Hong Kong Palace Museum | “Sanxingdui and Bronze Age China” International Symposium

LEI Yu

Research Fellow, Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology; Director, Sanxingdui Museum

Lei Yu graduated from Peking University’s Department of History, majoring in archaeology. He is currently a research fellow of Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (SPICRA) and Director of the Sanxingdui Museum. He also holds roles as a member of the Neolithic Archaeological Professional Committee of the Chinese Archaeological Society, an Outstanding Expert of the Ministry of Culture, and National People’s Congress Deputy of Sichuan Province, among others. He leads the excavation, organisation, and editorial of project reports for various archaeological sites in Sichuan, including Sanxingdui, the Guiyuanqiao site in Shifang county, the remains and tombs of the Shu culture in Shifang Chengguan, other sites from the Neolithic age to the Warring States period, and the Nahia Lap archaeological site in Vietnam. He is currently supervising the editorial of Excavation Report of Sanxingdui, 1980–2005.

RAN Honglin

Research Fellow, Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (SPICRA); Director, Sanxingdui Cultural Relics and Archaeological Research Institute, SPICRA; Deputy Director, Sanxingdui Museum

Ran Honglin graduated from the School of Archaeology and Museology at Peking University with a PhD in history. He is currently Director of Sanxingdui Cultural Relics and Archaeological Research Institute, Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (SPICRA) and Deputy Director of the Sanxingdui Museum, with responsibility for archaeological work and research on the Sanxingdui site. He has overseen the excavation of various locations at Sanxingdui, including the walls of Zhenwu Temple, the Qingguanshan mound, the Sanxingdui sacrificial area, and the architectural area at Yueliangwan. He has published over fifty papers, including “On the Ethnography of Ba-Shu Bronzes”, “Further Discussion on the Phasing of the Sanxingdui Sacrificial Pits”, and “Further Studies on the Period of Abandonment of the Sanxingdui Cities”, in journals such as Acta Archaeologica Sinica, Archaeology, and Sichuan Cultural Relics.

XU Feihong

Lecturer, Department of Archaeology and Museology, School of Cultural Heritage and Information Management, Shanghai University

Xu Feihong is a lecturer in the Department of Archaeology and Museology of the School of Cultural Heritage and Information Management at Shanghai University. He earned his PhD from the School of Archaeology and Museology at Peking University and was a post-doctoral fellow at Peking University. His research focuses on the archaeology of the Han to the Tang periods and he has participated in archaeological excavations of the Zhougong Temple site in Shaanxi province, the Shangchengxia Goguryeo cemetery in Jilin province, the Xiangshan Temple site at the Longmen Grottoes in Henan province, the Gangshang site in Shandong province, and the Sanxingdui site in Sichuan province. He edited the archaeological report The Sui and Tang Tombs of Wuchang and has published more than a dozen papers.

LI Haichao

Professor, School of Archaeology and Museology, Sichuan University

Li Haichao is a professor at the School of Archaeology and Museology of Sichuan University and Director of the Relics Analysis Laboratory of the university’s National Archaeological Experimental Teaching Centre. He is a principal expert and project leader for several major projects under The National Social Science Fund of China, as well as person-in-charge of the excavation of sacrificial pits nos. 5, 6, and 7 at the Sanxingdui site. He obtained his PhD from Peking University in a joint PhD programme with the University of Oxford, and is also a visiting scholar at Harvard University. His research focuses on the archaeology of the Shang and Zhou dynasties and scientific archaeology. In recent years, he has adopted a multidisciplinary approach to his research on the Sanxingdui culture. He has published over thirty papers in major academic journals and authored two monographs.

ZHAO Hao

Associate Professor, School of Archaeology and Museology, Peking University

Zhao Hao is an associate professor at the School of Archaeology and Museology of Peking University. He obtained his PhD in archaeology from University of Stanford. His research focuses on the archaeology of the Shang and Zhou periods and of handicrafts. He has participated in excavation, editorial, and research at significant archaeological sites, including the Western Zhou bone craft workshops at Yuntang village, Zhouyuan, Shaanxi province, the Eastern Zhou copper casting site at Guanzhuang village, Xingyang, Henan province, and the early Qin site at Dabaozi Mountain, Li county, Gansu province. Since February 2021, he has been leading an archaeological team from Peking University on excavations at the Sanxingdui site, overseeing the field excavation of and research on sacrificial pit no. 8.

Jay XU

Director, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco

Jay Xu is Director of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the holder of a doctoral degree in Chinese art and archaeology obtained from Princeton University. He previously chaired the Departments of Asian and Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (2003–2008) and headed the Department of Chinese Art at the Seattle Art Museum (1996–2003), among others. His academic research focuses on pre-Qin archaeology and bronze artefacts in the Shang and Zhou dynasties, especially the Sanxingdui civilisation. His areas of scholarship, authorship, and teaching include Chinese paintings, ceramics, the history of art collection in China, contemporary art, the history of museums in China, museum operations in the 21st century, and museology.

ZHU Yarong

Associate Research Fellow and Deputy Director, Sanxingdui Museum

Zhu Yarong is Deputy Director and an associate research fellow of the Sanxingdui Museum. Her research focuses on relics studies and exhibition planning. She has led the enhancement and revamp of the Sanxingdui Museum’s permanent displays, the establishment of the museum’s Cultural Relics Protection and Restoration Hall, the curatorial of the permanent displays in the museum’s new exhibition hall, and the planning of major temporary exhibitions. She has edited the Sanxingdui Research series, jointly published books including The Sanxingdui Site: The Mystical Mask on the Ancient Shu Kingdom, Sanxingdui Culture, and Study on Sanxingdui Bronze Vessels, and authored many more academic papers.

SU Rongyu

Professor Emeritus, Institute of History of Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Su Rongyu received his Bachelor of Engineering from Xi’an Jiaotong University and his master’s degree in the history of natural sciences from the University of Science and Technology of China. He served for many years at the Institute for the History of Natural Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences as a professor and doctoral advisor, focusing on ancient metal technology and art. He founded the Research Centre for Cultural Relics Technology and Traditional Crafts and served as its inaugural director. He has conducted research and lectured at the Technical University of Berlin, the University of Tübingen, the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery under the Smithsonian Institution, Goethe University Frankfurt, and the British Museum, among others. He has published over one hundred monographs and journal articles.

LI Kin Sum

Associate Professor, Department of History, Hong Kong Baptist University

Li Kin Sum received his PhD in art and archaeology from Princeton University in 2015. He is currently an associate professor in the Department of History at Hong Kong Baptist University. He obtained his BA in translation and MPhil in East Asian studies from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research focuses on the history of mass production in the ancient world, and he attempts to combine modern scientific technology with ancient industrial art. He is working on articles and a book manuscript on the arts of ancient China and will publish a monograph on bronze mirrors in the Warring States period. His articles have appeared in journals such as T’oung Pao, Archives of Asian Art, Early China, Journal of Chinese History, and East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine.

Rowan FLAD

John E. Hudson Professor of Archaeology, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University

Rowan Flad is John E. Hudson Professor of Archaeology at Harvard University. His research focuses on the emergence and development of complex society during the late Neolithic period and the Bronze Age in China. He has conducted excavations at a salt production site in the eastern Sichuan Basin and has recently completed a regional survey in the Chengdu region focusing on prehistoric settlement patterns and social evolution. His new research is focused on the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age in southern Gansu province. His current research and writing projects focus on several aspects of social complexity, including specialised production and technology, the anthropology of value, mortuary analysis, archaeological landscapes, interregional interaction, cultural transmission, and animal and plant domestication.

SHI Jinsong

Research Fellow, Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

Shi Jinsong studied archaeology at Sichuan University and the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). He began working at the Institute of Archaeology at CASS in 1996 after receiving his PhD. He is currently a research professor. His research interests include Shang and Zhou archaeology, mainly focusing on the culture and society of the Bronze Age in the Yangtze River region. In 2023 he published a new monograph, Regional Civilization and Significance of Communication: An Archaeological Construction of the Bronze Age in the Chengdu Plain (Cultural Relics Press).

WANG Fang

Research Fellow and Deputy Director, Jinsha Site Museum

Wang Fang is Deputy Director and a research fellow of the Jinsha Site Museum in Chengdu, an Excellent Specialist with Outstanding Contributions of Sichuan Province, and an Expert Member of the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. She works on archaeological excavation, museum management, exhibition curation, and relics research. She participated throughout the excavation and research of the Jinsha site and the establishment and display of the site’s museum and has led more than one hundred exhibitions of cultural relics in China and overseas. She has been involved in several dozen national and provincial level research projects, headed the editorial of over fifty books, and published over eighty articles in professional journals.

Jianjun MEI

Director, Needham Research Institute, Cambridge

Jianjun Mei is Director of the Needham Research Institute in Cambridge, UK. He holds concurrent positions as Director of Research at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge; Fellow of Churchill College, University of Cambridge; Visiting Professor of the University of Science and Technology Beijing; Corresponding Member of the German Archaeological Institute; Chairman of the Executive Committee of the International Conference on the History of Metallurgy; and Editor-in-Chief of the editorial board for Advances in Archaeomaterials. He has also served as a member of the editorial board for journals such as Archaeology, Acta Archaeologica Sinica, The Western Regions Studies, Studies in the History of Natural Sciences, Journal of Archaeological Science, and Archaeometry. His primary research interests are the history of metallurgical technology in China and the history of scientific and technological exchanges between China and other countries. He has published two monographs and more than one hundred academic papers.

Tianlong JIAO

Head Curator, Hong Kong Palace Museum

Tianlong Jiao is Head Curator at Hong Kong Palace Museum. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Peking University and his PhD from Harvard University. He previously served as Head of Asian Art at the Denver Art Museum and Head of Chinese Art at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, as well as Adjunct Professor at the University of Hawai‘i and Chair Professor at Xiamen University, among others. His research expertise lies in Chinese archaeology and art history. He has curated many large-scale exhibitions and has led archaeological excavations and research on various sites. He has chaired panels at major academic conferences, authored/ co-authored seven monographs and published over ninety papers. He was the recipient of the excellent teaching achievement prize at Harvard University.

SUN Hua

Professor, School of Archaeology and Museology, and Director, Centre for Cultural Heritage Protection and Research, Peking University

Sun Hua is a professor at the School of Archaeology and Museology and Director of the Centre for Cultural Heritage Protection and Research at Peking University. He also serves as Editor-in-chief of Study on Natural and Cultural Heritage. His research and teaching focus on the archaeology of Bronze Age China, the archaeology of China’s southwest region, and the protection of cultural heritage. He is a major advocate of archaeological collaborations in China’s southwest, specialising in bronze culture and Sanxingdui culture in the Sichuan Basin. Notable publications based on his research findings include: The Bronze Age of the Sichuan Basin, Mystic Kingdom – A Preliminary Understanding and Interpretation of Sanxingdui Culture, and The General History of Chinese Art – Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties (co-authored).

WANG Renxiang

Research Fellow, Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

Wang Renxiang is a research fellow at the Institute of Archaeology and a professor at the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He is the chief editor or author of over one hundred publications. Among his major titles are Tides of Art in Prehistoric China, An Anthology of the Archaeology of Prehistoric China, Half-Window Imagery, Secular World and Spiritual Realm, Tombs of the Tibetan Emperors, Cuisine and Chinese Culture, Ancient Taste, Food Culture of China, Ancient Belt Hooks and Buckles, The Great Yangshao Culture, The Marquis of Haihun in the South, and Sanxingdui: Bronze-forged Myths.

WANG Shengyu

Assistant Curator, Hong Kong Palace Museum

Shengyu Wang received her DPhil in archaeology from the University of Oxford. Prior to her current appointment at the Hong Kong Palace Museum, she was involved in exhibitions and catalogue projects at Shanghai Museum and the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. She has participated in archaeological excavations in China and the UK. At the Hong Kong Palace Museum, she made curatorial contributions to the opening exhibition “Grand Gallop: Art and Culture of the Horse”. She is also co-curating several special exhibitions, including in September 2023 special exhibition on Sanxingdui.

Raphael WONG

Associate Curator, Hong Kong Palace Museum

Raphael Wong is a Bei Shan Tang Foundation Scholar with a DPhil in archaeology from the University of Oxford, focusing on China, West Asia, and the Eurasian Steppe of the first millennium BCE. He previously worked at the Art Museum and in the Department of Fine Arts of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he was involved in several exhibition and publication projects. He is the lead curator of a number of opening and special exhibitions at the Hong Kong Palace Museum, including “Radiance: Ancient Gold from the Hong Kong Palace Museum Collection and the Mengdiexuan Collection”, and several upcoming exhibitions on the archaeology of early China.