Li Ji (; July 12, 1896 – August 1, 1979), also commonly romanized as Li Chi, was an influential Chinese archaeologist. He is considered to be one of the foremost figures in modern Chinese archaeology and his work was instrumental in proving the historical authenticity of the

Shang Dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and ...

Biography

Li Ji came from a wealthy family of

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The prov ...

province, where, in 1896, he was born in the city of

Zhongxiang Zhongxiang () is a county-level city of Jingmen, central Hubei province, People's Republic of China. The name ''Zhongxiang'' means "Blessed with propitious omen", and was given to the city by the Jiajing Emperor in the Ming dynasty. History Zhong ...

. After his graduation from the

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (; abbreviation, abbr. THU) is a National university, national Public university, public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Minis ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

he moved to the United States in 1918 to study psychology at

Clark University Clark University is a private research university in Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded in 1887 with a large endowment from its namesake Jonas Gilman Clark, a prominent businessman, Clark was one of the first modern research universities in the ...

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...

. After he had earned a BA in psychology and a MA in sociology at Clark, he moved on to

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

to study

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

. There he studied in particular with

Alfred Tozzer Alfred Marston Tozzer (July 4, 1877 – October 5, 1954) was an American anthropologist, archaeologist, linguist, and educator. His principal area of interest was Mesoamerican, especially Maya, studies. He was the husband of Margaret Castle Toz ...

(archeology),

Roland Burrage Dixon Roland Burrage Dixon (November 6, 1875 – December 19, 1934) was an American anthropologist. Early life and education Born at Worcester, Mass, in 1897 he graduated from Harvard University, where he remained as an assistant in anthropology, taki ...

(anthropology) and

Earnest Hooton Earnest Albert Hooton (November 20, 1887 – May 3, 1954) was an American physical anthropologist known for his work on racial classification and his popular writings such as the book ''Up From The Ape''. Hooton sat on the Committee on the Negro, ...

(anthropology) and was awarded a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

in 1923. His dissertation was later published by Harvard University Press under the title ''The Formation of the Chinese People: an Anthropological Inquiry'' (1928). Li Ji returned to China and began teaching anthropology and sociology at

Nankai University Nankai University (NKU or Nankai; ) is a national public research university located in Tianjin, China. It is a prestigious Chinese state Class A Double First Class University approved by the central government of China, and a member of the fo ...

and later at

. In 1925 and 1926 he conducted archeological excavations of the

Yangshao culture The Yangshao culture (仰韶文化, pinyin: Yǎngsháo wénhuà) was a Neolithic culture that existed extensively along the middle reaches of the Yellow River in China from around 5000 BC to 3000 BC. The culture is named after the Yangsh ...

in the southern part of the

Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...

province, for which he was invited to join the

Freer Gallery of Art The Freer Gallery of Art is an art museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. focusing on Asian art. The Freer and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery together form the National Museum of Asian Art in the United States. The Freer and Sac ...

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

as a field worker. In 1928 he became the first director of the archeology department of the

Academica Sinica Academia Sinica (AS, la, 1=Academia Sinica, 3=Chinese Academy; ), headquartered in Nangang, Taipei, is the national academy of Taiwan. Founded in Nanking, the academy supports research activities in a wide variety of disciplines, ranging from ...

while continuing to work for the Freer Gallery. Li Ji led the excavations at

Yinxu Yinxu (modern ; ) is the site of one of the ancient and major historical capitals of China. It is the source of the archeological discovery of oracle bones and oracle bone script, which resulted in the identification of the earliest known Chine ...

near

Anyang Anyang (; ) is a prefecture-level city in Henan province, China. The northernmost city in Henan, Anyang borders Puyang to the east, Hebi and Xinxiang to the south, and the provinces of Shanxi and Hebei to its west and north respectively. It had a ...

from 1928 to 1937 until the outbreak of the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...

prevented further work. Regarded as the first set of archaeological excavations following modern archaeological principles in China, these excavations yielded the discovery of a royal palace and over 300 graves, including 4 royal ones. The recovered artefacts comprised among others early bronze casts and a large number of

oracle bone Oracle bones () are pieces of ox scapula and turtle plastron, which were used for pyromancy – a form of divination – in ancient China, mainly during the late Shang dynasty. ''Scapulimancy'' is the correct term if ox scapulae were used for th ...

s, which represent the earliest significant body of ancient Chinese writing. Those findings finally established historical authenticity of the Shang Dynasty, which had still been a subject of debate up to that point. After the war Li Ji fled to Taiwan when the communist forces under

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...

took power in mainland China. There he became the head of the archeology and anthropology departments of the

National Taiwan University National Taiwan University (NTU; ) is a public research university in Taipei, Taiwan. The university was founded in 1928 during Japanese rule as the seventh of the Imperial Universities. It was named Taihoku Imperial University and served d ...

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

. He died on August 1 of 1979 in Taipei. During his career Li mentored a generation of Chinese archaeologists including

Xia Nai Xia Nai (Wade–Giles: ''Shiah Nae''; 1910–1985) was a pioneering Chinese archaeologist. He was born in Wenzhou, southern Zhejiang province. He was the second son of Xia Yuyi (夏禹彝) who was a wealthy farmer. Xia was given the first nam ...

Kwang-chih Chang Kwang-chih Chang (15 April, 1931 – January 3, 2001), commonly known as K. C. Chang, was a Chinese / Taiwanese-American archaeologist and sinologist. He was the John E. Hudson Professor of archaeology at Harvard University, Vice-President of th ...

, and Guo Baojun.

Influence

Chinese Modern Archaeology

In 1929, the excavation of

personally presided over by Li Ji did not focus on finding oracle bones, but pottery, animal bones, and bronzes were given equal attention as specimens. When working in the field, use the digging method to excavate. During the excavation in the second half of 1929, Li Ji also asked Zhang Weiran to measure a more detailed topographic map of the Yinxu. All of this shows that the excavators attached great importance to the spatial location of the unearthed objects. However, in the excavation of strata, Li Ji followed his horizontal stratum excavation method in Xiyin Village, Xia County. It marked that the excavation of Yinxu in 1929 completely broke away from the category of epigraphy and began to truly move towards the road of modern field archaeology. And this layering method promoted the excavation of Yinxu. In 1931, the excavation of the Hougang of Yinxu revealed that the three cultural layers of Xiaotun, Longshan and Yangshao were superimposed and accumulated, and confirmed the sequence of ancient Chinese cultural evolution.

Yinxu and the origin of Chinese culture

The exploration of the cultural origin of Yinxu and the reconstruction of ancient history, the former is an archaeological problem, and the latter is a historical problem, but the two are interrelated. The exploration of the cultural origin of Yinxu is the basis for the reconstruction of ancient history. At the beginning of the excavation of Yinxu, the excavators paid attention to the origin of Yinxu culture. During the third excavation of Yinxu in 1929, Li Ji discussed the pioneers of the "Xiaotun Culture" based on a piece of painted pottery unearthed in the strata.

Li Ji's Views on Archaeology

Although Li Ji presided over the excavation of Yinxu in order to find the origin of Chinese civilization and refuted Andersson's statement about Chinese culture, he was always vigilant that he could not fall into the myth of nationalism. He criticized the "cultural centralism" prejudice of Western sinologists, and needed to pay attention to the uniqueness of Eastern civilization. On the other hand, he also criticized the limitations of Chinese scholars and paid too much attention to cultural exchanges in East Asia and surrounding areas.

Works

*1928: ''The Formation of the Chinese People: an Anthropological Inquiry'' *1932: ''Manchuria in History: a summary'' *1957: ''The Beginnings of Chinese Civilization'' *1977: ''Anyang''

Notes

Gina L. Barnes: ''Li Chi''. In: Neil Asher Silberman (ed.), Alexander A. Bauer (ed.): ''The Oxford Companion to Archaeology - Band 1''. Oxford University Press, 2012, , p
223
Timothy Murray: ''Milestones in Archaeology. A chronological encyclopedia''. ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara California 2007, , pp. 388 () Barbara Ann Kipfer: ''Encyclopedic Dictionary of Archaeology''. Kluwer Acad./Plenum Publ., New York NY 2000, , p. 310-311 ()

K.C. Chang Kwang-chih Chang (15 April, 1931 – January 3, 2001), commonly known as K. C. Chang, was a Chinese / Taiwanese-American archaeologist and sinologist. He was the John E. Hudson Professor of archaeology at Harvard University, Vice-President of the ...

: ''Li Chi: 1896-1979''. Asian Perspectives, Vol. 23, No. 2 (1980), pp. 317-321
JSTOR

External links

Li Chi
at Britannica Online {{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Ji 1896 births 1979 deaths 20th-century archaeologists Clark University alumni Chinese archaeologists Members of Academia Sinica Educators from Hubei People from Jingmen National Taiwan University faculty Republic of China writers Writers from Hubei Scientists from Hubei Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Nankai University faculty Tsinghua University faculty Chinese epigraphers Yangshao culture