Art & Art History

Yan Sun received her bachelor’s degree from the Department of Archaeology at the Peking University (1994) in Beijing, China and a doctoral degree on Chinese Art History from the Department of History of Art and Architecture at the University of Pittsburgh (2001). Her research primarily focuses on the rise of regional bronze cultures in north China and the interplay between material culture, social identities and power during the late Shang and Western Zhou period (late 2^nd millennium-late 8^th c. BCE). Her major publications include “Bronzes, Mortuary Practice and Political Strategies of the Yan in North China” (2003); “Colonizing China’s Northern Frontier: Yan and Her Neighbors during the early Western Zhou period” (2006); “Cultural and Political Control in North China: Style and Use of the Bronzes of the Yan at Liulihe during the Early Western Zhou Period” (2006); “The Source and Spatial Distribution of Bronzes from Hanzhong and Their Cultural Implications” (in Chinese and English) (2011); “Material Culture and Social Identities in Western Zhou’s Frontier: Case Studies of the Yu and Peng Lineages”; Gender and Chinese Archaeology (co-edited with Katheryn M. Linduff) (2004); and Chinese English bilingual catalogues and a research volume Shang date Bronzes from Hanzhong (2006) and Bronzes from Northern Shaanxi (2009) (co-ed. with Cao Wei). She teaches courses on Asian Art, Arts of China, Early Chinese Art and Culture and Chinese Painting.