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3,300-Year-Old
Capital Ruins Eyes World Heritage List
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????Anyang in central
China's Henan Province is busy preparing to put its 3,300-year-old
capital ruins, which contain preserved bones and shells with ancient
inscriptions, on the World Heritage list.
????The birthplace of the ancient Yinxu Culture,
Anyang is aiming to establish a heritage park featuring the Yinxu
Culture, and is applying to join the World Cultural Heritage of
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO), Jin Suidong, deputy mayor of Anyang, central China's
Henan Province, said at a symposium in Beijing Sunday.
????The cultural relics authorities in Anyang
have constructed Yinxu Ruins Museum at the base of an ancient
palace, renovated Fuhao Tomb, which was an important building
for the Yinxu Culture,and built Yinling Museum near the tombs
of Shang kings, Jin said.
????In October the Ministry of Science and Technology published
the academic achievements by more than 200 Chinese experts on
specific dating of the nation's three remote dynasties Xia, Shang
and Zhou, which are regarded as the start of China's history of
5,000 years.
????According to their results, the king of
Shang moved his capital to ancient Anyang 3,300 years ago.
????The widely accepted earliest date of Chinese
history is BC 841, in Sima Qian's Record of History. The first
half of the Chinese civilization remains a mysterious and hot
topic among world historians.
????Li Xueqin, a leading historian for the dating
project, said that they have decoded the sequential dates of the
three remote dynasties.
????After archaeologists unearthed the bones
and tortoise shells with ancient inscriptions 102 years ago in
Anyang, the city became a center for studying the ancient Chinese
civilization, Li said.
????According to current statistics, Anyang
has preserved more than 150,000 pieces of bones and shells with
ancient inscriptions, nearly 10,000 articles of bronze, 54 palace
ruins and other heritage sites.
(People's Daily 01/08/2001)
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