Zhang Wenbin (; July 1937 – 20 February 2019) was a Chinese archaeologist, museum curator and politician. He served as Director of the

National Cultural Heritage Administration The National Administration of Cultural Heritage (NCHA; ) is an administrative agency subordinate to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China. It is responsible for the development and management of museums as well a ...

and Chairman of the

Chinese Museums Association Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

Biography

Zhang was born in July 1937 in

Hunyuan County Hunyuan County is a county under the administration of Datong City, in the northeast of Shanxi province, China. History During the Spring and Autumn Period of Chinese history, present-day Hunyuan County formed part of the Baidi state of Dai t ...

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 ...

, Republic of China. From 1958, he studied in the Department of History of

Peking University Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charter ...

, majoring in

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

. In 1963, Zhang was assigned to work at

Luoyang Museum Luoyang Museum () is a historical museum in Luoyang, Henan Province, China. Situated in the Yellow River valley. It offers exhibits of the rich cultural heritage of Luoyang, a major Chinese cultural centre, which was the capital of numerous Ch ...

, and spent much of his career in the fields of archaeology and social sciences in

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

province. In 1974, he became a faculty member in the Department of History of

Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou University (), colloquially known in Chinese as Zhèngdà () and abbreviated as ZZU is a public university located in Zhengzhou, Henan, China. Zhengzhou University is the largest university in China in terms of number of students (aroun ...

, and later served as vice chair of the department. He was appointed Vice Director of the Henan Academy of Social Sciences in 1983, and Secretary of the Henan Provincial Communist Party Committee in 1990. In January 1996, he was named Vice Chairman of the Henan People's Congress. In May 1996, Zhang was transferred to Beijing to serve as Director of the

. In 1995, the British police intercepted a batch of archaeological artefacts imported by an antique dealer, including more than 3,400 pieces suspected of having been looted from China. Zhang was tasked by the Chinese government with retrieving the artefacts. He retained legal scholars and attorneys in Britain, and after several years of legal proceedings and negotiations, successfully repatriated the artefacts to China in 1998. From 2002 to 2008, Zhang served as Chairman of the

. In 2013, the

International Council of Museums The International Council of Museums (ICOM) is a non-governmental organisation dedicated to museums, maintaining formal relations with UNESCO and having a consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. Founded in 1946, I ...

(ICOM) awarded Zhang an Honorary Membership, its highest honour. Zhang suffered from an illness in 2010 and lost the ability to speak, although he retained the ability to communicate by writing. He died on 20 February 2019 at

Peking Union Medical College Hospital Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH), also known as Beijing Xiehe Hospital (), is a large of teaching hospital in Beijing, China. It was founded in 1921 by Rockefeller Foundation and is affiliated to both Peking Union Medical College (P ...

, at the age of 81.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhang, Wenbin 1937 births 2019 deaths Politicians from Datong Chinese archaeologists Chinese curators Scientists from Shanxi Political office-holders in Henan Zhengzhou University faculty Peking University alumni