Glimpse of history

These artifacts all came from an archaeological excavation in 1921 at what used to be the residences of two families surnamed Dong and Wang. The two mansions were reduced to ruins in 1108 after dams on the Yellow River were breached and the surge destroyed Julu.

Around 1915, people began to dig out objects that bore testimony to Julu's existence and its exquisite art. Seven years later, an archaeological team, led by Qiu Shanyuan on assignment for the museum, then the National Museum of History, arrived at the site to carry out excavation and to protect artifacts from being removed.

What Qiu and his team did marked a critical moment in the establishment of modern archaeology in China. Also in 1921, a team led by Johan Gunnar Andersson from Sweden excavated the Neolithic Yangshao site in Henan province. This work was regarded as the beginning of Chinese archaeology and the efforts of the museum's team in Julu also helped pave the way to a greater understanding of the past.

The current exhibition is one of a series of events to celebrate the National Museum of China's 110th anniversary. More than 240 objects, mostly from its own collection, are on display and include those from some 70 archaeological excavations and surveys the museum has organized or taken part in across the country.

"It is an opportunity for the National Museum of China to share with the public what it has done in archaeology and what it has assembled as vivid examples of Chinese civilization throughout the decades," says Chen Keshuang, the exhibition's curator. The exhibits, he adds, are of varying categories and phases of Chinese culture and also demonstrate technological progress to aid archaeological undertakings being carried out on land, from the air and underwater.