A few days ago, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage announced the fourth batch of national archaeological site parks, and 19 national archaeological site parks from 12 provinces and regions were selected. This edition selects four national archaeological site parks located in Hebei, Henan, Hubei and Shaanxi, and reports on their exploration practice and typical experience in increasing archaeological research and cultural relics protection, continuously excavating connotation value, constantly enriching display content, innovating management and operation models, helping cultural construction, urban and rural development, and giving full play to the positive role of national archaeological site parks in inheriting China's excellent traditional culture and building a socialist cultural power.
Hubei Qujialing National Archaeological Site Park:
Show prehistoric civilization Experience farming culture
Qu Xiangtao
The edge of rice cultivation civilization, the soul of farming culture.
Located in Jingmen City, Hubei Province, Qujialing National Archaeological Site Park is the earliest and representative large-scale settlement site discovered in the Neolithic period in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the main remains date from 5300 to 4500 years ago, and rice cultivation remains and residential sites, pottery kiln groups, tombs, ring moats and other relics have been found, and a large number of exquisite cultural relics have been unearthed. As the first discovery and naming place of the Qujialing culture, it is also a major site that empirically demonstrates the origin of civilization in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.
Qujialing National Archaeological Site Park has a planned area of 402 hectares, the theme is positioned as "rice edge and agricultural soul", that is, the edge of rice cultivation civilization and the soul of farming culture, focusing on "China's prehistoric agriculture", taking "the origin of agriculture", "the archaeological process of agriculture" and "agricultural historical path" as clues, scientifically and orderly connection and display of settlement sites, river systems, rice farming landscapes, residential villages, exhibition buildings, etc., shaping the brand image of "the birthplace of Chinese farming culture" and creating the historical and cultural root of "Chinese agricultural valley".
On the premise of protecting the site, with archaeological research as the support, and with the display goal of "showing prehistoric civilization and experiencing farming culture", Qujialing National Archaeological Site Park combines the display of the site museum, the archaeological excavation site and the idyllic scenery of mountains and rivers to form a public cultural space integrating scientific research, education, recreation and other functions. At present, the main part of Qujialing National Archaeological Site Park has been completed and opened for trial operation in March last year, and has received millions of online and offline visitors.
▲Qujialing culture has become a "compulsory course" for primary and secondary school students in Qujialing Management Area Photo courtesy of Qujialing Management District, Jingmen City, Hubei Province
Looking back at the excavation and protection process of the Qujialing site, a clear time context is presented in front of us.
The Qujialing site was discovered in 1954, was appraised by the State Council as a national key cultural relic protection unit in 1988, selected as one of the "100 Great Archaeological Discoveries of the 20th Century in China" in 2001, and has been included in the national special plan for the protection of large sites since 2006. In June 2012, the Master Plan for the Protection of Cultural Relics at the Qujialing Site was approved by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and promulgated by the Hubei Provincial People's Government for implementation.
In 2017, Qujialing Archaeological Site Park was included in the list of national archaeological site parks. In 2021, the Qujialing site was selected as one of China's "Top 100 Archaeological Discoveries in a Century". In 2022, approved by the 33rd meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th Hubei Provincial People's Congress, the Regulations on the Protection of Qujialing Site in Jingmen City came into force on January 1, 2023, creating a precedent for legislation on the protection of large sites in Hubei Province. On December 29, 2022, Qujialing Archaeological Site Park was included in the fourth batch of national archaeological site park list.
While increasing hardware investment, we will continue to promote the Qujialing culture to "go" out and "live".
The Qujialing Management Area, where Qujialing National Archaeological Site Park is located, has held a variety of academic exchange activities and held regular expert discussion meetings to strengthen the depth of Qujialing cultural research and further enhance the cultural influence of Qujialing.
In addition, the Qujialing Management Area cooperates with domestic and foreign universities to strengthen cultural and creative development. The China Nonggu Qujialing Cultural IP Global Collection Competition, launched at the Hubei Provincial Museum in 2020, received a total of 2,476 entries (sets) from home and abroad, which aroused widespread attention and hot comments from all walks of life.
"Qujialing National Archaeological Site Park has been awarded the ninth batch of national overseas Chinese international cultural exchange bases by the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, the first 'Cross-Strait Archaeological Teaching Exchange Base' in Hubei Province by the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, and one of the first 16 Hong Kong and Macao youth education exchange bases in Hubei Province." Wang Yue, member of the party working committee of the Qujialing Administrative Region and director of the Department of Propaganda and Traditional War, said.
The construction of archaeological site parks must maintain the authenticity and integrity of site information. The practice of Qujialing National Archaeological Site Park has been affirmed by experts.
"If the archaeological park is built and looks like a modern urban garden, it will be very bad." Liu Kecheng, professor of the School of Architecture of Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, executive director of the China Council of Monuments and Sites and director of the Heritage Exhibition and Interpretation Committee, said that the core of the Qujialing site is agricultural civilization, and agricultural civilization is the most significant feature of Chinese civilization, and the history and current situation of Qujialing are all good embodiments of agricultural civilization.
In addition, Liu Kecheng said that showing the archaeological process of Qujialing in the way of the Qujialing Archaeologists' Memorial Park, this kind of respect for archaeologists and archaeologists, is the posture that the archaeological site park should have, and it is worth learning from the national archaeological site park.
"The Qujialing Management Area will strive to build the archaeological site park into a theme park of agricultural culture with distinctive characteristics, establish a brand of agricultural culture, inherit and develop Qujialing culture, and enhance the influence of Qujialing culture in the pattern of Chinese civilization and even world civilization through various measures such as establishing cultural exchanges and cooperation with domestic and foreign universities, popularizing archaeological knowledge in primary and secondary school classrooms, carrying out archaeological practice during study trips, holding domestic and international cultural forums, and building a wisdom museum." Cao Hongjiao, secretary of the party working committee of the Qujialing Management District, said.
Shaanxi Shiji National Archaeological Site Park:
Make China's largest prehistoric city site world-class
Archaeological research tour
Qin Yi
Located in the hinterland of the Loess Plateau, close to the Maowusu Desert, the site is arid and water-short, windy and sandy in spring, heavy rainfall in summer, severe and long winter with thousands of ravines, and low vegetation coverage. "Why did the ancient people choose such a place to settle?" This is the confusion of many tourists when visiting the ruins of Shiji.
▲ Shiji site Photo courtesy of Shaanxi Archaeological Research Institute
In this regard, Yang Rui, head of the publicity and education section of the Shiji Site Management Office in Shenmu City, Shaanxi Province, said that we cannot doubt the wisdom of the ancients, because the Shiji more than 4,000 years ago was not what it is today. A large number of historical geography and climatic changes prove that the Loess Plateau area in the Shiji era had a large area of forest cover, rainfall was 100 mm to 200 mm higher than today, and the average annual temperature was 2 to 3 degrees Celsius higher than today.
The Shiji site, located in the northern part of the Loess Plateau, is an important part of the Chinese civilization source exploration project. The main body of the site is a stone castle site about 4,000 years ago, with an area of more than 4 million square meters, which is the largest prehistoric city site found on the mainland. Shao Jing, deputy captain of the archaeological team at the Shiji site, said that the industry often uses "stone breaking the sky" to describe the Shiji site, which is both pictogram and expression. The area where Shiji is located is full of stone blocks and stone building remains, so the local name is Shiji. "Stone break" represents the "breaking ground" of the Shiji site after 4,000 years, under the shovel of archaeologists. "Heavenly Shock" mainly refers to the important cultural heritage unearthed by the archaeology of the Shiji site and the important social value and academic significance behind it.
The ruins of Shiji more than 10 years ago are only some remnants of the ridges and ridges on the Loess Plateau. With the unremitting efforts of archaeologists for many years, the appearance of Shiji is gradually becoming clear, and the picture of the "Shiji Kingdom" tens of millions of years ago is gradually appearing in front of the world. In August 2022, another shocking new archaeological discovery appeared at the Shiji site, and archaeologists discovered a large stone sculpture with a new human face in the core area of the Shiji site, Huangchengtai. The human face is solemn and solemn, wearing ears and crowns, showing a slightly protruding eye, wide-mouthed and tooth-like expression, which is well preserved, of which the human face on the west side is about 80 cm long and 50 cm high, which is the largest single image in the stone carvings, and this is only the epitome of the amazing discovery of the Shiji site.
"There are three reasons why the Shiji site is important: the first is the time node, which is about 4,000 years ago; The second is the geographical location, located in the northern region of China; The third is that there are many common factors with other major civilizations in the world, such as the rare early stone buildings in China, and there are city walls and majestic imperial city platforms above the surface... This has a lot in common with the city of Mohenjo-Daro, which belonged to the Harappan culture in the Indus Valley at the same time, and the city of King you in the Two Rivers Valley. Sun Zhouyong, president of the Shaanxi Institute of Archaeology, said.
Since the Shiyan site entered the list of national archaeological site parks at the end of 2017, it has strictly implemented the "Shiyan National Archaeological Site Park Plan" and "National Archaeological Site Park Management Measures", and after more than 5 years of unremitting efforts, it has made great progress in archaeological excavation, cultural relics protection, cultural research, publicity and display.
The "14th Five-Year Plan for the Protection and Utilization of Great Sites" issued by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage clearly states that the Shiji site will be included in the key work of the archaeological report publication project of the large site, the rescue and protection project of the cultural relics of the large site, and the project of the display and utilization of the large site, and will continue to promote the application of the Shiji site as a world heritage site.
In recent years, the Shiji Site Management Office has continued to promote the standardization of the protection and development of the site, and has continuously developed towards a high level and diversification. In order not to hinder the normal archaeological work, the site area is developed lightly within the allowable range, clearing vegetation and highlighting the outline of the stone city, allowing visitors to experience the grandeur of this ancient city. With the gradual improvement of the infrastructure and other related conditions of the Shiyan site, the Site Management Office organized and implemented the construction project of the Shiyan Museum, and the museum set up a cultural relics display area, a video experience area for the history of civilization, an archaeological experience area, etc., to realize the inheritance of Shiyan culture while protecting the site. Shenmu City has built a world-class archaeological research and tourism destination by building the Shiji National Archaeological Heritage Park and the Shiji Museum, interacting the cultural symbol of Shiyan Ancient City with the tourism development in the region, effectively promoting the virtuous cycle protection of cultural relics and cultural relics in the site, and becoming a development model of both tourism and protection in Shaanxi Province.
"It is necessary to adhere to systematic thinking, coordinate the relationship between site protection and cultural tourism industry, rural revitalization and improvement of people's livelihood, deeply excavate the diverse cultural elements and rich spiritual connotations contained in the Shiji site, build the Shiji National Archaeological Site Park well, effectively implement the requirements for activation and utilization, and provide more 'Shiji experience' for the protection and inheritance of Chinese traditional culture." The staff of the Shiji Site Management Office said.
Hebei Nihewan National Archaeological Site Park:
Build a cultural tourism complex and promote cultural heritage
Approaching the masses
Fan Haigang Li Qiuyun
As an archaeological sacred site in the Paleolithic period of China, Nihewan has constructed a nearly complete cultural sequence of the Paleolithic period in East Asia, recorded the continuous evolution history of East Asian humans for nearly 2 million years, and is known as the "hometown of Eastern humans".
With the development of archaeological work, Nihe Bay has become more and more famous in the international academic community, and today's Nihe Bay is no longer a wasteland. Relying on the Nihewan site group, Nihewan National Archaeological Site Park has built research and protection and utilization facilities for Nihewan Archaeological Site Park, such as Nihewan Research Center, Mahuangou and other key site protection exhibition sheds, tourist service centers, popular science squares, and earth life axis, covering three functional areas of monumental park, knowledge park and experiential park, becoming a cultural tourism complex integrating scientific research, exhibition, popular science, leisure and other functions.
▲Mammoth statue in Nihewan National Archaeological Site Park Photo courtesy of Hebei Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau
"In recent years, with the strong support of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, Hebei has made every effort to promote the initiative research of the Nihewan site group. Many scientific research institutes and universities inside and outside Hebei Province concentrated on tackling key problems, and successively organized and implemented a number of archaeological excavations. At the same time, the 'Research on Early Human Evolution and Adaptation in North China Focusing on the Nihewan Basin' established by the Ministry of Science and Technology has also been fully carried out. Jia Jinbiao, director of the Archaeological Division of the Hebei Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau, said that these archaeological studies have made the materials for the origin and evolution of human beings in Nihewan increasingly rich, the route of ancient human evolution becoming clearer, and the cultural sequence more perfect.
Sun Yongchun, former deputy director of the Cultural Relics and Environmental Protection Bureau of the Nihewan Management Committee, said that in particular, the new progress in the research of the Xiamabei site and the archaeological results of the newly excavated Xinmiaozhuang site announced by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage last year supplemented the new ancient human cultural sequence and provided new evidence for exploring the continuous evolution of Eastern humans in North China. The discovery of the Xiamabei site is the earliest known archaeological remains of prehistoric humans processing pigments and inlaying and using fine stone tools in mainland China and even East Asia, which is of great value for interpreting the development process of human culture in the Paleolithic period of East Asia and the world.
Nihewan National Archaeological Site Park is located between the scenic peaks of Datianwa Township, Yangyuan County, and there are more than 30 sites such as Xiaochangliang, Mahuangou and Shigou in the park, and the beautiful natural scenery superimposed on the mysterious original site "double halo", attracting many tourists to check in. Since 2022, after the official opening of Nihewan National Archaeological Site Park, the cumulative number of visitors has reached 200,000.
"In order to better display the archaeological results, we continue to enrich the display content of the Nihewan site according to the characteristics of each site." Sun Yongchun introduced that the Xiaochangliang site maintains the original style of cultural sites and natural environment, allowing tourists and the public to see and experience the majesty and unique value of the Nihewan formation; The Mahuangou site explained to the public the great scientific, social and cultural value of the site in the form of on-site display, protection shed and picture display board. The archaeological excavation site of Shigou site has preserved the stone tools, animal bone fossils and stratigraphic landforms made by ancient humans, allowing the public to experience the historical environment of the survival and evolution of human ancestors at that time.
"In order to continuously promote the 'livening' of cultural heritage, we invited experts inside and outside the province and cultural workers in the county to plan and compile a series of popular science books such as "Nihewan Archaeological Dictionary" and "Yangyuan Nihewan - Oriental Humans Come From Here", and completed the 10-episode micro-documentary "Dreaming of Nihewan: Visiting the Hometown of Oriental Mankind", and also opened a slow live broadcast." He Jingming, the magistrate of Yangyuan County and director of the Nihewan Management Committee, introduced that these easy-to-understand Nihewan characteristic small videos caused heated discussions as soon as they were launched, with nearly 90 million views.
It is worth mentioning that on the eve of the opening of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, Nihewan Archaeological Site Park has once again become the focus of the world. The first stop of the Zhangjiakou Torch Relay is here. Through the lens, Nihe Bay shows its charm to a global audience.
"In the post-Olympic era, the Beijing-Zhang Sports and Cultural Tourism Belt is accelerating, and Nihewan National Archaeological Site Park has become a leader in the integrated development of culture and tourism." Hao Yanfei, Secretary of the Yangyuan County Party Committee and Secretary of the Nihewan Working Committee, said that in order to create a characteristic Nihewan cultural brand, we introduced a professional team to implement the construction of supporting projects such as catering services in the heritage park, integrate the integrated development of tourism resources in the county with points, and create a characteristic tourism complex in the whole area of Nihewan to promote high-quality economic development.
Henan Zhengzhou Shangcheng National Archaeological Site Park:
"City within a Park, Park in a City" tells the cultural story of the commercial capital
Zhang Yingying Text/Photo
Near the New Year's Pass, "North Drift" Chen Zhang took the children back to their hometown of Zhengzhou in advance, and the first cultural landmark they checked in was the Zhengzhou Mall National Archaeological Site Park. "The ruins of the mall are simply different from when I was a child, the scenery is good, I can play and rest with my children, and I can enjoy the culture of Shangdu everywhere." Chen Zhang and the child were very excited.
Located in the central area of Zhengzhou, the ruins of the capital city of the Shang Dynasty of Zhengzhou were first discovered in 1955, and the city was built about 3,600 years ago, with a total area of 25 square kilometers.
▲ Citizens visit the Zhengzhou Shangdu Site Museum
The research results of the Xia Shang and Zhou Dynasty Project show that Zhengzhou Shangcheng was the location of the early capital of the Shang Dynasty, that is, the "Bo Capital" of Chengtang Jianshang, and was the political, economic, cultural and military center of the early Shang Dynasty. In 1961, the Shang Dynasty site in Zhengzhou was announced by the State Council as the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units; The discovery of the ruins of the capital city of the Shang Dynasty in Zhengzhou was rated as one of the "100 Great Archaeological Discoveries of the 20th Century in China"; In 2021, it was rated as one of the "Top 100 Archaeological Discoveries in 100 Years" in China.
Zhengzhou Shangcheng National Archaeological Site Park is a national archaeological site park built on the ruins of the capital city of the Shang Dynasty in Zhengzhou. In 2010, it was included in the list of the first batch of national archaeological site parks approved by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage. During the construction process, Zhengzhou incorporated the protection and display of large ruins into the overall pattern of urban development, environmental improvement, old city transformation, people's livelihood improvement and cultural tourism industry development, and developed the Zhengzhou model of archaeological site park featuring "city within a park, park within a city". In 2022, Zhengzhou Shangcheng National Archaeological Site Park was selected into the fourth batch of national archaeological site park list.
"Zhengzhou Shangcheng National Archaeological Site Park is a national archaeological site park with the protection and display of the ruins of the capital city of the Shang Dynasty as the core, integrating cultural experience, education and leisure." Zheng Xiaoxu, head of the Cultural Relics Section of the Culture, Tourism and Sports Bureau of Guancheng Hui Nationality District of Zhengzhou City, introduced that the park adopts a full-time free opening mode, there is no independent area, the entrances and exits are all over the nodes of the park, and the park receives more than 30 million visitors every year.
According to reports, Zhengzhou Shangcheng National Archaeological Site Park takes the ruins of the city wall and the ruins of the palace area as the core protection and display objects, and takes the green open space that restores the authenticity of the cultural relics and has a sense of historical vicissitudes as the main display method and means, creating a sparse landscape environment.
Xuanniao Square, Bronze Model Square, White Jade Cultural Wall... In the heritage park, the rich cultural elements of the Shang capital and the characteristic vegetation landscape of the four seasons reflect each other. Coupled with the presentation of rammed earth city walls that stretch for about 7 kilometers, the site park with both beauty and cultural connotation has become a rare leisure place in the busy city of Zhengzhou.
Zheng Xiaoxu said that the site park not only makes the site itself properly protected, but also the site has become an important window to display the ancient capital of Zhengzhou with dignity, and the city's cultural taste can be improved and the city's characteristics can be highlighted; At the same time, it has improved the living environment and quality of life of residents around the site, benefiting people's livelihood, and has become the largest public leisure space and vitality space in the central urban area. Many experts praised it as a "more people-friendly heritage park" and "a new form of national archaeological site park".
"This is a thousand-year-old royal capital discovered by archaeology, and the city center has not moved for more than 3,600 years." Walking into the prologue hall of the Zhengzhou Shangdu Site Museum, the text projected on the ground introduces a strong sense of science and technology. With the technology of digital projection technology, the giant screen playing the explanation video and the large-scale restored sand table are linked in real time, intuitively presenting the urban layout and functional zoning of the capital city of Zhengzhou's Shang Dynasty, bringing the audience an immersive sensory experience.
As one of the core contents of the site park, the Zhengzhou Shangdu Site Museum, which was officially opened on July 26 last year, is a thematic site museum that tells about the early business culture, integrating the Zhengzhou Shangcheng Site Protection and Management Center, the Centralized Preservation and Exhibition Center of Unearthed Cultural Relics, the Academic and Cultural Research and Exchange Center, and the Commercial Culture Public Communication Center. With the theme of "Magnificent Capital, Model of the Royal Capital - Zhengzhou Shang Dynasty Capital Civilization Exhibition", the basic exhibition comprehensively displays the cultural relics, relics, archaeological research, site protection and other contents unearthed at the site of Zhengzhou Mall. "The museum has a rich collection and variety, exhibiting more than 1,000 cultural relics such as bronze, jade, bone and pottery, and making full use of auxiliary means such as sand table models, scene restoration, art works, multimedia technology, and acousto-optic technology to enrich the collection and display content." Ma Yupeng, director of the Zhengzhou Shangdu Site Museum, introduced.
The relevant person in charge of the Zhengzhou Municipal Cultural Relics Bureau introduced that in the next step, the Zhengzhou Mall Archaeological Site Park will continue to increase supporting facilities, introduce light shows, performing arts, intangible cultural heritage exhibitions, cultural and creative markets and other diversified formats, vividly tell the cultural stories of the commercial capital, and make the heritage displayed on the vast land "come alive".
January 12, 2023 China Culture News
Special report in the 8th edition
"National Archaeological Site Park: Inheriting the Excellent Traditional Chinese Culture and Better Displaying the Value of the New Era"
Responsible editor: Zhang Haining