[Global Times reporter Chen Qian, Xu Liu Liu, Global Times correspondent in Egypt Huang Peizhao] Editor's words: "Understanding history is inseparable from archaeology. On September 28, 2020, when the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee held the 23rd collective study on the latest discoveries and significance of mainland archaeology, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping emphasized the importance of archaeology in his speech. Since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the development of archaeology on the mainland has advanced by leaps and bounds. Chinese archaeology has achieved remarkable results in scientific and technological archaeology, multidisciplinary interdisciplinary archaeology, frontier archaeology, application for world heritage, international joint archaeology and exhibitions, restoration of cultural relics and return of cultural relics. In the past ten years, the "Chinese School" of archaeology in the new era has gradually formed. Peers in the international archaeological community also praised that "Chinese archaeology has entered a golden age". In this golden age, the entire society's cognition of archaeology has also changed, and behind the phenomena of "unpopular" majors becoming "hot", "internet red archaeology" and "net red cultural exploration programs", it is not only cultural inheritance, but also "better understanding of the long-standing, broad and profound Chinese civilization, and firm cultural self-confidence". In the future, China's archaeological work and the "archaeological fever" and "cultural fever" of the people will also be closely related to the goal of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and forging a solid sense of the Chinese national community.
Archaeology "from cold to heat" is a personal feeling of the whole people
On May 2, 2013, all the students of the 2009 undergraduate league branch of the School of Archaeology and Archaeology of Peking University received a reply letter from General Secretary Xi Jinping. General Secretary Xi Jinping wrote at the beginning of the letter: "The letter has been received. It is very gratifying to know that you have not only made new progress in campus learning in the past year, but also gained a lot in the field archaeology internship. From the words, I feel your determination and confidence to strive for the realization of the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. The letter also reads: "'He who has the greatest can be the smaller.'" Only by integrating the ideals of life into the cause of the country and the nation can we finally achieve something. ”
Wang Siyu, who was an undergraduate student majoring in cultural relics and museology in 2009, is now an assistant professor, recalling the scene when he and his classmates received a reply from the general secretary, he told the Global Times reporter that it was this letter that strengthened his career ideals and made him feel that the major he studied was not only to meet his own interests, but also to have a sense of mission. Today, his research interests include new museology, museum exhibition criticism, critical heritage research, and cultural heritage communities. As a disseminator of knowledge, Wang Siyu also conveyed the belief of "integrating life ideals into the cause of the country and the nation" to the students through teaching.
Siyu Wang is also the director of the Center for Public Archaeology and Art at Peking University, where he has collaborated with colleagues on many exhibitions and academic events that have attracted many audiences and participants from inside and outside the university. He said that in the past decade, he has personally felt the vigorous development of Chinese archaeology. Wang Siyu said: "When we were undergraduates, archaeology was actually an unpopular discipline, but now more and more young people are applying for this major, which makes me proud. ”
Wang Siyu's words reminded the Global Times reporter of the social heated discussion caused by Zhong Fangrong, a girl from Hunan Leiyang, who applied for the archaeology major of Peking University in 2020. In July of that year, Zhong Fangrong scored 676 points in the college entrance examination, ranking among the top liberal arts candidates in Hunan Province, and she chose archaeology to add a lot of heat to the "archaeological fever" that continued to heat up in China.
Speaking of the change of archaeology major "from cold and hot", Shen Ruiwen, dean of the School of Archaeology and Archaeology of Peking University, told the Global Times reporter: "At present, the number of people who take the initiative to fill in the archaeology major has increased significantly in the past few years, and the number of people who really like the archaeology department has also been rising, many students will consciously read relevant documents and books even in the middle school stage, and archaeology is inseparable from the great attention and support of the party and the state among young people. In terms of the general environment, it is now the golden age of Chinese archaeology. ”
In addition to the "gradual heating" in the field of archaeology, the "archaeological fever" and "cultural fever" of the people are also worthy of attention, and museums around the world have attracted a large number of audiences, and the ratings of large-scale cultural exploration programs such as "National Treasures" are also very high. Yan Hong, a young craftsman, is a well-known "Internet celebrity", and her works posted online use gold armor made of 3,000 nut shells, and the headdress of the Chinese princess "The Biography of Zhen Huan" restored in cans... She told the Global Times reporter that she has been obsessed with archaeology-related knowledge over the years and feels the "archaeological fever" and "Wenbo fever" among her peers. She posted her headdress inspired by the bronze sacred tree unearthed in Sanxingdui on social media, and soon received many likes from netizens. Yan Hong was also invited by a program to the Sanxingdui Museum to learn about the restoration of cultural relics, and she was shocked by the exhibits in the museum. "I collected a lot of materials in the museum, and they are all valuable materials for my future creations," she said. ”
Give the Department of Archaeology in the New Era a new historical mission
In the 23rd issue of Qiushi magazine in 2020, General Secretary Xi Jinping published an important article entitled "Building archaeology of Chinese style and Chinese style with Chinese characteristics, and better understanding the long-standing, broad and profound Chinese civilization". The article points out that after several generations of archaeologists continuing to struggle, the mainland's archaeological work has made great achievements, extending the historical axis, enhancing historical credibility, enriching historical connotations, and activating historical scenes. Many people in the industry believe that the title of this article points out the mission of Chinese archaeology, and General Secretary Xi Jinping's important statement that "archaeological work is an important cultural undertaking and a work of great socio-political significance" has also given a new historical mission to the archaeology department in the new era.
Xie Maosong, a senior researcher of the National Innovation and Development Strategy Research Association and director of the Chinese Civilization and China Road Research Center, told the Global Times reporter that China is the only continuous and unbroken native road civilization in the world, and at the same time has the most complete record of history, showing that China is the most mature, developed, complete and continuous historical tradition in the world. Looking back at history, modern Chinese archaeology was born in 1921, exactly the same year that the Communist Party of China was born, and archaeologists such as Xia Nai and Su Bingqi have described the special relationship between the origin of modern Chinese archaeology and the "May Fourth Movement".
Xie Maosong believes that the tradition of Chinese civilization is like the endless flow of water, and today's China comes from historical China, which can really be described as the integration of ancient and modern. For example, Su Bingqi divided China's Neolithic age into six cultural zones, and further summarized them as "inland-facing" and "ocean-facing" two major regions, which is similar to the development of China's Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Yangtze River Delta Bay Area, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Chengdu-Chongqing and other regional developments. In his view, in the next decade, China's archaeological work will be linked to the goal of realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and forging a solid sense of the Chinese national community. Due to the uniqueness of Chinese history, the world will inevitably become more and more interested in Chinese archaeology and Chinese civilization.
In a recent interview with the Global Times, Former Minister of Antiquities of Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities Mamudu Damati recalled a visit to the site of the ancient Egyptian civilization in Luxor during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Egypt in January 2016. At that time, Damati, who was invited to give a lecture, said that the Chinese leader stressed that China and Egypt are ancient civilizations with a long history, and the two major civilizations should strengthen exchanges and mutual learning.
Over the years, Damati has been following the development of Archaeology in China. He told reporters that a large number of archaeological excavations in China are valuable human cultural heritage, which can awaken the historical memory of precipitation, highlight the brilliant splendor of Chinese civilization, and highlight the status of China's cultural power. Damati said: "Archaeology is to explore the past of one's own nation and reverently engage in dialogue with ancestors; archaeology is to excavate history, excavate national self-confidence, and have a bearing on the country's civilization cognition and cultural genetic bloodline, so China's 'archaeological fever' is of great significance." ”
"Never know what earth-shattering discoveries will be made"
The "Sanxingdui" that shocked the "net red craftsman" Yan Hong can be described as a well-known "internet red archaeology" in China. Among the top ten new archaeological discoveries in the country in 2021 just announced by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the sacrifice area of the Guanghan Sanxingdui site in Sichuan is listed among them. "Sleep for three thousand years, wake up and shock the world." Since September 2000, after more than 30 years of excavation and restart of Sanxingdui, the amazing cultural relics have been continuously updated, and nearly 10,000 numbered cultural relics have been unearthed. As an archaeologist who personally came to the front line and witnessed this major historical discovery, Ran Honglin, director of the Sanxingdui Archaeological Research Institute of the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the person in charge of the archaeological excavation site in the Sanxingdui Sacrifice Area, told the Global Times reporter that major archaeological historical discoveries such as Sanxingdui are inseparable from the rapid development of Chinese archaeological disciplines. In his view, the application of scientific and technological archaeology, the introduction of new work concepts, especially the synchronization of multidisciplinary joint archaeology and cultural relics protection have greatly improved the efficiency of Sanxingdui archaeological work.
Ran Honglin admits that in the past decade, his work orientation has also changed - realizing that he is not only an archaeologist, but also a protector of cultural heritage and a disseminator of Chinese civilization. He hopes to display the archaeological results of Sanxingdui to the world as a World Heritage Site, so that more people can understand that the ancient Shu civilization is an important branch of Chinese civilization. According to him, the next step of excavation work at the Sanxingdui site will still focus on the remains of the sacrifice area, in addition to continuing to excavate the newly discovered architectural remains in the sacrifice area, it will also carry out archaeological excavations in the Moon Bay area with the goal of further understanding the settlement structure of the Sanxingdui city site.
"In the past ten years, the speed of development of Chinese archaeology is obvious to all." Jia Xiaobing, a researcher at the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that the national level attaches increasing importance to archaeology, which is reflected in policy support, funding support, talent training and construction support and other aspects. He also said that from the social level, the "archaeological fever" in recent years, the popularity of archaeological programs, the attention to new archaeological discoveries and new research results, and the improvement of the importance of cultural relics protection all reflect the continuous enhancement of the social significance of archaeology in China. From the perspective of archaeology itself, the research field, discipline theories and methods are also constantly expanding and deepening. Jia Xiaobing said with emotion: "As far as I am concerned, my outstanding feeling is that archaeological research is no longer the study of a small number of people who are 'unpopular' and no longer 'sitting on a cold bench', but it is increasingly combined with social development, the spiritual and cultural needs of the people and other work of great social significance. At the same time, with the development of the discipline, it is more necessary to continuously improve their knowledge structure, and strive to accept and master new theories and new technologies, which is a continuous learning process. So archaeology is a promising discipline, and you never know what kind of earth-shattering discovery the next shovel will unearth. ”
Go abroad and share the "Chinese experience" with the world
The cooperation between the Chinese archaeological community and the world is also a highlight of the past decade. For example, in 2015, the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences began working with the Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History and Harvard University in the United States to carry out archaeological work at the Copan site in Honduras, a world cultural heritage site. In August 2017, the Chinese government officially started the post-earthquake restoration project of the "Nine-Story Temple" in Nepal. In the same year, the Sino-Mongolian joint archaeological team cooperated to crack the "Three Cities". The Chinese government has also been sending cultural relics protection experts to Cambodia's Angkor Wat for more than 20 years, and a spokesman for the Cambodian antiquities protection and management agency said: "Even during the epidemic period, Cambodia-China archaeological cooperation has not stopped." ”
"The multidisciplinary comprehensive research of Chinese archaeology in many fields is at the forefront of the world, which helps us to fully understand the origin of world civilization." Jia Xiaobing told the Global Times reporter. He also said that China's overseas archaeology is showing a booming trend, and the archaeological team that goes abroad represents the image of China in any place in the world. In 2012, Jia Xiaobing cooperated with the Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan to systematically excavate the Ming Tie Pei site in Andijan Prefecture, which provided important historical materials and understanding for the study of the ancient Silk Road and cultural exchanges between the East and the West.
In 2018, as the leader of the Chinese archaeological team, Jia Xiaobing led the Chinese team to Egypt to conduct the first joint archaeology and do field excavation work. With the efforts of Chinese and Egyptian archaeologists, the understanding of the architectural layout of the northern region of Karnak has been further improved. This is the first Egyptian archaeology project led by mainland scholars, achieving a breakthrough of zero in the field of Egyptian archaeology in the mainland. Speaking of these, Jia Xiaobing said that specific to the cooperation between the two ancient civilizations of China and Egypt in the field of archaeology, how to fully understand and cooperate with each other in the context of different origins, development paths and operating mechanisms of civilizations, and truly achieve the purpose of mutual learning among civilizations, is a challenge that they need to accept.
Mamudou Damati, former minister of Egypt's Ministry of Cultural Relics, told the Global Times: "In the past 10 years, China's archaeological achievements have been remarkable, which has made the world's counterparts very envious. The attention and concern from Chinese leaders has greatly stimulated the motivation of the Chinese archaeological community. Over the years, China has also participated in the excavation and protection of the world's ancient civilizations, making unique contributions. The experience accumulated by the Chinese archaeological community over the years has also been shared with international counterparts, giving everyone a lot of inspiration and worth learning. As an ancient civilization, Egypt is willing to strengthen cooperation with China in the field of archaeology so that its glorious past can be understood by more Chinese people. ”
Huo Zhengxin, a professor at the School of International Law of China University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times that as of now, China has carried out more than 50 archaeological investigations and excavations and academic research projects in more than 20 countries, including countries along the "Belt and Road", As well as Central America and Africa. China has given full play to the advantages of archaeological talents and technology, or carried out archaeological cooperation with relevant countries, or provided assistance within its capacity, which has well enhanced people-to-people ties.
The application of scientific and technological archaeology has also integrated Chinese archaeology into world archaeology. In Shen Ruiwen's view, the standard of scientific and technological archaeology is universal, and its results can be used as a common starting point for further discussion, and this application also increases the possibility of Chinese scholars bringing Chinese archaeology into the international perspective. He told the Global Times reporter that at present, Chinese archaeology has gone abroad and gone to the world, and it is necessary to plan in a planned way and combine archaeological work with national strategies and talent reserves. It is understood that in 2017, the School of Archaeology of Peking University took the lead in setting up a foreign archaeology - foreign Chinese and foreign history major (archaeology) in colleges and universities across the country,Chinese and jointly trained a group of high-caliber students who not only understand archaeology but also can speak out for Chinese archaeology on the international stage.
In the face of Sanxingdui, "how can the US media remain silent?"
"China strives to become the world's leader in archaeology." USA Today published an article in July 2016 that focused on the rapid development of archaeology in China. Jin Meng, a paleontologist at the American Museum of Natural History, also wrote in the National Science Review in 2018 that China is in a "golden age of (archaeological) discoveries", with impressive new technology applications, high-quality talent and international cooperation. In particular, he stressed that the Chinese government has invested more in paleontology and archaeology and has some of the most well-funded projects in the world.
"The world of Sanxingdui, the world of Sanxingdui". Shortly after China announced the new discoveries of Sanxingdui in 2021, Fu Luowen (Ron Vlad), the head of the Department of Archaeology at Harvard University in the United States, wrote an article in the Washington Post with the title of "This is the golden age of Chinese archaeology, but the West is ignoring", calling on the American society to pay more attention to Chinese archaeological discoveries. "While American society has different geographical and cultural roots, we should strive to acknowledge and celebrate these diverse sources, including a greater focus on China's exciting archaeological discoveries," he wrote. ”
Under the tutelage of the internationally renowned East Asian archaeologist Luo Tai, Fu Luowen has traveled to China many times to participate in cooperation projects with archaeological institutions and archaeological departments of universities. He told the Global Times reporter: "Sanxingdui is a part of the entire ancient human history, such a great archaeological discovery, how can the US media remain silent?" I am relieved that after the article was published, I received a lot of positive feedback and they supported my point of view. ”
In Fu Rowan's view, the international archaeological community, especially those archaeologists who have no communication with China, used to have a misunderstanding that "Chinese archaeology is relatively narrow and immature", but now scholars like him who have had contact with their Chinese counterparts know that this is not the case. He said: "Chinese archaeology has made amazing achievements and is maturing and developing. Fu Luowen said that since the 1990s, especially in the past decade, the Chinese government has invested "massive" resources in the development of archaeology, trained a large number of cutting-edge scholars, who have gone overseas to learn the top knowledge of the discipline, established new projects after returning from their studies, and continued to carry out relevant research with overseas top experts. The main research institutions and universities of Chinese archaeology have undertaken a large number of national research projects, and the major discoveries of Sanxingdui are the best embodiment of the spirit of cooperation and maturity in the field of Chinese archaeology.
"There is no doubt that Chinese archaeology will continue to move forward and achieve greater achievements." Fu Luowen told the Global Times reporter that he believes that the Chinese archaeological community will carry out more international cooperation, while introducing and applying the best and latest archaeological technology in the world, but also allowing the world archaeology to share the "Chinese experience".
Speaking of the praise of top American counterparts for the Chinese archaeological community, Shen Ruiwen said that it has been a hundred years since the birth of modern Chinese archaeology, and the driving force behind the hard work of generations of archaeologists is their love for archaeology, sense of responsibility and mission, as well as growing cultural self-confidence. Chinese archaeology has successfully completed localization and embarked on a path of chinese school of archaeology, which is extremely prominent in the field of philosophy and social sciences in China at present.
Shen Ruiwen told the Global Times that Chinese archaeology and Western archaeology have essential differences, that is, their research methods are different: Western archaeology focuses on research from an anthropological point of view, while Chinese archaeology is more based on reliable historical documents and has a deep tradition of historicism. With the application of scientific and technological means in archaeology, archaeology has gradually changed to a humanities discipline that intersects arts and sciences.
"We are like sailing in the long river of history, historical facts and archaeological materials passing by us, we always explore with questions, and constantly salvage those forgotten and neglected pasts." At the end of an interview on the topic of China's archaeological development, a domestic archaeologist made such a metaphor to the Global Times reporter.