-sensory perception of the ancient people into divine symbols such as the power of the sun god, eternity, divine communication, and the immortal soul. It reveals the two-way construction mechanism of “materiality - divinity”, that is, the material properties of jade support sacred concepts, and sacred concepts, in turn, regulate the selection of materials, craftsmanship, and ritual practices. Through cross-civilizational comparison with the selection logic of sacred objects in ancient Egypt, Sumer, and the Indus Valley Civilization, this study clarifies the uniqueness of the aesthetic paradigm of Liangzhu jade artifacts. This paradigm is characterized by starting from warm and restrained material perception, taking the use of objects to communicate with the divine as its core, and aiming at ritual order and social harmony. Thus, it forms an Eastern jade civilization path that is distinct from the Western “precious metal + gemstone” sacred system. This research provides an empirical path for early Chinese aesthetics from “material perception” to “divine construction”, promotes the expansion of “material aesthetics” in prehistoric art research, and offers a new perspective for understanding the origin of the aesthetic genes of Chinese civilization.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Qi Chen
AU  - Ping Li
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/07
TI  - Materiality and Divine Construction of Liangzhu Jade Artifacts—An Aesthetic Path from Mineralogy to Sensory Anthropology
BT  - Proceedings of the 2026 12th International Conference on Digital Humanities and Frontiers in Social Sciences (DHFSS 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 1206
EP  - 1217
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-611-6_129
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-611-6_129
ID  - Chen2026
ER  -