Li Feng is professor of early Chinese history and archaeology at Columbia University. David Prager Branner is retired as a professor of Chinese at the University of Maryland. The other contributors are Anthony Barbieri-Low, William Boltz, Constance Cook, Lothar von Falkenhausen, David Pankenier, Matthias Richter, Adam Smith, Ken-ichi Takashima , and Robin Yates.

• AcknowledgmentsEarly China ChronologyMap of Important Archaeological SitesIntroduction: Writing as a Phenomenon of Literacy / Li Feng and David Prager BrannerPart One | Origins and the Linguistic Dimension 1. Getting “Right” with Heaven and the Origins of Writing in China / David W. Pankenier2. Literacy and the Emergence of Writing in China / William G. Boltz3. Phonology in the Chinese Script and Its Relationship to Early Chinese Literacy / David Prager BrannerPart Two | Scribal Training and Practice4. Literacy to the South and the East of Anyang in Shang China: Zhengzhou and Daxinzhuang / Ken-ichi Takashima5. The Evidence for Scribal Training at Anyang / Adam Smith6. Textual Identity and the Role of Literacy in the Transmission of Early Chinese Literature / Matthias L. RichterPart Three | Literacy and Social Contexts7. The Royal Audience and Its Reflections in Western Zhou Bronze Inscriptions / Lothar von Falkenhausen8. Literacy and the Social Contexts of Writing in theWestern Zhou / Li Feng9. Education and the Way of the Former Kings / Constance A. CookPart Four | The Extent of Literacy in the Early Empire10. Soldiers, Scribes, and Women: Literacy among the Lower Orders in Early China / Robin D. S. Yates11. Craftsman’s Literacy: Uses of Writing by Male and Female Artisans in Qin and Han China / Anthony J. Barbieri-LowAbbreviationsBibliographyContributorsIndex

". . . elucidate[s] the origins, early development and structure of the Chinese script, but also discuss[es] material aspects, practical uses, and social contexts of writing up to the second century CE. . . . fascinating and carefully edited . . ."