Dialogue Era, the Root Site of Cities | Chinese Civilization | Era

The Shang Dynasty city wall area of Panlong City National Archaeological Site Park.

How to revive the cultural relics unearthed from the Panlong City site and bring these archaeological achievements closer to the public? The Panlong City Site Museum has put a lot of thought into this. Since the beginning of this year, the hospital has collaborated with Wuhan Song and Dance Theater to stage the original environmental dance theater "The Roots of the City", attracting citizens to watch; Recently, we have launched a 24 solar term course, such as the "Rainwater Solar Term" course, where we take children to visit the drainage facilities in the palace area and make rain collection water bottles.

The corner of the exterior wall of the Panlongcheng Museum has become a popular check-in spot.

On July 15th, Wan Lin, the director of the Panlongcheng Site Museum, introduced in an interview with Changjiang Daily reporters that since 1954, archaeological work at the Panlongcheng Site has continued to this day, discovering relics such as city walls, trenches, palace foundations, aristocratic tombs, and copper casting handicraft workshops. These relics demonstrate a high social level. This is the southern central city of the Shang Dynasty, the early bronze civilization center of the Yangtze River Basin, and also the root of Wuhan city. The archaeological work at the Panlongcheng Site not only greatly promoted our understanding of the bronze culture in the Yangtze River Basin, but also became a microcosm of the development of the archaeological discipline in New China.

Bronze round cauldron.

More than 3000 artifacts such as bronze, pottery, and jade were unearthed from the Panlong City site, fully demonstrating the high level of development of the Shang Dynasty's Panlong City. The large round cauldron unearthed from Tomb No. 11 in Yangjiawan is 85 centimeters high and is currently the oldest and largest bronze round cauldron seen in China. The bronze cauldron shaped vessel unearthed from Tomb No. 17 in Yangjiawan combines the characteristics of a jue mouth, a cauldron, and a cauldron body. Its shape is unprecedented, and it is the only one in China. The turquoise inlaid gold ornaments unearthed from the same tomb, with turquoise as the main body of animal face patterns and gold pieces as key components such as eyes, teeth, and eyebrows, are the earliest formed gold artifacts seen in the Central Plains cultural system. The Lingyu Bi unearthed from Tomb No. 3 of Xiaozui has a diameter of 22 centimeters, which is the earliest and largest Lingyu Bi seen so far. It is a representative jade artifact made by the Shang Dynasty.

Lingyu Bi.

The rich archaeological achievements of the past 70 years cannot just lie in warehouses and data rooms. The palace and tomb excavation sites in Panlongcheng National Archaeological Site Park should not be used solely for archaeological research by archaeologists, but also for the question of how to unveil the mysterious veil of the site and face the public.

Children who participate in the 24 solar terms course will visit the drainage system in the archaeological palace area.

Wan Lin said that behind the 24 solar terms lies the cultural heritage and wisdom of the Chinese people for thousands of years. The Panlongcheng Site Museum, as a cultural heritage protection unit, relies on the unique natural ecological environment of the Panlongcheng National Archaeological Site Park and the rich and diverse natural species in the park at different seasons to design a series of "24 solar terms" natural science popularization courses suitable for preschool children and elementary school students.

The Palace Area of the Panlongcheng Site National Archaeological Site Park has become a base for young people to study and visit.

With the arrival of summer vacation, children can learn, perceive, and study while playing. They can not only appreciate the traditional customs and aesthetic taste of Chinese people, but also gain an on-site understanding of the archaeological achievements of the Panlong City site, and experience the production and life of the ancestors of the Shang Dynasty.

This year's May Day holiday, the carefully rehearsed original environmental dance theater "The Roots of the City" was staged in the Panlong City Ruins Park. The stage was chosen in the open air where the reeds swayed and the flowing water was light. A large number of citizens came to watch the drama during their leisure time.

The environmental dance drama performed at the Panlongcheng National Archaeological Site Park during this year's May Day holiday.

This drama follows the creative concept of "reviving cultural relics" and adopts the "poetic drama" structure of Chinese classical literature. It is divided into five units of performance: furnace fire red, lotus leaf green, praying for blessings, governing the wind, and coiled dragon Teng. By recalling the ancient symbols of "Bronze Round Cauldron" and "Turquoise Inlaid Gold Ornament", which are the treasures of the town hall, "The Roots of the City" vividly portrays and artistically reproduces the ancient symbols of "Panlong City" from 3500 years ago, such as "Casting Cauldron", "Divination", and "Expedition", in order to pay tribute to the long and splendid historical civilization, pay tribute to the pioneering and creative spirit of our ancestors, and demonstrate the promoting role of Panlong City, the largest city in the southern land of the Shang Dynasty, which is "the grandeur of Jianghan and the flourishing commercial city," in the process of civilization in the Yangtze River Basin.

Turquoise inlaid gold ornaments at the Panlong City site.

Exhibition of cultural relics also brings cultural heritage to life and benefits the general public. The Panlongcheng Site Museum excavates the connotation of the site, promotes the transformation, interpretation, and dissemination of archaeological achievements. In recent years, it has launched an original cultural relic exhibition every year, such as the "Ancient Chinese Turquoise Culture Exhibition" launched last year, which was the first exhibition to focus on ancient Chinese turquoise culture. This exhibition showcases the magnificent and diverse development process of Chinese civilization.

Bronze with a goblet shaped vessel.

Panlong City Museum basically displays "Jianghan Yangyang Shangyi Huanghuang-Panlong City Site Display", relying on the archaeological discoveries and research results of Panlong City site, and using innovative exhibition language, Panlong City 3500 years ago is clearly and comprehensively presented to the audience, forming a new paradigm of site display. The display won the 2019 National Museum Top Ten Exhibition Excellence Award. The "Yangtze River Wanli Qing-Yangtze River Basin Bronze Exhibition" launched by the institute in 2021 and the "Exploring Unknown Memories Jingchu-Hubei Province 2022 Archaeological Work Achievement Exhibition" launched in the first half of this year have won praise from the industry and the public.

Da Yuge, who went to the China Maritime Museum for exhibition.

Due to the reputation of archaeological excavation, cultural relic exhibition, and revitalization, the important cultural relics of Panlongcheng Site are increasingly going global and are often invited to participate in temporary exhibitions at the National Brothers Museum. In March of this year, the cultural relics of Panlong City were exhibited at the Erlitou Summer Capital Site Museum during a business trip, achieving a dialogue between the Yangtze River civilization and the Yellow River civilization. On July 10th, two exquisite cultural relics, a bronze vessel and a large jade spear, went to the China Maritime Museum for exhibition. Previously, we selected cultural relics to participate in exhibitions at Anhui Museum and Hubei Provincial Museum. Later, we will also select cultural relics to participate in exhibitions at multiple museum venues such as the National Museum and Henan Museum. Within six months, our collection of cultural relics has been exchanged with the outside world 9 times.

Bronze vessels exhibited at the China Maritime Museum.

The Panlongcheng Site Museum often invites experts and scholars to give lectures to the citizens at the Panlongcheng Forum. In the first half of this year, experts such as Wang Wei, the chief expert of the Chinese Civilization Exploration Project, and Fang Qin, the director of the Hubei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, have successively visited the Panlongcheng Site Museum to share the latest academic research results with the public through lectures, introduce the position of the Panlongcheng Site in the Chinese archaeological lineage, and spread the latest achievements in the exploration of the origin of Chinese civilization, cultural heritage protection, and the inheritance and development of excellent traditional Chinese culture.