Essentials of Chinese Archaeology

Author: Tong Zhuchen
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-04-01
Features: In April 2004, Mr. Tong Zhuchen's new work, Essentials of Chinese Archaeology, was published. This book is one of the "Lectures by Renowned Scholars" series edited and planned by Yang Xunwen and Ren Shiying. The series includes lecture notes by renowned scholars in humanities, philosophy, and history such as Fei Xiaotong, Zhang Dainian, Lin Geng, Lin Yaohua, and He Ziquan. Essentials of Chinese Archaeology is one of the lecture notes and treatises on archaeology in the series. The book is divided into two parts.
Part I includes three lecture notes: Archaeological Material Exhibition, delivered at Peking University in 1957; New Achievements in Archaeology of China's Stone Age, delivered at Nankai University in 1960. These lectures represent academic insights of that historical period and are important milestones in the development of museology and archaeology in the 1950s and 1960s. The third lecture note is An Introduction to Archaeology of Northeast China and Its Periphery, delivered at the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. This note is substantial, with approximately 170,000 words, and is the most systematic treatise on historical archaeology in Northeast China and even the broader Northeast Asia, combining archaeological and literary sources. Mr. Tong has long been dedicated to archaeological research in Northeast China. As early as the 1940s, he discovered the Niuheliang Site, the Xajiaodian Site, and the Chifeng section of the Yan Great Wall in western Liaoning. In 1950, he participated in the excavation of the Xituanshan Site in Jilin with Mr. Pei Wenwen. From 1979 to 1980, to teach Northeast archaeology to graduate students, Mr. Tong systematically summarized his years of collected literature and archaeological materials, as well as his own research findings, into eleven chapters. This formed the basis of the lecture notes for An Introduction to Archaeology of Northeast China and Its Periphery, which were later compiled and published by his disciple Jin Fengyi.
The first chapter, History of Archaeology in Northeast China, provides detailed accounts of the achievements of scholars such as Liang Sisheng, Pei Wenwen, Li Wenxin, Jin Yufu, and Luo Fuyi. It also systematically introduces archaeological activities and discoveries by Russians, French, and Swedes in Northeast China. It offers a detailed explanation of the work of Japanese scholars, critically pointing out the cultural aggression inherent in some of their efforts. Additionally, it highlights that materials preserved in our museums, such as Russian publications on archaeological artifacts from the "Dongjiang" region (the area from Irkutsk to Vladivostok) and stone tools left by Bude Sheng at the Museum of Northern Frontier, should not be neglected, as they represent the ancient cultural heritage left by our ancestors. This is the most comprehensive, systematic, and objective evaluation of foreign archaeological work in Northeast China to date.
Chapters 2 and 3 systematically cover the archaeological findings of the Paleolithic and Neolithic ages in Northeast China. Chapters 4 to 8 discuss the history and archaeology of Northeast China from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the early Qing Dynasty. A prominent feature of these chapters is their clear and concise explanation of the complex ethnic, political, and historical developments in the vast region of Northeast China, placing all significant artifacts and archaeological discoveries within their respective ethnic, social, and cultural contexts. This transforms "dead" archaeological materials into living historical testimonies. It also extracts information from archaeological materials that is absent in historical records, enriching the historical narrative. This approach is pioneering for both Northeast history and Northeast archaeology, and readers will undoubtedly find it enriching.
Chapter 4 focuses on the history and archaeology of Northeast China's ethnic minorities. It discusses the history of the Donghu (and their descendants, the Xianbei and Wuhuan), the Sushen (known as the Yilou in Han times), and the Fuyu, providing ethnic clues and cultural backgrounds for the Xajiaodian Upper Culture, the Xituanshan Culture, and the Wanghaitun Culture. Chapter 5 covers the political changes, ethnic interactions, and cultural integration in Northeast China during the Three Kingdoms, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Sui, and Tang periods. It elaborates on the historical significance of important Wei and Jin tombs, as well as significant historical sites such as the Gaxiandong inscriptions of Tuoba Taohao. It provides detailed analyses of Goguryeo's history, mountain cities, flatland cities, stone tombs (such as the Houting Mausoleum of King Gao in Jilin and other noble tombs), tomb murals reflecting folk customs, Han cultural influence, Buddhist cultural influence, and other Buddhist artifacts. It also summarizes the history and archaeology of the Xianbei, Sushen, and Wuhu-Jurchen.
Chapter 6 is dedicated to the history and archaeology of Bohai, the maritime power of the Tang Dynasty, reflecting the prosperity of Bohai culture while placing important discoveries in Northeast China, Inner Mongolia, and Beijing within the context of the Tang-Bohai relationship, highlighting the close ties between the Tang Dynasty and Bohai. Chapter 7 covers the long history and founding of the Khitan-led Liao Dynasty (a branch of Donghu) and the Jurchen-led Jin Dynasty (a branch of Sushen), including their interactions and eventual decline. It combines historical records with archaeological findings to present a rich and colorful narrative. It provides detailed analyses of Liao imperial tombs, noble tombs, their artifacts, murals, Liao ceramics and kilns, Khitan script, and Buddhist remains such as temples, Liao pagodas, steles, grottoes, and inscriptions. It also discusses the five capitals of the Jin Dynasty, the Jin Great Wall, Jin official seals, Jurchen script, inscriptions, paintings, and calligraphy, as well as providing insightful analyses of Buddhist remains from the Jin Dynasty. It also mentions the Dongxia regime established in the eastern part of Northeast China during the late Jin Dynasty and its archaeological discoveries, filling gaps in historical records. It also provides an overview of the later Jin Dynasty and the early Qing Dynasty's "Kuangdong" relics.
Chapter 8, Archaeology of the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties, focuses on archaeological findings. Two prominent historical perspectives are presented: first, the regular pathways of ethnic integration, where several ethnic groups first form integrated communities, which then expand to include more groups, as reflected in tomb inscriptions showing intermarriage between different ethnic groups and close contact and cultural integration among the Khitan, Bohai, Han, and Jurchen peoples. It emphasizes the positive influence and significant contributions of the central dynasty's civilization and the Han ethnic group (such as the migration of the Youji people from Youxi and Liaoning-Jin periods) on the social development and ethnic integration of Northeast China. Second, it uses scientific and systematic archaeological evidence to repeatedly demonstrate that the vast region north of the Heilong River and east of the Ussuri River was already under the jurisdiction of the Jin Dynasty and Dongxia. It provides a detailed argument for the historical fact and significance of the Ming Dynasty's establishment of the Nurgan Commandery at Tering near the Heilong River estuary. It cites a wealth of tomb inscriptions, official seals, and rare ancient texts to examine the contents of two monumental works, the Record of the Imperial Command to Repair the Yongning Temple, demonstrating that the vast region north of the Heilong River and east of the Ussuri River was under the jurisdiction of the Nurgan Commandery and belonged to the territory of the Ming Dynasty. The former Jin Dynasty, the predecessor of the Qing Dynasty, also controlled these regions. Therefore, in Chapter 9, Archaeology of the Soviet Far East, it clearly states that Archaeology of the Soviet Far East is essentially the archaeology of the regions north of the Heilong River and east of the Ussuri River, which historically belonged to China. It provides detailed accounts of archaeology in these two regions from the Paleolithic Age to the Muji culture, Bohai culture, and Jin Dynasty Jurchen culture.
Chapter 10, Archaeology of Korea, covers archaeology from the Paleolithic Age to the Three Kingdoms period of Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla, analyzing the relationship between Korean culture and Northeast Chinese culture.
Chapter 11, Archaeology of Japan, introduces a brief history of Japanese archaeology in the early 19th and 20th centuries. It covers Paleolithic archaeology up to the Nara period, introduces the collection of the Shosoin, and provides a brief overview of subsequent history. Mr. Tong believes that the absorption of Sui-Tang culture in ancient times and the absorption of Western culture in modern times are important reasons for the rapid development of Japanese culture.
The second part of the book selects thirteen papers from the author's over 100 publications. These include a long work published when the author was 22 years old, The Westward Migration of the Xiongnu and the Movement of European Ethnic Groups, which demonstrates the author's ambition and expertise in the study of northern ethnic history. There are four papers that crystallize regional and cultural research on the Neolithic Age, providing qualitative and quantitative analyses of stone tool types, forms, and distributions. They also conduct mechanical studies on micro-traces of production and use. This is unique in the field of archaeology. There are also two monographs on microliths and composite Neolithic tools. Additionally, there are five macroscopic discussions on the characteristics of China's Neolithic Age, primitive society, and the origins of Chinese civilization, proposing theories such as multi-centered development, uneven development, the theory of three contact zones, and the theory of kingdom civilization versus state civilization. The final paper is My Research on Chinese Neolithic.