Sanxingdui artifacts impress Beijing visitors

Flocks of visitors lined up to see the exhibition Unveiling San­xingdui of Ancient Shu Civilization on the opening day at the Grand Canal Museum of Beijing on Thursday. Experts introduced that among the 265 exhibits, many had left Southwest China's Sichuan Province for the first time.

The exhibition has gathered cultural relics from 12 cultural institutions and museums focusing on ancient Shu civilization. Among them, 46 sets are national first-class cultural relics. The exhibits consist of bronze vessels, jadewares, goldwares and pottery.

From the Bronze Standing Figure to the Bronze Sun-shaped Object to the Bronze Twisted Kneeling Figure, from many unique cultural relics to a group of gold foil dating to the Shang Dynasty (c.1600BC-1046BC), these unearthed artifacts repeatedly amazed visitors.

Sanxingdui cultural relics are so mysterious that there are still some questions that need to be answered.

During his introduction tour through the exhibits, Gao Hongqing, a research fellow at Beijing's Capital Museum, told the Global Times that the Bronze Sun-shaped Object, one of two items restored by archaeologists, indicates that ancient people worshiped the sun.

"Some people find that its shape looks like the wheel of a carriage or a shield. Of course, there is room for imagination and people need to find corresponding items to prove their theories," said Gao.

Another impressive artifact is huge bronze mask, which is the biggest mask discovered at the Sanxingdui ruins. Gao explained that many scholars are still trying to understand how the mask was utilized in ancient times.

"There are holes in the huge mask, and based on the holes in both sides of the ears, scholars believe that these masks might have been hung on a tree or fixed on top of wood in the middle of a ceremony for offering sacrifices," he said.

Yu Jian, vice curator of the Sanxingdui Museum in Guanghan, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, introduced a bronze mask with protruding eyes and headdress.

The unique shape of Bronze Standing Figure with Towering Strands of Hair impressed many audiences. Bronze sacrificial altar components are so vivid that many visitors linger long around them.

The statue known as Bronze Twisted Kneeling Figure was unearthed from the No.4 sacrificial pit in Sanxingdui in 2021. A total of three such statues were discovered. Gao said that visitors can see both hands, lower legs and coiled hair of the bronze statue are decorated with cloud and thunder patterns, swallowtail patterns and feather crown patterns. This is the first time that these types of patterns have been discovered at the Sanxingdui ruins.

"Feel free to think of them as being similar to tattoos," he said.

As the year 2024 is the Year of the Dragon, the exhibition also displays items with dragon elements such as a bronze dragon with a tiger head, a bronze scepter with a climbing-dragon-shaped finial and a bronze cone-shaped finial cap with cloud patterns at the bottom, which was newly restored.

Along with the Jinsha site, an archaeological site and crucial discovery of ancient Shu civilization in the northwestern region of Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, the Sanxingdui ruins are applying for UNESCO World Cultural Heritage status. At the end of the exhibition, visitors can also learn about the major criteria for the candidate selection of UNESCO World Culture Heritage Sites. In 2006, the Jinsha site was included on the preliminary list of declared world cultural heritage along with the Sanxingdui ruins.

In addition to the exhibition, the Grand Canal Museum of Beijing is also hosting a VR immersive exhibition. Visitors can have an adventure in the Sanxingdui ruins and enjoy a question-and-answer session with the ancient Shu people.