Li Zhang received her PhD from the Department of Archaeology and Museology, Peking University, in 2012. Her research interests include the archaeology and art of early China, and interactions between early China and the other parts of Eurasia.
Her doctoral dissertation, “Social Transformation from the Longshan Period to the Erlitou Period: Songshan and Beyond,” is based on her research of a theretofore little-studied site in the central plains of China. The dissertation analyzes evidence of unique ritual ceremonies and interactions between the central plains and the Northern Zone, all of which is highly intertwined with state formation in China.
When she was a visiting graduate student at UCLA (2009–2010) she conducted research leading to a book chapter “Long-Distance Interactions as Reflected in the Earliest Chinese Bronze Mirrors” (published in 2011, under the name Li Jaang). The chapter is in essence an outline of the interactions between early China and the world beyond. It reveals the steppe’s impact on various Bronze Age societies and how that impact differed from time to time and place to place. Bronze mirrors as a whole are an indicator of the changing nature of the interactions.
Her project in ISAW is to compose a monograph “Wind from the West: Early China and Eurasian Interactions.” The monograph will summarize and systematically analyze the relevant and very complex archaeological materials that have been found all across the vast area of China that are related to interactions with other cultures in Eurasia. Moreover, it will explore the mechanisms of the interactions between different societies in early China with cultures in the steppe and how those interactions varied from society to society and changed over time.