Ancient Shu Civilization: Exhibition on representative Bronze Age society in China

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03:29

An exhibition showcasing the ancient Shu civilization has opened at the National Museum of China. The ancient Shu was a Bronze Age civilization located in modern China's Sichuan province.

Established in the enclosed Sichuan Basin in Southwest China, the ancient state of Shu was a distinct and fascinating civilization. It's also an outstanding representative of Bronze Age Civilizations of China and the world.

To help visitors get an understanding of the ancient Shu and its culture, the exhibition has over two hundred pieces of cultural relics on display. Around 130 of those are classified as first-class relics.

LI BEI DEPARTMENT OF CULTURE, SICHUAN PROVINCE "The ancient Shu civilisation went through three main stages. This is the first time an exhibition is including the process of the formation and development of all the Cultures, and the important cultural relics from the stages."

The discovery of two buried pits in Sanxingdui in the 1980s unveiled the ancient civilizations. Excavations unearthed portraits, exotic bronzes, masks and animal ornaments. The findings amazed people both at home and abroad.

Following the discovery of the Jinsha site at the beginning of this century, a more complete history of the ancient Shu has been presented to the world.

The civilisation arose at around 18-hundred BC. It was conquered by Qin Dynasty in 316 BC and become part of the Chinese civilisation.

DING SIYUE BEIJING "This exhibition is not only a display of archaeological discoveries, but a summary of the ancient Shu civilization. It is the first time an exhibition is comprehensively including all stages of this bronze civilization. In a way, it also reveals the development of Chinese civilization."

Most exhibitions on the ancient Shu focus on the Sanxingdui and Jinsha ruins, which represent the first two of the three major stages of the civilization. The third stage, known as Qingyangyong Culture is rarely featured.

However, since the 1980s, discoveries of relics from this period have been more common.

HUANG YI CURATOR OF THE EXHIBITION "The biggest difference in this exhibition is that it includes the relics of Qingyanggong Culture. And looks at the ancient Shu civilisation as a whole. "

This exhibition also boldly deploys some new academic research techniques. For example: analyzing bronze avatars and golden masks from the perspective of hairstyles and hair accessories, and using this to try to interpret social structure changes on a macro level.

The exhibition also combines some new technology with the ancient relics.

XIE ZHICHENG, DEPUTY CURATOR SICHUAN MUSEUM "We also adopted some high-tech approaches in this exhibition, applying visualization technologies to the relic display. We hope it will help audiences learn about the culture behind the relics more directly."

This exhibition will be open to the public for free until September 19th. It will then tour other cities in China and in Belt and Road countries. DSY, CGTN.