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AN INTERNATIONAL conference on the Mysteries of Ancient China last weekend was told that the established perception of the centrifugal evolution of Chinese civilisation is out of date.

The conference, sponsored by The THES and attended by 200 academics, focused on finds from recent excavations and digs, notably Neolithic ceramics and jades and Bronze Age religious artefacts. They highlight the existence of diverse civilisations, technologies and religions alongside the centralised culture in the Yellow River Valley, traditionally accepted as the dominant culture.

"These are the most important finds for over 20 years," said Patricia Ebrey of the University of Illinois. She said that the finds have major political implications as well as academic relevance. "There are big differences between the Chinese scholars and the Western scholars," she said. "The Chinese have often given a very self-contained story, where a linear cultural evolution fits neatly into today's geographical and political boundaries."

Nicola di Cosmo, of Harvard University's department of East Asian languages and cultures, said: "The conference is very important because it gives legitimacy to the study of independent cultures emerging with their own dynamism in several geographical centres with their own temporal scope."

Professor di Cosmo's paper, "The Bronze Age People of Yujiazhuang and their Neighbours", questioned the traditional perception of 12th to 13th-century bc Northern nomads as "barbarians", and highlighted their influence on wider Chinese culture.

The University of Cologne's Roger Guepper, who initiated the conference, described it as "the most important symposium in our field", giving greater voice to new archeological finds rather than written evidence.