This work is the first in a three volume series that surveys China's wealth of art, architecture and artefacts from prehistoric times to the 20th century. It investigates the beginnings of the traditions on which much of the art rests, moving from Neolithic and Bronze Age China to the era of the Tang Dynasty around AD 900. The book discusses in detail a wide range of art forms and techniques: porcelain and pottery, lacquer art, religious and secular painting and sculpture, mural painting, monumental sculpture and architecture. It explains the materials and techniques of bronze casting, jade carving, pottery manufacture, and other arts and describes the most important sites, the artefacts that were produced at each one, and the historical interactions between different areas. There is a discussion of the iconography, the technique and the function of every art form. This book should be a valuable resource for both experts and beginners in the field.