History And Philology Of The Practice And The Rise Of Scientific Archeology In China 1928-1949

Having reviewed the development of Chinese archaeology before 1928 and revealed the historical and academic background triggering Chinese scientific archaeology of the Institute of History and Philology of Academia Sinica (the IHP), the dissertation discusses the origin of scientific thought of archaeology and points out that academic orientation adopted by the IHP was trying to develop a new scholarship in China in combination with western sinology. Archaeology was regarded by Mr. Fu Ssu-nien as a tool searching for new textual evidence and creating New History in China. Therefore, archaeological practice conducted by the IHP highlighted Chinese New History. Mr. Fu Ssu-nien made great contributions to Chinese archaeology. Meanwhile, the government of Kuomintang played a significant role. The archaeological activities of the IHP from 1928-1949 could be divided into four phases. 1. The exploring phase (1928-29) includes three pioneering excavations at Xiaotun. This was the first period of excavations at Yinxu. 2. The developing phase (1930-34) is from the excavation at Chengziya to the 9^th excavation at Yinxu. 3. The flourishing phase (1935-37) is from the 10^th to 15^th excavations at Yinxu. 4. The persisting phase (1937-49) is from the anti-Japanese War to the Civil War. Four phases indicated a continuous development of scientific archaeology of the IHP. Although the process had been seriously influenced by social events at that time, the guideline of the IHP had never changed. After twenty years' practice, both prehistoric and historic archaeology in China had made great achievements and some basic methods and academic traditions had taken shape. Finally, the dissertation summarizes the characteristics, influences and limitations of scientific archaeology during this period. Chinese scientific archaeology had changed historical perspective and worldview of the nation and brought about academic revolution. These main characteristics could be defined in terms of modern organization and management, nationalistic value, scientism and political liberty which became the foundation of archaeological tradition in China. Under the leadership of Mr. Fu Ssu-nien and Dr. Li Chi, Chinese archaeology paid more attention to discovery rather than research, collecting data but lacking integration and explanation. This gave some negative impact on the professional research.