Cultural heritage | search for lost memories and rebuild national self-confidence

In order to respond to the call of General Secretary Xi Jinping, we should build archaeology with Chinese characteristics, Chinese style and Chinese style, display the arduous course and brilliant achievements of Qinghai archaeology since the founding of the People's Republic of China, carry forward the broad and profound Chinese civilization, and promote the popularization and dissemination of archaeological knowledge. Under the guidance of the Department of Culture and Tourism of Qinghai Province and the Cultural Relics Bureau of Qinghai Province, the Qinghai Provincial Museum and the Qinghai Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology jointly held the Qinghai Archaeological Achievements Exhibition, which reviewed and summarized the archaeological achievements of Qinghai with the eight typical sites excavated in Qinghai over the years as the main content. Today's program allows us to understand through the exhibition of Qinghai archaeological achievements what kind of role and what kind of glorious history Qinghai, located in the land of the West, has played in the process of the Chinese nation's 5,000 years of civilization.

Qinghai is located in the land of the west, is the source of the Three Rivers, east of the Yangtze River, the Yellow River two major basin hinterland, west through the western region, south of Shu Tibet, north of the Hexi Corridor, Mongolia Plateau, is the link between the southwest, northwest and east central regions. More than 20 ethnic groups, such as Qiang, Xiongnu, Yueshi, Xianbei, Hui, and Tubo, have flourished in this hot land. Diverse natural environments, different economic forms, rich ethnic structures, and various cultural factors converge here, leaving more than 6,000 brilliant cultural relics.

With the opportunity of the 100th anniversary of the birth of modern Chinese archaeology, the "Qinghai Archaeological Achievements Exhibition" came into being, telling the story of Qinghai with cultural relics and displaying the fruitful achievements of Qinghai archaeology since the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Adhering to the curatorial concept of "returning cultural relics to the archaeological context", the "Qinghai Archaeological Achievements Exhibition" uses archeological methods such as typology to dig deep into the connotation of cultural relics, and through various forms such as miniature landscapes, theme propaganda films, scene restoration, etc., 314 cultural relics hidden in the cultural relics warehouse are "alive", of which about half of the cultural relics are exhibited for the first time.

Archaeological work in Qinghai began as early as 1923. Since the founding of New China, the cultural relics and archaeology cause in Qinghai Province has been vigorously developed, and generations of Qinghai archaeologists have trekked through mountains and rivers, eaten and slept in the wind, and stepped on mountains, rivers and valleys, and vast snow fields. They extend the axis of Qinghai's history with their lives and youth, revealing and elaborating the civilization information contained in each relic. One by one, the ruins and cemeteries that have been sealed for thousands of years have been revealed in an orderly manner, and the ancient human production and life scenes, burial methods, life and industry models, human-land relations and even social organizations have been restored and reproduced to varying degrees. Many art treasures can be seen in the sky, recreating the splendor and splendor of Qinghai's past.

In order to be able to present the fruitful achievements of Qinghai archaeology in an all-round and multi-angle manner, the "Qinghai Archaeological Achievements Exhibition" has restored the remains of the sites according to the unique connotations of several typical sites in Qinghai.

In addition to the restoration of the remains of the site, the multimedia demonstration is also a highlight of the Qinghai Archaeological Achievements Exhibition, which creates a multimedia scene based on the bronze mirror excavated from the Shangsun Jiazhai site, restoring the process of multi-ethnic integration and convergence from the late Bronze Age to the Han Dynasty in the Hehuang area of Qinghai.

In the "Qinghai Archaeological Achievements Exhibition", the 2018 Blood Wei No. 1 Tomb and the Lajia Ruins have become the focus of the exhibition as the top 100 archaeological discoveries in Qinghai in the past century.

"2018 Blood Wei No. 1 Tomb" is located in Hot Water Township, Dulan County, Haixi Prefecture, Qinghai Province, and has been scientifically determined that this tomb is the most complete and clearly structured high-grade tomb among the high-specification tombs found on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau so far.

In fact, the archaeological work in the Dulan area began in the early 1980s, through more than ten years of excavation and research by archaeologists, it was confirmed that this tomb belonged to the Tubo culture and was the remnants of the Tuguhun State under the Tuguhun State under the Rule of Tubo. The cultural relics excavated in the tombs, the variety of them, the exquisite patterns, and the length of the time span, are all in The Chinese archaeological discoveries, ranking first, and even some are unique in the world, especially the exquisite gold and silverware provides an important physical basis for the study of the burial system of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau during the Tang (Tubo) period, the history of burial customs and the relationship between the Tang and ethnic minorities, the history of Silk Road transportation, the history of material and cultural exchanges and other related issues.

The site of Lajia, named the Ruins of the Great River in the "Qinghai Archaeological Achievements Exhibition", is also exhibited in a rich form.

Located in Lajia Village, Guanting Town, Minhe County, the Lajia Ruins are the first large-scale prehistoric disaster sites excavated on the mainland and are known as the "Pompeii of the East".

In 1999, a joint archaeological team formed by the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of Qinghai Province began to excavate the Lajia site, and Cai Linhai from the Qinghai Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology has been involved in the archaeological excavation of the Lajia site for eleven years.

Soon under the archaeological research of experts and scholars, this mystery of the dusty millennium was unveiled, the Lajia site is a huge Neolithic settlement, is the prototype of the ancient city-state of the central settlement in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, causing the disaster of the Lajia site is an earthquake, and the destruction of the settlement is the subsequent flash flood.

In the fourth year of archaeological excavation at the Lajia site, one day in 2002, an upside-down pottery bowl attracted Cai Linhai, who was undergoing archaeological excavations.

At that time, Cai Linhai may not have thought that this discovery even rewrote the history of the world.

Regrettably, however, these photos taken by Cai Linhai became the last testimony of this bowl of noodles.

These precious photographs prove the origin of noodles in China with conclusive evidence, before which italy was widely believed to be the first country to invent noodles, and this bowl of noodles excavated from the Lajia site 4,000 years ago proves that Chinese noodles appeared at least 1,900 years earlier than Italy.

The archaeological discoveries of the Lajia site are of great value for studying the living environment of the ancestors in the northwest region, the development of jade culture, the catastrophic phenomena in China 4,000 years ago, and the discussion of the history of prehistoric civilization.

Qinghai has a history of human activities can be traced back to 30,000 years, while the history recorded in the literature is only more than 2,000 years, from the Paleolithic human beings' first trespass on the plateau to the establishment of prehistoric cultural types and cultural sequences, to the dispersion of doubts of various dynasties, all soaked with the hard work of several generations of archaeologists, all rely on every archaeological discovery and research. What kind of hard work is behind this fruitful archaeological achievement? What is the process of archaeological excavation?

Generations of archaeologists have measured the remains of deeply buried sites with their own footsteps, not only allowing cultural relics to see the light again, but also leaving their own mark on archaeological history. The archaeological notes can more intuitively see the unknown work records of archaeologists.

Archaeological work proves that archaeology is the golden key to human exploration of history, connecting our past and future. Qinghai archaeology has witnessed the close connection between Qinghai and the hinterland of the motherland since ancient times, which has always been historically close, related to humanities and connected by roots, and witnessed the great process of the chinese nation's pluralism and integration.

Archaeological work extends the historical axis, enhances historical credibility, enriches historical connotations, and activates historical scenes. Archaeological research has proved that the Qinghai region is one of the important birthplaces of the Chinese nation and Chinese civilization, and various cultural relics such as ancient settlements, living sites, tombs and mausoleums are scattered around, reproducing the splendid splendor of Qinghai.

(Source: Qinghai Cultural Tourism)