Library

Jessica Rosen, a world-renowned sinologist and professor at Oxford University, has a new work, "Thick Soil Without Boundaries," which takes twelve tomb sites across vast distances of time and space as an entry point, and uses a new perspective of cross-regional material and cultural exchanges to interpret ancient China vividly and comprehensively from multiple disciplines including archeology, history, geography, ecology, and art. It systematically reconstructs the vivid picture of the world before and after the ancients for more than 5,000 years, and repeatedly outlines the synchronization and uniqueness of China's national civilization with the civilizations of other major countries in the world, as well as the cultural integration across the Eurasian continent, showing us a grand tour of early Chinese civilization spanning 3,000 years. This book is rooted in archeology. The twelve tomb sites selected are all new discoveries and gains in Chinese archeology in the past half century. However, it is not a superficial introduction to new archaeological knowledge, but tells the history of ancient China through the tomb sites. It spans time, space, regions and ethnic groups, and launches an invitation for Chinese people to "find their roots." At the same time, "Thick Soil without Borders" is also a masterpiece of exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations. It vividly presents the richness and diversity of Chinese civilization, which stems from the connectivity and mutual influence between cultures in various regions. As a result, Chinese civilization is always full of possibilities for development. Most of the twelve tomb sites involved have museums. This book introduces the important collections of many museums in detail and can also be used as a recommended reading for in-depth tours of museums.