Why Sanxingdui Cultural Relics Arouse High Concerns Again

【Culture Analysis】

  Recently, the Sanxingdui site is on fire again!

In this round of archaeological excavations, more than 500 important cultural relics such as golden mask fragments, bronze sacred trees, and ivory have been unearthed from 6 newly discovered pits.

One piece of golden noodles is very large in quantity, and it may become the largest golden mask and heaviest golden object of the same period found in China.

For a while, there have been heated discussions on the Internet, and some media even referred to Sanxingdui as the "top searcher".

  The public discussed the Sanxingdui site one after another, which demonstrated the unique charm and deep connotation of Sanxingdui, and strengthened the power of cultural self-confidence.

It is said that a nation with a high degree of cultural self-confidence must have a long-lasting, heavy, and tolerant civilization, and its own subjectivity must be distinctive, strong, and stable. The Sanxingdui site is a testament to the above-mentioned characteristics of Chinese civilization.

  Sanxingdui site is based on the historical thickness of Chinese civilization.

On March 22, when inspecting Zhu Xi Garden in Wuyishan City, Fujian Province, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "If there were no Chinese civilization for five thousand years, where would there be any Chinese characteristics?" The long-lasting Chinese civilization is like a towering tree cultivated on the fertile soil of history. , Luxuriant branches, fruitful, from the branches and leaves can be traced back to the root veins.

The Sanxingdui site is inseparable from the origin of the ancient Shu civilization.

The archaeologist Mr. Yu Weichao believes: “The early Shu culture and the early Ba culture were two bronze cultures located in the Chengdu Plain to the east of Sichuan and the Three Gorges. Cultural circle (district). Since the Xia period, some elements of Erlitou culture have been infiltrated into this cultural circle, and during the Shang period, it has received a large number of influences from the Erlitou and Yinxu cultures. This is the early Shu culture and the early Ba culture. Position in the general lineage of archaeological culture in our country." The Sanxingdui site is divided into four phases, which are the late Neolithic, Xia to early Shang, mid-Shang or slightly later, and late Shang to early Western Zhou.

Among them, the earliest Baodun culture dates back about 4800~4000 years ago. It has a long history, and its accumulation is also profound.

  The Sanxingdui site highlights the height of Chinese civilization.

In his classic book "The Origin of the Family, Private Ownership, and the State", Engels believes: "The era of civilization is a stage of social development. At this stage, the division of labor, the exchange between individuals resulting from the division of labor, and the combination of these two The production of commodities combined with this process has been fully developed and completely changed the entire previous society.” He further pointed out that “the state is a generalization of a civilized society”.

Looking back at the Sanxingdui site with this conclusion, its civilized characteristics are extremely significant.

From the perspective of pottery, the early pottery 盉 of Sanxingdui and the early pottery 盉 of Erlitou are almost indistinguishable except for the quality and size of the pottery. The "General's Helmet" of Sanxingdui is also very similar to the similar artifacts in the Yin Ruins of Anyang, Henan.

Judging from the bronzes, the bronze statues and scorpions of Sanxingdui were obviously influenced by the bronze ritual vessels of the Yin and Shang Dynasties. It can be seen that in the exchange and integration with the Central Plains culture at that time, the ancient Shu civilization has been greatly developed.

  More importantly, the many characteristic artifacts with strong beliefs unearthed in the third and fourth phases show that the ancient city of Sanxingdui was once the capital of the Yufu dynasty, the most dominating Shu land co-owner.

This is exactly the same as the record in "The Book of the King of Shu" that "the first of Shu to be the king, including Cancong, Baiyu, Yufu, Puze, and Enlightened".

In ancient times, "the great event of the country is to worship and war." The statues, ritual vessels and sacrifices unearthed from the Sanxingdui site show that the theocratic state of the ancient Shu civilization has reached a peak, and the combination of theocratic and royal power has created a unique splendid civilization.

  The Sanxingdui civilization shows the breadth of exchanges among Chinese civilizations.

The Sanxingdui site has many common characteristics of Eastern and Western civilizations, and is the brilliant crystallization of early cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries.

Based on the discovered cultural relics such as golden rods, bronze statues, sea shells, etc., we can roughly judge that as early as that time, the ancestors of the ancient Shu kingdom had contact with the civilizations of India, Central Asia, and even the Mesopotamia.

Based on this assumption, although the Sanxingdui civilization is on the so-called "Chinese Fringe", it has a fixed transportation route with the "Land Silk Road" in the northwest, and the ancient road between Yunnan, Burma and India can be directly connected to the south. South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the coastal areas of China can even cross the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which has traditionally been regarded as a "forbidden zone for human life," and interact with the civilizations of that region.

Therefore, Bashu and the outside world in the Bronze Age are by no means a closed space. This kind of openness and tolerance provided the Sanxingdui civilization with strong support to the world.

  Archaeological work is an important cultural undertaking as well as a work of great socio-political significance.

It is about the search for the origin and development of Chinese civilization, the understanding of the splendid achievements of Chinese civilization, the grasp of the contribution of the Chinese civilization to the world, and the recognition and shaping of the Chinese nation’s cultural self-confidence, historical subjectivity, and national cohesion. The significance is great.

For more than 80 years, generations of Chinese archaeologists have continued to explore and explore, finally letting the Sanxingdui site bloom with splendid civilization.

We believe that the archaeological discovery this time is only the tip of the glorious remains of the Chinese civilization. The prospects for future excavations and research are more promising, and the archeology undertaking with Chinese style and Chinese style with Chinese characteristics will surely rise to the next level.

(Author: Xuebin, Department of the Central Party School] [National School of Administration Department of Research and professor of literature and history)