“Center for Earliest China Studies” Unveiled in Henan’s Luoyang City

“Center for Earliest China Studies” Unveiled in Henan’s Luoyang City

“最早中国研究中心”在豫揭牌

 

At the Erlitou Site Museum of the Xia Capital, the main venue of the “Cultural and Natural Heritage Day” in Henan, Chen Xingcan, head of the Institute of Archaeology of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and Wang Fei, member of the Standing Committee of Luoyang Municipal Party Committee and director of the Publicity Department, unveiled the nameplate of “Center for Earliest China Studies”recently.

日前，在河南省“文化和自然遗产日”主会场——二里头夏都遗址博物馆，中国社会科学院考古研究所所长陈星灿，洛阳市委常委、宣传部长王飞共同为“早期中国研究中心”揭牌。

The Erlitou Site Museum of the Xia Capital. [Photo provided to dahe.cn]

Relying on the Erlitou Site Museum of the Xia Capital, a major cultural project during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020), the “Center for Earliest China Studies” is co-built by the Institute of Archaeology of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Erlitou Site Museum of the Xia Capital. Based on the Erlitou site, the center will invite leading professionals and scholars at home and abroad to further study the major issues related to early China, such as time, region, process, foundation, dynamic mechanism, main characteristics and its relationship with other civilizations, summarize relevant theories and gradually build the Erlitou Site Museum of the Xia Capital into a center for the study of early Chinese civilization and an international platform for the study, exhibition and spread of the Xia culture.

“早期中国研究中心”依托于国家“十三五”重大文化工程项目二里头夏都遗址博物馆，由中国社会科学院考古研究所和二里头夏都遗址博物馆共同组建成立。中心依托二里头遗址，集合国内外相关领域一流的专家学者，深入研究中国早期国家出现的时间、地域、进程、基础、动力机制、主要特征及与周边地区文明的关系等重要问题，总结中国早期国家形成及发展的理论，逐步将二里头夏都遗址博物馆打造成为早期中国文明研究的中心，国际夏文化研究、展示和传播的中心。

 

Co-built and managed by the People’s Government of Luoyang and the Institute of Archaeology of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Erlitou Site Museum of the Xia Capital aims to display the history of the Xia Dynasty, archaeological achievements of the Erlitou site, exploration of the Xia culture, achievements of the Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Project and the Project for Tracing Chinese Civilization Origins, etc. The museum has been widely praised since it opened on October 19, 2019. So far, more than 600 thousand people have visited the museum, which has become a window to display and publicize the Xia culture, and spread the Yellow River culture and the Chinese civilization.

二里头夏都遗址博物馆是由洛阳市人民政府与中国社会科学院考古研究所共建共管，集中展示夏代历史、二里头遗址考古成果、夏文化探索历程、夏商周断代工程和中华文明探源工程成果的专题遗址类博物馆。博物馆自2019年10月19日开馆以来，受到了社会各界的普遍赞誉。截至目前，参观人数超过60万人次，博物馆已成为展示和宣传夏文化，传播黄河文化和中华文明的一大窗口。

 

As one of the first six major sites of the Project for Tracing Chinese Civilization Origins, the Erlitou site can be traced back to 3,800 to 3,500 years ago. Verified by archaeology and historical philology, Erlitou was not only the site of the capital of China’s first dynasty, the Xia Dynasty, but also the largest one of the same period. The Erlitou culture, represented by the Erlitou ruins, was the earliest “core culture” in China and even in East Asia. Known as the “earliest China”,  Erlitou was the earliest sovereign state in a broad area and established itself as the core and leader of the overall process of Chinese civilization. The Erlitou site is of great value to the study of the origin of Chinese civilization, the rise of China, the origin of cities, the construction of the capital and the customization of royal palaces.

二里头遗址是中华文明探源工程首批重点六大都邑之一，年代距今约3800-3500年。二里头遗址是经考古学与历史文献学考证的最早王朝——夏朝的都城遗存，是同时期规模最大的都城遗址。以二里头遗址为代表的二里头文化，是中国乃至东亚地区最早的“核心文化”、最早的广域王权国家，被誉为“最早的中国”，是中华文明总进程的核心与引领者。二里头遗址对研究华夏文明的渊源、国家的兴起、城市的起源、王都建设、王宫定制等重大问题具有重要的参考价值。

 

After its establishment, the “Centre for Earliest China Studies” will further pool the wisdom of experts, conduct in-depth research on early Chinese civilization, such as the Xia culture, and better interpret the evolution of early China.

“早期中国研究中心”成立后，将进一步凝聚专家智慧，对包括夏文化在内的早期中国文明开展深入研究，更好地阐释早期中国的演进历程。（来源/大河报·大河客户端 翻译/赵汉青 审校/张玉红）