This text discusses Chinese art within a variety of contexts—such as archaeological, cultural, historical, social, and ritual/religious. Organized both chronologically and thematically, it covers a full historical span—from the Neolithic era to contemporary art, and includes a wide range of media and settings for art—from elite to popular. An emphasis on the dynamic processes that effect the history of Chinese art: social, economic, political competition, urbanization, markets and tastes, and quests for cultural authority, allows specific works of art to be discussed in extensive detail, while setting them within larger explanatory narratives.