Analyzation of Prestige Goods article

            
            
             In the main article I am critiquing, the writer Li Liu argues that political and economic changes in the stages of early China from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age, were subsequently linked with the rise of state societies through specialized product making that led to the prestige of some members of society. Liu supports this by answering many questions about production change throughout, and also distribution at the time. The time period that Liu concentrates on are the Neolithic, Erlitou, and Early Shang periods. He basically goes through all of the changes in production of goods, and explains why they change these eras and why they are paralleled with each other. While reading this article/journal, I find myself agreeing with Liu. I've always believed that economy (in this case, the production and distribution changes of prestige goods) has led to affect other things in a culture including politics and social status. .
             During Liu's argument, he states that there is a rift between what anthropologists think this impact really did. Some anthropologists believe that Erlitou was already a state, and therefore the culture that evolved involving prestige goods couldn't have formed states later on if it had already occurred. The other side (which is the one that Liu and I are on) believes that the Erlitou era was at a pre-state level. One major fact that is on our side in this debate is the fact that there is a lack of evidence of what the government/social standing (whether state or not) actually consisted of. There is also always the argument of what a state really is and what it is defined by. One thing that caught my eye while reading this was the note Liu made about the lack of dating and data there was about all of the artifacts (primarily jades) involved and studied. Liu had to personally divide all of the artifacts he found into their specific regions and time periods. When he uses these methods, he is making a strong statement about the debates made before him, and is ensuring that his argument is more concretely backed up and believable.