Yuan Jing

　　Prompt: During this year’s sessions of the NPC and CPPCC, besides the usual hot topics of economic and political issues such as urbanization, social employment, anti-corruption and administrative institution reform, many delegates and committee members focused on cultural construction. On March 9, talking about cultural construction, Yuan Jing, a member of the national committee of the CPPCC and research fellow with the Institute of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that in a bid to do well in archaeology, importance should be attached to two things: one is “bringing in” and the other is “going out”.

　　China has made remarkable achievements in archaeology, especially in technical archaeology. We have not only made breakthroughs and innovations in archaeological methods like remote sensing archaeology, animal archaeology, plant archaeology and metallurgical archaeology, but also published a batch of professional works with high academic value such as Methods and Applications of Technical Archaeology-this is China’s first representative book which comprehensively discusses technical archaeology from a practical perspective. However, there’s still a gap between China’s research results and those accumulated by generations of Western researchers during nearly one hundred years. The depth and breadth of China’s archaeology research needs to be greatly improved.

　　“Bringing in” means learning from the world first-class archaeological institutions

　　To raise the level of China’s archaeology, we should keep in touch with world’s first-class institutions in every archaeological field, such as those in Cambridge University and Harvard University, learning from their latest research achievements and advanced archaeological expertise.

　　We could also invite some globally distinguished archaeologists to our academic classes. For example, an expert in animal archaeology from Harvard University was once invited to the laboratory of the Technical Archaeological Center at the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and made several well-received symposiums.

　　“Going out” means going to the regions with great archaeological potential in the world

　　Only “bringing in” is not beneficial enough for the long- term development of China’s archaeology and we should also “go out”, in other words go to the regions with great archaeological potential in the world.

　　We could choose Central Asia as a destination. From the perspective of politics, Central Asia is a region with great strategic significance for China. It is particularly significant for breaking the geopolitical encirclement carried out by certain countries.

　　In terms of culture, China is implementing the project of research into the origin of Chinese civilization, and one important discovery is that Chinese civilization took in excellent foreign cultural elements at its early stage.. About 5,000 years ago, some ancient cultural elements of Western Asia, such as metallurgy, cattle, sheep and wheat were found in the northwestern regions of China. Central Asia was the only route from West Asia to East Asia. Archaeological studies carried out in this region are of great significance for understanding this ancient cultural transmission.

　　Another good reason for us to choose Central Asia is that in spite of its great potential, its archaeological field has not yet been developed. Acting successfully for cultural heritage protection and archaeology in Central Asia should be the definite strategic goal and action plan for Chinese culture to expand abroad.

　　We could begin our work in Central Asia with the following four points:

　　Firstly, archaeological research should be emphasized at the national strategic level, and fully deploy the country’s resources. Relevant state departments may consult with countries in Central Asia about the work to be undertaken. Meanwhile, a team could be formed among the relevant research institutions and professionals of universities and colleges.

　　Secondly, it is necessary to positively take advantage of technical archaeology and pay great attention to protecting cultural heritage. Just like the former Soviet Union, some Western countries can now only obtain limited information in Central Asia due to the lack of technical archaeology. In addition, some countries focus too much on acquiring materials, neglecting cultural heritage protection. We should learn the appropriate lessons from these cases.

　　Thirdly, we must boost academic exchange and cultivate talents by cooperation. All sorts of international academic conferences may be held to exchange material and information about cultural heritage protection and archaeological studies in Central Asia, gradually establishing a regular information exchange system and a mutual trust relationship among scholars. By selecting outstanding talents nationwide to study in Central Asia and Russia as well as accepting students from different countries in Central Asia, special talents may be cultivated to ensure the continuation of Central Asia’s cultural heritage protection and archaeological studies.

　　Fourthly, a base must be established for Central Asian cultural heritage protection and archaeological work. We could consider establishing such a base in Xinjiang, which borders Central Asia, to lay the material foundation for China’s long- term cultural heritage protection and archaeological work in Central Asia.

　　Translated by Yu Hui

　　Editor: Du Mei