Li Ji

Author: Liu Mengxi, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1996-10-01
Features: Li Ji, a modern renowned scholar, was one of the founders of Chinese modern archaeology based on excavation and made significant contributions to the development of Chinese archaeology. This volume includes his representative works and papers such as The Formation of Chinese Ethnicity, Prehistoric Remains at Xiyincun, The Beginning of Chinese Civilization, and Anyang, showcasing his outstanding academic achievements. The Formation of Chinese Ethnicity: Li Ji's doctoral dissertation completed at the Harvard University Graduate School in 1923, the first work on Chinese anthropology. Originally in English, it is now translated by Zhang Haiyang, Hu Hongbao, Lin Zongjin, and Li Suxing. Prehistoric Remains at Xiyincun: A purely scientific modern archaeological excavation report, the preliminary summary of the first field archaeology led by Chinese people. Anyang: Li Ji's last monograph, published in English by the University of Washington Press in Seattle in 1977. This book adopts the translation by Su Xiuju. Li Ji (1896–1979), styled Jizhi, was a native of Zhongxiang, Hubei, and a modern Chinese archaeologist. He graduated from Tsinghua College and studied anthropology at Harvard University in the United States, later earning a Ph.D. in philosophy. He began field archaeology in 1924. In 1926, he excavated the Neolithic site at Xiyincun, Shanxi, which marked the first independent archaeological excavation conducted by Chinese scholars. He later served as the director of the Archaeology Group at the Institute of History and Language of the Central Academy of Sciences, leading the scientific excavation work at sites such as Yinxu and training a generation of highly skilled Chinese archaeologists. In 1938, he was elected an honorary member of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain, and in 1948, he was elected an academician of the Central Academy of Sciences. From 1955 to 1972, he served as the director of the Institute of History and Language in Taiwan. In 1946, he also joined the work of the Chinese Government Delegation to Japan, returning Chinese cultural relics looted by Japan during the invasion of China. He primarily focused on the study of pottery and bronze artifacts from Yinxu. His works include Prehistoric Remains at Xiyincun, Volume One of Archaeological Objects from Yinxu: Pottery, and Collected Archaeological Papers of Li Ji. He co-authored Special Publications on Ancient Artifacts.