The "Chinese plan" for judging the criteria for entering a civilized society
Listen to the chief expert about the Chinese civilization exploration project" in both popular and academic way, the main research results of the "Chinese civilization exploration project" since its launch in 2002 were introduced, with the archaeological discoveries of civilization sites in various regions of China from 5500 to 3500 years ago as the main content, and the purpose, method, process, results and conclusions of the source exploration project have been brilliantly restored and elaborated.
Wang Wei. In particular, it is worth mentioning that the Chinese civilization exploration project has broken through the shackles of the "three elements of civilization" in the West and put forward a plan for judging China's entry into a civilized society, which has had a wide impact. Wang Wei said: "The so-called source exploration project is to study the process of the origin, formation and development of our Chinese civilization. To put it simply, it is to explore when Chinese civilization was formed, how far back is its history, whether it is 3,300 years, 4,000 years, or 5,000 years, and the most important thing is how to judge whether it has entered a civilized society. You have to measure it according to the three elements of traditional civilization in the world, that is, metallurgy, writing and city, and at present, only Yinxu has it. Because the early Shang Dynasty and the Xia Dynasty have not yet found an exact text. But in fact, if we look at the whole world, for example, the Mayan civilization in Central America, I led a team to excavate it in 2015, and it also entered the royal state, but it did not have metallurgy. The Inca civilization in South America was also very developed, but there was no written language, which shows that the so-called three elements of civilization are not universal. Then we want to find more universal standards. According to Marx's view of historical materialism, I put forward that the state is the most prominent feature of civilized society. The emergence of the state will be reflected in archaeology, so we propose a Chinese plan to judge the entry into a civilized society. To put it simply: the development of production, the increase of population, the emergence of cities;The social division of labor and social differentiation are intensifying, and classes are emerging;Power was constantly strengthened, kingship and state appeared. Among them, the emergence of the state is the most important sign of entering a civilized society, and it is reflected in the archaeological remains as five characteristics: capitals, palaces, high-ranking tombs, ritual vessels, as well as war and violence. ”
Wang Wei said that this criterion is extracted from the practice of Chinese archaeology, "and it is also universal, because any civilization is the result of the state." ”
Let the world realize the grandeur of Chinese archaeology
Wang Wei was born in Changchun, Jilin Province in 1954, caught up with the "Cultural Revolution" when he graduated from primary school, and after one year of middle school, he "went to the countryside after graduating from junior high school to join the queue", and after two years of rural queues, he went to Changchun as a worker in a boiler repair factory. But no matter what stage of life he is in, Wang Wei strives to do his best. When he learned to be a fitter in the factory and began to practice Xi hammer, due to his poor grasp of the essentials, "the right-hand hammer often hit the left hand holding the flat chisel, and the flesh and blood were blurred, and the pain was so painful", but Wang Wei gritted his teeth and insisted, continued to practice hard, and his skill level increased greatly. In addition, in addition to the basic skills, there are many things that need to be mastered to be a fitter, such as the knowledge of plane geometry. Wang Wei only went to junior high school for one year, and he didn't learn a lot of knowledge, "so he learned Xi plane geometry, solid geometry and mathematics with his eldest sister who was in middle school at the time, and also taught himself mechanical drawing, metal technology, and so on." Due to his good performance, he was elected as the propaganda officer of the factory trade union shortly after the completion of his apprenticeship, and later became the vice chairman and deputy director of the trade union.
Fortunately, after the resumption of the college entrance examination, Wang Wei was admitted to the Department of History of Jilin University, majoring in archaeology, and after graduating in 1982, he entered the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and successively served as the director of the Xia Shangzhou Archaeological Research Office, the deputy director and director of the Institute of Archaeology, and was elected as a member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in 2011, and has been the chairman of the Chinese Archaeological Society since 2013.
As an archaeologist, field archaeology is a compulsory course, Wang Wei has participated in the excavation of the cemetery and capital of the Zhou Yanguo in the west of the Liuli River in Fangshan, Beijing, and since 1990, he has presided over the excavation of Henan Yanshi**, Shaanxi Zhouyuan Western Zhou Palace Foundation Site, Henan Anyang Yinxu Xiaomintun Ruins, etc. For the unique role and contribution of archaeology in restoring history and researching history, Wang Wei feels that it is most obvious in the archaeology of the Xia and Shang dynasties, "It turns out that there are records of various parts of the temple buildings of the Zhou Dynasty in the literature, and some people doubt: are those records really the records of the Western Zhou Dynasty, or are they made up later?"Through the excavation of the ruins of the temple in Zhouyuan, we found that the archaeological remains and the documentary records can be well corresponded. If you don't have these discoveries, you can say that the literature records the ideas of the Warring States period. This is when an archaeological discovery can prove or subvert the document. In Wang Wei's eyes, archaeology is such a fascinating discipline, "any fledgling young archaeological team member, a fortuitous and inadvertent discovery, can overturn the conclusions of predecessors."
Wang Wei at the ruins of Copan, the capital of the Mayan civilization in Honduras.
In addition to field archaeology, the international academic perspective of archaeology is also extremely important. Wang Wei studied in Japan from 1987 to 1990 and was a visiting scholar at Waseda University in Japan from 1995 to 1996. He holds a Ph.D. in Literature (Humanities) from Kyushu University, Japan, and a Ph.D. in History from the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He has also been awarded the title of Corresponding Fellow of German Archaeological Researcher, Councilor (Executive Director) of the Asian Historical Society, and Honorary Foreign Member of the Inter-American Archaeological Institute (American Archaeological Association). Since 2012, he has also led teams to Uzbekistan, Honduras and Egypt to carry out archaeological excavations of ancient civilization sites.
The archaeological excavations of different civilizations made Wang Wei deeply feel that "if the society of a region develops independently in isolation, then the progress is very slow;In the continuous exchange and collision of cultures, society can develop rapidly, including our Han and Tang dynasties, which is actually the stage when we accept foreign cultures the most, and it is precisely the most developed and prosperous period. I think this may not only be a problem of Chinese archaeology, but also a problem that may have regularity in the history of human civilization. ”
Wang Wei believes that archaeology does have a unique role in enhancing cultural soft power and expanding international influence. In August 2013, the "World Archaeology Shanghai Forum" was successfully held. In addition to the academic conference, the World Archaeology Shanghai Forum also selected 10 major discoveries and 9 major research results in 2012-2013 from more than 40 selected discoveries and more than 40 studies. "Of course, the selected scholar who presided over the award-winning project felt very honored", Wang Wei remembered, "The archaeologist from Peru was very excited, he said that I would go back to report to **, and ** specially summoned him, which shows what a great honor it is for them to be selected as the world's major archaeological discoveries!."”
As the planner and person in charge of the forum, Wang Wei has made great efforts for this event, and the convening of this forum has also made the world aware of the grandeur of Chinese archaeology. Wang Wei said, "The Liangzhu and Shimao ruins in our country were also selected as the world's top ten discoveries at that time, and our Chinese civilization exploration project was selected as nine important research results. If we hadn't done this in China, and if we hadn't presented these archaeological findings and research results for the judges to understand, there would have been no such results. And in doing so, it brings us closer to the international archaeological community. Now that I think about it, this event may be one of the most significant things in my life in the future. ”
"Archaeology has made me realize the value of my life."
The "World Archaeology Shanghai Forum" is of course an effort to internationalize Chinese archaeology, and as early as 2000, Wang Wei proposed that archaeology should develop in the direction of science, popularization and internationalization.
Regarding the popularization of archaeology, Wang Wei has a saying, "For example, Professor Lin Meicun studied the fire-throwing wheel script, and at most a few people in China could understand his articles, but if he introduced this research result in a more popular language, then hundreds of millions of people would understand the history of the ancient Silk Road." That's why I often use this example to illustrate the importance of public archaeology. Public archaeology is no less important than academic research, but the premise is that there must be a solid foundation of academic research in order to make public archaeology accurate. ”
Many years ago in Japan, Wang Wei found that their very famous archaeologists also went to the ** to promote archaeology, "I remember the first authoritative scholar of Yayoi period research, writing the history of the development of axes, writing about rice culture, and giving lectures, and the common people spent money to listen, which left a very deep impression on me." At that time, I thought, it would be good if China would do the same. Now I am glad to see that the popularization of Chinese archaeology has entered a new era. ”
Wang Wei was a guest on CCTV's "Let's Talk" program.
Nowadays, a lot of Wang Wei's work is to promote and disseminate the Chinese civilization exploration project and the "Archaeological China" project in a deeper and more comprehensive way. In May 2022, he explained the deepening of the Chinese civilization exploration project at the collective study Xi of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China. Since then, he has given dozens of lectures across the country. In addition, he also appeared in many CCTV programs such as "Lu Jian Interview" and "The First Lesson of School", as well as a number of ** "appearances", "striving to let more people understand the connotation and contribution of Chinese civilization".
What does archaeology mean to me?"Archaeology has made me realize the value of my life."Wang Wei said, "The reform allowed me to go to university, the opening gave me the opportunity to go abroad and get my first doctorate, and the new era gave me the opportunity to lead archaeological teams to Uzbekistan along the Silk Road, the Mayan civilization in Central America, and Egypt to excavate, and I was able to experience the diversity of world civilizations." I feel that archaeology has enabled me to fully realize the value of life, and I am very grateful to archaeology, to the country's cultivation of me, and to the reform and opening up policy. Now is indeed the best period for Chinese archaeology. We have the responsibility to seize this opportunity and promote the great development of Chinese archaeology step by step, so that we can be worthy of this era and nation. ”
Reporter: Qian Huanqing Comics: Sun Tingting Editor: Xu Zheng Proofreader: Liu Tian