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This article discusses a study and publication of a collection of Chinese metal artifacts with Islamic scripts that are preserved in the Beijing Niuje Mosque. The artifacts date back to the Ming and Qing dynasties and contain inscriptions in both Arabic and Chinese. The study aims to explore the artistic methods, raw materials, and decorations of the collection, as well as the history of Chinese Muslims. The artifacts provide important evidence of the mutual artistic influences between Chinese and Islamic arts, highlighting the spread of Islamic art to Far East Asia. [Extracted from the article]

A certain number of gold artefacts have been unearthed from the Liujiawa site and Jiezihe site belonging to the late Rui State, from the late era of the early Spring and Autumn Period to the early era of the mid-Spring and Autumn Period (710 BCE–650 BCE). To study the manufacturing technology of these gold artefacts, non-destructive microscopic observation and element composition analysis were carried out by an ultra-depth field microscope and a scanning electron microscope with energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer. The results showed that all the gold objects were made of native gold, with the production processes including hammering, drawing, casting and inlaying. Most of the objects were finished by surface processing. The discovery of gold artefacts in the late Rui State period not only reflects the diversification of the gold artefact technology system in the late era of the early Spring and Autumn Period but is also the evidence of the people association and cultural communication between the Central Plains and northern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A proposal has recently been made to relabel most of the period of Chinese history commonly known as the Northern Dynasties (386–581 CE) as "the Tabgatch empire." The hope is that such a change might help avoid teleological assumptions that these dynasties were merely half of a temporarily divided China that was destined to eventually be reunified. This change of label also emphasizes the ethnic non-Han Chinese origins of these dynasties' rulers by using a non-Chinese name. Problematizing the very idea of China, the same scholar has even proposed to "jettison the term 'China' altogether." But, while there was indisputably much ethnic and cultural diversity in geographic China during these centuries, and fertile interaction, there remained powerful elements of mainstream continuity stretching from antiquity through the "reunified" Tang dynasty (618–907) and beyond. These continuities included historical memory, institutions, written language, and elite culture, for which China and Chinese may still be as good English designations as any. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous recent discoveries in China of ancient tombs have greatly increased our knowledge of ritual and religious practices. These discoveries include excavated oracle bones, bronze, jade, stone and pottery objects, and bamboo manuscripts dating from the twelfth to fourth century BCE. Inscribed upon these artifacts are a large number of records of numerical sequences, for which no explanation has been found of how they were produced. Structural links to the Book of Changes, a divination manual that entered the Confucian canon, are evident; yet, the algorithm described therein dates to the slightly later second to first century BCE. By combining archeological and statistical evidence, we propose a new methodology that enables us to reconstruct and test cleromantic techniques which can explain how these numerical sequences were generated. Dice and divination stalk use, either in combination or separately, appear in fact to have been underlying the rather stable numerical patterns in ancient China all the way back to the late Shang dynasty (1300–1046 BCE). Bringing to light such a long-standing technique, which awaits further confirmation from the ever-growing database of newly discovered numerical and textual records, can change drastically our understanding of early Chinese history and of the historical development of sophisticated arithmetical practices and the rationalization of chance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay examines Chinese woven inscriptions dated from the first to fifth centuries CE and excavated in Xinjiang in order to explore the relationship between close reading and close looking as part of the study of writing in art history. It suggests that material processes that underlie the production of writing become legible when writing is seen up close. Yet, to read closely requires a certain distance from the writing, so that these processes do not interfere with the readability of the text. Weavers, however, occupied a unique position where the legible techniques of making writing are inextricable from its readable content. By tracing weavers' design processes, this essay attends to all relevant viewing distances, and takes into account both readable content and legible manufacture, in order to highlight weavers' innovations in script design by way of their material literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis of settlement pattern and production organization of the Jinsha settlement suggests that it was less strictly organized than the Sanxingdui settlement and that it was inhabited by heterogeneous social groups during the early Bronze Age. Measuring and evaluating the standardization of two types of pottery vessels (i.e., jars with small bases [xiaopingdi guan 小平底罐] and saucers with pointed bottoms [jiandizhan 尖底盞]) reveal that potters employed different patterns for products to be used in different contexts. Vessels are more standardized at loci close to the sacrificial zone (where ritual paraphernalia were buried), while vessels used as burial goods tend to be smaller. Pottery production was loosely organized, ranging between individual and nucleated workshops, and widely distributed across loci both near the sacrificial zone and on the periphery of Jinsha. The sacrificial zone at the center of the settlement apparently created needs that promoted production activities. The presentation of multiple types of production in the Jinsha core, together with religious activities and public buildings, suggests not only multiple chaînes opératoires for objects but also communal activities and entangled social relations. Such gatherings and driving forces enabled different social groups to redress social tensions while promoting consensus. Crafters might have cooperated when necessary, but they were otherwise organized in a flexible manner, maintaining at most a loose network of production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the results of the analysis of survey archaeobotany samples from the Sushui valley. This provides evidence for changes over time for a region in the proportions of crops, especially rice versus millets. In addition, the composition of samples, both grouped by period and considered on a sample-by-sample basis, are considered as representing routine crop-processing waste, from which it is suggested that typical patterns of routine crop processing (after storage) can be inferred. These patterns, in turn, imply something about processing prior to storage and the social organization of agricultural production, suggesting the hypothesis that crop-processing patterns diversified during the emergence of complex societies with some sites with larger scale practices while others were focused on the household level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The archaeological culture found in Xiaohe Cemetery (1980-1450 BC) is one of the early Bronze Age cultures in Xinjiang, northwestern China. The material assemblages from Xiaohe culture display features with both eastern and western influences. These east-west cultural and dietary interactions may be observed via the diet of the Xiaohe population. This paper examined the stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes of human and animal bones and human hairs from the Xiaohe Cemetery and compared with those of human bones from the Gumugou Cemetery, another Xiaohe culture site. The results indicate that the diets of the peoples from the Xiaohe culture varied significantly over different periods. The unified diets of the earlier periods reflect that an admixed population first settled in the Lop Nur region and primarily engaged in animal husbandry. In the later periods, the transformations in the human diets in this region reflect that new immigrants constantly relocated here and promoted population complexity over time. Moreover, this population occasionally produced small quantities of domesticated wheat and millet. The complex population and diversified economy of the Xiaohe culture were due to the expansion of the coeval cultures in the Eurasian steppe and eastern immigrants. Additionally, the millet cereal was probably mainly used for ritual practices rather than for staple food in the later periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2013, the Department of Archaeology, School of History of Wuhan University and the Panlongcheng City Ruins Museum excavated seven burials of the Shang Dynasty at Yangjiawan Locality within the Panlongcheng Site in Wuhan City. All the burials were vertical earthen shaft burials. Some of the burials featured waist pits, human and/or animal sacrifices. The grave goods assemblage included artifacts made of bronze, jade, stone, pottery, gold and turquoise. Some of the unearthed objects were seen for the first time in the archaeology of Panlongcheng. The burials can be roughly dated to the terminal phase of the Panlongcheng Site. The Yangjiawan Locality yielded the densest distribution of burials in the Panlongcheng Site. It was an important cemetery of the early to the mid Shang Dynasty. The cemetery was in close proximity to a previously excavated large-scale architectural foundation of the Shang Dynasty. Together, these findings are important information for the understanding of the layout of the Panlongcheng Site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1935, the Bavarian State Ethnological Museum, now Museum Fünf Kontinente in Munich acquired several early Chinese objects at a series of sales held at the Berlin auction house of the Jewish art dealer Paul Graupe. The research results presented in this article are based on the findings that were initially prompted by a restitution claim for these objects. According to the title of the auction catalogue, the circumstances of the forthcoming sale appeared to be the liquidation of the stock of the firm Dr Otto Burchard & Co, Berlin, with Chinese art in catalogue volume I, offered on 22 and 23 March 1935 and a further section catalogued in volume II, offered on 29 April 1935. At the sale, the museum bid successfully on thirty-eight artefacts. In addition, two sculptures were donated to the museum after the Second World War which had been bought at the same sale by third parties. The need for investigation raised questions about the reasons that had prompted the auctions and the liquidation of the firm Dr Otto Burchard in the first place, and about the previous provenance of the Chinese objects. In the wider context of provenance research, the earlier history of the objects also had to be investigated. Extensive research covering museum documentation, a wide range of archival records and the assessment of a highly complex financial situation formed the basis for a new perspective on the potentially contentious circumstances of this acquisition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The Abbey Celebrating the Tang [ Qingtang guan 慶唐觀], a Daoist temple on Mount Longjiao in southern Shanxi Province, played a special role in the religious history of China in the Tang dynasty. Because of the myth that Laozi himself emerged from this mountain during the war to found the Tang state, this abbey was closely linked to the political legitimation of the Tang. Even plants in this abbey were regarded as the harbingers of the fate of the state. The emperor Xuanzong erected a huge stele in the Abbey Celebrating the Tang, demonstrating the support enjoyed from the royal house. Images of the six emperors, from Tang Gaozu to Xuanzong, were also held in the abbey. After the collapse of the Tang dynasty in 907, the Abbey Celebrating the Tang lost its political, legitimizing privileges, but its connection with the local community continued to develop well into the Song, Liao, Jin, and later dynasties. The creation and transformation of the Abbey Celebrating the Tang not only show the political influence of popular religion in ancient medieval China but also provide an interesting case of how a Daoist temple grew in popularity and prestige after it lost favor with the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From November 2012 to May 2013, the Erlitou Archaeological Team of the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of the Social Sciences found a roughly north-south orientated rammed-earth wall (Q7) and hardtrodden road surface parallel to the wall in the vicinity of the workshop zone of the Erlitou Site. The wall was most likely erected during Erlitou Phase II and continued to be in use until the early stage of Phase IV. The trodden roads took form during Phase II and ended in Phase III or early stage of Phase IV. Together with the previous findings, the excavators postulated two competing propositions on the rammed-earth wall in question. It was the west wall of the walled workshop zone or it was the east wall of a walled enclosure has yet to be discovered to its west. The roads were auxiliary facilities of the walled zone when it was in use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2012, 198 burials were excavated in the Dadianshan Cemetery site in Changning County, Yunnan. The striking differences in burial structure and grave goods of these burials suggest that the cemetery was used by two different ethnic groups. The structure of the burials can be classified into earthen cave burials, earthen pit burials and urn burials. The first type has never been seen in the Bronze Age archaeology of Yunnan. They yielded rich assemblage of grave goods predominantly comprising bronze artifacts, the main types of which were sabers, spearheads, bracelets, yue-battle axes, swords, buckles, etc. They were likely associated with the ancient Ailao people of the late Spring-and-Autumn to late Warring- States Periods. The second burial type was prevalent in Bronze Age Yunnan. These burials yielded small number of or no grave goods. In addition to bronze, the grave goods assemblage also comprised of iron, bimetallic, stone and pottery artifacts. They were likely associated with the Di and Qiang people during the mid Warring- States Period to the late Western Han Dynasty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main body of the site of Huahaizi No. 3 in Qinghe (Qinggil) County, Xinjiang, is a stone cairn surrounded by a stone circle with cross-shaped spokes. Around it, stone circles and stone cairns for sacrifices are located. In addition to two deer stones, shieldshaped stones, a simple wooden frame structure and fragments of human bones and sheep teeth used as sacrifices were found. The scientific data and the style of the deer stones show that this site was in use from around the 9th century BCE. The archaeological remains and artifacts show that this site and similar remains are for sacrificial activities, which might be related to the worship of sun, the moon and other celestial bodies or phenomena. The Sandaohaizi Site and similar remains found nearby as well as at the Arzhan kurgans in Tuva, Southern Siberia would have been left by the same people; Sandaohaizi was the summer ritual center of this early nomadic society and Arzhan was its royal necropolis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From December 2012 to January 2016, the First South China Archaeological Team, Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Hainan Museum conducted excavations to the Qiaoshan and Lianziwan Sites in Lingshui County and Yingdun Site in Sanya City, all in Hainan Province. The unearthed artifacts showed that the polished red-coated pottery wares and sandy pottery wares found in the south of Yingdun Site clearly belonged to different archaeological cultures, based on which the cultural remains of the Yingdun Site are divided into the early and late phases. The artifacts belonging to the early phase are pottery wares, stone tools, strung ornaments made of fish bone and large amount of marine and terrestrial animal remains. The Lianziwan Site in Lingshui County yielded potsherds, stone tools and large amount of animal remains. The cultural remains of the Qiaoshan Site can be also divided into the early and late phases. The early phase yielded pottery wares and stone tools, and the features of the late phase were mainly the surface of the Stratum 3 and burials, the artifacts of which were pottery wares and stone tools. Based on the stratigraphicalrelationships and the characteristics of the unearthed artifacts, the basic chronological sequence of "Cultural remains of Yingdun Site→Cultural remains of Lianziwan Site → Cultural remains of Qiaoshan Site" can be established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the years 2014 and 2015, the Joint Excavation Team at Zhouyuan conducted excavations of the rammedearth foundations in the northern area of Hejia Village, a residential-burial area, a chariot-and-horse pit and a horse pit centered by the Fengchu palace complex, as well as five ponds and canals in a water reticulation system. The artifacts found in the rammed-earth foundations include golden foil objects, turquoise pieces, protoporcelain artifacts, lacquer objects, jades and cowry shells. The features found in the residential-burial area include burials, ash pits and house foundations, and these features contained artifacts such as bronzes, pottery and proto-porcelain vessels, jades, stone implements and lacquer objects. The excavations of the five ponds and canals in the water reticulation system and the previous fieldwork results showed that there was a well-planned water reticulation system consisting of the natural river system and an artificial canal system including water ponds, headwater canals, trunk canals and branch canals of different levels at the Zhouyuan Site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discoid core and the Levallois core are important symbols of the Middle Paleolithic Age in the west of the Old World. The two types of artifacts show not only technical relationships but also differences. The discoid core can be classified into two sub-types, namely the unifacial and the bifacial classes. In China, discoid cores may have appeared in the upper Middle Pleistocene, and prevailed in the lower and middle Upper Pleistocene, which corresponded to the middle Paleolithic Age in Europe and to the Middle Stone Age in Africa. The discovery and study of discoid cores provide significant insight into the culture of the Middle Paleolithic Age in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In July through September 2012, the tomb of Mme Yi, the De Consort of the Later Tang Dynasty was excavated. It was a brick multi-chamber tomb consisting of the passage, the entrance, the corridor, the main chamber and the side chambers, the full length of which was 24.1m. 208 pieces (sets) of grave goods were unearthed from this tomb, including porcelains, silver and bronze wares, iron objects, bone implements, lacquer wares, architectural parts and the epitaph. This tomb show more styles of the Han Culture, which was special among the tombs of the Liao Dynasty of the same time. The content of the epitaph made up the insufficient records of the historical textual materials and provided important materials for the researches on the relationship between the Khitan and the Later Tang and Later Jin Dynasties in the Five-Dynasties Period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the auctions of Chinese snuff bottle in New York in September 2017 which include the collection of Dr. Faith and Sylvan Golder at Bonhams and the Ruth and Carl Barron Collection of Fine Chinese Snuff Bottles at Christie's.

With a focus on Chinese bronze antiquities, this study examines the relationship between collecting and studying in early twentieth-century Japan and investigates how ancient Chinese forms were appropriated for different purposes. Japanese reception of Chinese bronze antiquities can be summarized in three phases. Firstly, the 1903 exhibition organized by the Imperial Museum presented a mixture of the karamono tradition of Japan and the jinshixue antiquarian knowledge of China. Secondly, in the 1910s, the Chinese antiquarian view became dominant as acclaimed Chinese collections were transported to Japan in large numbers. Finally, in the 1920s, the Chinese antiquarian view yielded to modern art historical and archaeological analysis when unearthed bronzes gained attention and the modern discipline of archaeology was introduced to Japan. Analysis of bronze reproductions further sheds light on the triangulation of collecting, studying and appropriating in each phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an accompanying paper (Journal of Anthropological Research 73(2):149-80, 2017), the authors assess current archaeological and paleobiological evidence for the early Neolithic of China. Emerging trends in archaeological data indicate that early agriculture developed variably: hunting remained important on the Loess Plateau, and aquatic-based foraging and protodomestication augmented cereal agriculture in South China. In North China and the Yangtze Basin, semisedentism and seasonal foraging persisted alongside early Neolithic culture traits such as organized villages, large storage structures, ceramic vessels, and polished stone tool assemblages. In this paper, we seek to explain incipient agriculture as a predictable, system-level cultural response of prehistoric foragers through an evolutionary assessment of archaeological evidence for the preceding Paleolithic to Neolithic transition (PNT). We synthesize a broad range of diagnostic artifacts, settlement, site structure, and biological remains to develop a working hypothesis that agriculture was differentially developed or adopted according to "initial conditions" of habitat, resource structure, and cultural organization. The PNT of China is characterized by multiple, divergent evolutionary pathways: between the eastern and western parts of North China, and between and the Yangtze Valley and the Lingnan region farther south. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses the use of the exhibition of the Chinese terracotta army as a teaching tool. She mentions how the exhibition can be worked into the curriculum for the study of ancient history, suggestions for managing a student visit, and suggestions for investigation of the artifacts.

In the past several decades, our understanding of the Laozi has been revolutionized by the discovery of new textual materials. While research has focused on various manuscript copies, the discovery of other cosmogonic texts dated to the late fourth century BC indicate that the Laozi was not as unique as it once seemed. Taken together, these texts show a radical shift in philosophical orientation occurring by the late 4th century BC, a change toward concerns with cosmogony and accounts of human beings as merely one part of the natural world. The goal of this paper is to analyze the various elements of this shift, using the Taiyi Sheng Shui 太一生水 (Great One Generates Water), Hengxian 恆先 (Constancy First), and Fan Wu Liu Xing 凡物流形 (All Things Flow into Form), along with the Laozi bamboo strips found at Guodian. The first section examines the commonalities between the various cosmogonies; the second places cosmogony in the context of other distinctive concerns that the texts share, turning toward the implications of the cosmogonies for human action. The final section examines one of the fundamental points on which the texts disagree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is difficult to trace the range of available divinatory numbers from the statistics of digital hexagrams. Now, however, we have definite proofs about the numerical ranges of Shifa (a new unearthed divination method) and about the Dayan divination method (the orthodox divination method of Zhouyi). As Shifa is closely related to Guicang (Reverting to the Hidden, Yi of Shang dynasty), SEVEN could be the key divinatory number in analyzing the numerical range of Guicang. Therefore, relationships among number groups of different divination methods could be distinct. The annotation "It is divined by the fixity of SEVEN and EIGHT of Yi in Xia and Shang dynasties" implies that Jia Gongyan (a famous confucian of the Tang dynasty) had misused the Dayan divination method. It could be certified by the odd-even analysis of Guicang of Qin Bamboo Slip Manuscripts. This study also reveals that the divinatory numbers of unearthed dice correspond to Shifa rather than the original report. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay agrees that the two controversial characters on Slip 12 of the Hengxian 亙先 should be transcribed as "..." and "...," and pronounced as "ji" 極. Secondly, with respect to six occurrences of the character "亙" (heng) on Slips 1−9 which Qiu Xigui 裘錫圭 reads as "極" (ji), this essay holds that in the end it should be read as "恆" (heng), and that the reading provided by Li Ling 李 零is acceptable. Therefore, that piece of bamboo slip writing can be named "恆 先" (Hengxian). Thirdly, "亙" (heng) and "亙先" (hengxian), or "恆" (heng) and "恆先" (hengxian), are two concepts, the latter of which is based on the former. "亙" (heng) is more fundamental and more important than "亙先" (hengxian). Scholars mostly equate "恆" (heng) with "恆先" (hengxian), and even regard "恆 先" as the prior expression of this concept. One can hardly say that this is correct. In the bamboo writing, "恆" (heng) actually refers to "tian dao" 天道 (heavenly dao), rather than "dao" in the Laozi. The so-called "恆先" (hengxian) suggests the very commencement of the genesis and evolvement of Heavenly dao, which is somewhat equivalent to "taishi" 太始 (grand commencement) in the Huainanzi 淮南子. Fourthly, in the Hengxian, "恆" (heng) implies objective and natural laws, while "極" (ji) suggests ought-to-be rules. "極" (ji) in the bamboo writing is actually informed by "恆" (heng). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the course of Chinese history, we find three instances of important and deliberate attempts to reconstruct ancient history. In the first two, the main path followed in the reconstruction process concerned setting in order and recovering the traditional writings. But recently, the main path is to confirm the genuineness of the traditional writings, correcting errors and filling in omissions in the traditional concepts according to the "method of double proof." Based on this, I aim to advance a new understanding of some key controversial issues in the history of learning in early China, concerning Confucius and the Book of Changes, the Analects and the Analects-kind texts, the School of Zisi and its literary output, Lao Zi the man and the book, and the dates of Wen Zi, Guanyin Zi, and Lie Zi. On this basis, I conclude that the development of pre-Qin philosophy went through four periods, with two significant turning points therein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses papers in the current issue of "Frontiers of Philosophy in China," devoted to research on recently excavated texts from Chinese antiquity, with topics such as historiography of philosophical thinking, the cosmological and cosmogonical thinking in classical Chinese philosophy, and the system of moral education based on the Wuxing manuscripts.

What was a revolutionary museum in the Mao era, and what are the lives and afterlives of its artifacts? This article traces the exhibitionary culture of the town of Anren, home to both the Mao-era sculptural icon the Rent Collection Courtyard and the Jianchuan Museum Cluster, China’s largest private museum and collection of Maoist memorabilia. Examining the production and reception of exhibits from the 1950s to the present, we argue that—far from mausoleums that relegate objects safely to history—museums in China have been dynamic and vital public spaces that have defined and redefined the past for the present, serving as both a medium and a product of revolutionary culture. Over the last six decades, museums have paraded the revolution’s spoils, served as a schoolroom for class education, replaced traditional temples as new ritual sites, staged theatrical performances, held court over historical cases, and, finally, commodified their collections into tourist memorabilia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reviews an auction of Chinese snuff bottles from the collection of Faith Golder and Sylvan Golder, held on March 19, 2018.

The transition to a cast iron industry was essential to the development of ancient China. Previous studies, however, did not address precisely how this process occurred and how the preexisting bronze industry could have served as the foundation for the transition. This paper develops a framework focusing on three parameters—techniques, assemblages of final products, and production organization—to investigate the mechanism of the transition to cast iron. Results of two case studies indicate that the three parameters do not demonstrate dramatic changes between the two industries. Also, cast iron and bronze foundry workers were not segregated; they often worked side by side at the same foundry. Very likely, the cast iron foundry workers adopted and adjusted the original bronze production techniques and, consequently, maintained the preexisting organization. This study illustrates how cast iron manufacturing developed based on the indigenous bronze production in the Central Plains of China, and aims more broadly to contribute to the discussion of technological transitions in archaeological contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Museums are judged not solely on the basis of their exhibition quality and collection care but, within a corporate model, they are also judged on quantitative measures such as audience numbers and, in turn, their financial viability. Programming has, therefore, become a major focus of forward planning and the basis for funding development. Blockbuster exhibitions, strategically placed throughout annual programs, have been a common way to increase audience numbers and sustain support. In more recent times, the blockbuster model has developed to address more complex measures of success beyond their quantifiable benefits. In addition to the aim of increasing visitor numbers, the blockbuster exhibition and its associated public and education programs, have been effectively utilized as a means of broadening and diversifying audiences. Such efforts help museums to meet expectations, often set by governments, to address and reflect the diverse demographic communities within which they are situated and to whom they serve. The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) in Australia provides one such example of a museum that is working creatively within the blockbuster model in order to present exhibitions that build on their collection strengths and existing programs, attract large audiences and engage diverse audiences by focusing on community building. This paper uses the AGNSW blockbuster exhibition The First Emperor: China's Entombed Warriors, to examine the role of this format in contemporary museums more broadly. We use this exhibition as a frame by which to analyse how the Gallery has modified the blockbuster model, and indeed built on it, in order to target geographically and culturally diverse audiences. We argue that this has been effectively achieved as a result of the Gallery building blockbusters around their curatorial and collection strengths, by working with external organizations and community groups and by offering a range of activities and opportunities for engagement both within the museum and outside of its boundaries. This exhibition proves that when blockbusters are used creatively to support museum wide efforts to engage culturally and linguistically diverse audiences they can achieve success that is both quantitative and qualitative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the creation of a mobile laboratory designed to address the need for exploration, research, and preservation of a high number of archaeological and cultural heritage sites in China which are geographically dispersed and in some instances in remote locations. It notes the project was led by Dunhuang Academy in collaboration with the National Museum, Tsinghua University, the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and other Chinese institutions. It notes that since 2009 the laboratory has been utilized at sites in six provinces including the Feng-qiyuan tomb in Shaanxi province, China. It cites equipment installed in the laboratory including remote sensing equipment, chemical analysis instruments, and environmental data monitoring equipment.

Johan Gunnar Andersson was a Swedish economic geologist who went to China in 1914 as a mining consultant to the Chinese Government but soon, without prior experience or education in archaeology, became an archaeological geologist who discovered the famous 'Peking Man' site at Zhoukoudian and uncovered and defined the prehistoric Chinese Neolithic Period with his excavations and analysis of the site of Yangshao, Henan Province, China. These two discoveries were only the highlights of his pioneering expeditions in China. In his eleven years there he helped open up the country to modern methods in archaeology. As an outgrowth of his excavations in China he founded the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities in Stockholm. This museum became the recipient of a sizeable portion of his many excavated artifacts, some unique in China and in the West. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes the adaptations of harps depicted in murals of the western regions of China. The article discusses harps during seventh century CE, including the arch shaped Qiu-Zi harp, an angular structured harp, various paintings of grottoes illustrating different types of harp, including a scene of heavenly music painted in the Kumtura cave. The article also describes images of a woman singing and accompanying herself on arched harp on a wall painting at Kizil cave.

For many modernist writers, museum exhibitions of art and artifacts from ancient China provide a touchstone for the conceptual and linguistic innovations of the twentieth century. However, even critics who explore the influence of these exhibitions on modern literature, such as Zhaoming Qian, understand the museum's effect in terms of how it shapes literary motifs, rather than considering the impact of broader curatorial principles that present China as an aestheticized emblem largely disengaged from the realities of its modern counterpart. This study considers how the museum informs modern literature's fantasy of China as curated in the Little Magazines. First tracing the reception of Chinese antiquity through the institutional frame of the modern museum, I then proceed through an analysis of how the poetry and prose of the little magazines mirrors exhibitionary principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The excavation of tombs in the Astana graveyard, Turfan, has provided a wealth of evidence for studying everyday life on the Silk Road. Manuscripts and textiles constitute two major groups of the excavated finds. Among the manuscripts are over 60 burial inventories (yiwushu), listing items that would accompany the deceased to the afterlife. Some of the items on the inventories were real and can be identified with objects found in the tombs; some were represented symbolically: for example in miniature form; and others, probably included for formulaic purposes, were imagined. Although there have been several studies on the burial inventories and textiles from Turfan, the two are usually considered separately, with little attention to their correlation, mainly because burial inventories tend to be studied by specialists working on documents, and textiles are usually studied by textile specialists. In 2005 we were fortunate to be able to examine all the textiles from a mid-sixth century tomb at Astana (72TAM170), and to study the three burial inventories found in that tomb. Comparing the physical textile remains against the burial inventories from the same tomb offered us a rare opportunity to test the accuracy of the burial inventories, and also to identify the physical textile remains with the textile terminology of that time. This article is arranged in four parts which present a brief description of the tomb, details of the burial inventories, a comparison of the textile remains against the burial inventories and a closer look at the silk textiles found in the tomb. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Archaeological survey in the Chengdu Plain of Sichuan Province has revealed settlement patterns surrounding Late Neolithic walled sites, including large numbers of small settlements from the Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Han Dynasty eras. Here geophysical survey and excavation at one of these small-scale sites dating to the Middle Bronze Age are reported, showing for the first time the value of high-resolution geophysics for evaluating site size and integrity in the Chengdu region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immovable historical relics in some archeology museums of China suffer deterioration due to their improper preservation environment. The existing environmental control systems used in archeology museums are often designed for the amenities of visitors, and these manipulated environments are often inappropriate for the conservation of abiotic relics. This paper points out that the large open space of the existing archeology museum could be a cause of deterioration of the relics from the point of view of indoor air convective flow. The paper illustrates the need to introduce a local pit environmental control, which could reintegrate a pit primitive environment for the preservation of the historical relics by using an air curtain system, orientated to isolate the unearthed relics, semiexposed in pits to the large gallery open space of the exhibition hall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an examination into the history and philosophical interpretation of the "Kaogutu," or "Illustrated Investigations of Antiquity," the earliest extant catalog of Chinese antiquities created by Lü Dalin in 1092. The author asserts a new paradigm for understanding the document, suggesting it is a work advocating sensory-based moral philosophy. Comparisons are made between the contents of the "Kaogutu" and Lü Dalin's previous writings on sensory ethics. Contrasts are also drawn between the philosophical stances of Lü Dalin against his teacher Cheng Yi. Conclusions are offered suggesting that Lü Dalin successfully influenced the elevation of collecting of antiquities in Chinese society to a moral practice.

The arrangement of the chronology of the Jin marquises cemetery should be from the Marquis Wu to Marquis Zhao according to Tianma - Qu Village marquises of the cemetery in accordance with the records of descent corresponding sequence of Jin marquises in Shiji * Jin Shijia. Jin, Yi and Jiang are three different capitals of Jin. Jin located in today's the Tianma - Qu Village, and Yi may be ruins in Gucheng village, Jiang is likely around the site of Weigou - Beishoucheng. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates change processes regarding the managerial aspects of organizing cultural heritage activities in China. The focus is not on the historical and artistic meanings of archaeological discoveries in themselves; nor on the technical, scientific and methodological repercussions of conservation and restoration; nor on the evolution of museology per se. Rather, the core of the analysis is on new managerial problems along the "archaeological chain" (archaeological discoveries, restoration, museum definition and public access to cultural heritage) posed by new professional discourse and the overall evolution of the economic and political context. The article is based on field research carried out in Luoyang, Henan province. The micro view adopted (managing practices more than policies), and the unusual access to data (including financial figures on individual entities) represent a unique opportunity for a sort of "journey" inside the Chinese public sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case study of the cultural significance of Chinese artifacts displayed at an exhibition in New Zealand on January 15, 1937. Topics reviewed include relations between China and European countries through history, the appraisal of Chinese art objects by European people, and the reception of the New Zealand exhibition in the country and around the world. Works by art historian Craig Clunas and historian J.C.Beaglehole on the Chinese objects mentioned are also reviewed.

The Zhunge'er (Junggar) Basin in northern Xinjiang was a key crossroads in antiquity for the dispersal of ideas and technological innovations from the Eurasian steppe into the heartland of central China. The Bronze Age chronology of the Zhunge'er Basin is chiefly based on relative dating and little is known about subsistence strategies, although the strong tradition of nomadic and transhumant pastoralism among modern populations suggests that there may have been a high degree of mobility. The visibility of ancient cemeteries and the need to salvage graves before they are looted have resulted in a lack of focus on settlements, with a consequent assumption that in antiquity agriculture played a limited role. This assumption has been challenged by rescue excavations at the Jimusa'er (Jimsar) Luanzagangzi site, which indicate that agriculture may have been a significant component of Bronze Age subsistence strategies. Small-scale soundings at settlement sites provide well-stratified sequences of material for absolute dating which can be used to place the artifacts recovered from graves in a more secure chronological context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an edition of an an ötüg, or memorandum, of the West Uygur Kingdom of Qočo, which uses both prose and verse to represents military, cultural, and political events. The work discusses the subjugation of the Tokuz Tatar, peoples along the Tarim River, and the city of Talas, the rājaśāstra, an Indian genre which discusses how kings should rule, and praise for the realm. The authors date the work to the Yuan period in the 13th to 14th centuries due to the use of words from New Persian and the use of Chinese characters as heterographs and suggest that the events it describes took place in the Turfan region of China.

This article, accompanied by colour photos, records the author's recent archaeological expedition in the Taklamakan Desert. His advance northwards along the now mostly sand-covered beds of the Keriya River proved to be a march backward through time, from the Iron Age city of Jumbulakum to the early Bronze Age necropolis of Ayala Mazar. The artifacts he found are contemporary with, and similar to Chinese discoveries at Xiaohe. This proves that Xiaohe was not an isolated case and provides evidence for a whole culture based on some sort of fertility cult. The remains also suggest that some, at least, of the peoples concerned had Indo-European affiliations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: It is very difficult to measure the chemical composition of colored pigments of over-glaze porcelain by X-ray fluorescence because it contains high concentration of Pb. One of the disadvantages of our polycapillary optics is that it has low transmission efficiency to the high energy X-ray. However, it is beneficial to measure the chemical compositions of rich Pb sample. In this paper, we reported the performances of a tabletop setup of micro-X-ray fluorescence system base on slightly focusing polycapillary and its applications for analysis of rich Pb sample. A piece of Chinese ancient over-glaze porcelain was analyzed by micro-X-ray fluorescence. The experimental results showed that the Cu, Fe and Mn are the major color elements. The possibilities of the process of decorative technology were discussed in this paper, also. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]