Explainer | Why China is in love with archaeology and palaeontology

Major discoveries are big hits in China, and even little celebrations of the sciences are everywhere

And while the country‘s long history has a role to play, the foundation runs much deeper than that

Reading Time:4 minutes

A couple learns about jade clothes sewn with gold wire at the Henan Museum in Zhengzhou, the capital of central China's Henan Province. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 2:00pm, 18 Aug 2021Updated: 2:00pm, 18 Aug 2021

As winter turned to spring in Sichuan province in central China this year, a group of archaeologists stood before the nation and revealed a stunningly remarkable archaeological discovery.

It was a gold mask, thought to be over 3,000 years old, found in the famous Sanxingdui archaeology site.

Scientists believe it came from a Bronze Age kingdom called Gushu, a place so mysterious that people online began to theorise that the artefacts had belonged to an alien civilisation, a hypothesis that experts thoroughly debunked.

The discovery of an ancient gold mask in Sanxingdui, China awed the world. Photo: Handout

While the remarkable artefact itself generated much buzz, it also highlighted that archaeology, and its cousin palaeontology, are popular in China.

“If you talk to people in regular day-to-day conversation, these topics are things that come up. If you look at any new dinosaur exhibitions, they are always really well received,” said Michael Pittman, a palaeontologist at the University of Hong Kong.

So let’s explore what’s behind the overwhelming enthusiasm.

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