Hongshan Calligonum Appreciation and Ancient Calligonum Culture Seminar

"Hongshan Calligonum Appreciation and Ancient Calligonum Culture Seminar"

Held in Zheng

On August 21-22, 2017, the "Hongshan Calligonum Appreciation and Ancient Calligonum Culture Seminar" jointly organized by Henan Collection Association and Zhengzhou Shanhaiguan Museum was successfully held in Zhengzhou Shanhaiguan Museum. Experts and scholars attending the meeting included Xia Zhifeng, the stationmaster of Henan Station of National Cultural Relics Exit Appraisal, Cai Quanfa, an archaeological researcher in Henan Province, Kou Yuhai, an associate researcher of Zhengzhou Cultural Relics Bureau, Wang Yong, an associate researcher of Dahecun Site Museum, Han Yiping, secretary general of Henan Collection Association, Professor Zhou Shuanglin of Peking University Archaeology Department, Li Xin, a Hongshan Culture scholar, Xue Kai, curator of Beijing Hongshan Museum, Xu Bin, editor-in-chief of Financial Management and Collection magazine, and Mr. Wang, a folk collector. At the meeting, the topics such as "the relationship between Hongshan Culture and the ancient civilization", "the position of the ancient civilization in history and culture" and "the appreciation and collection value of the ancient civilization" were discussed in different periods, and at the same time, some collections of the museum were appraised by many experts.

Zhou Yunxiang, executive vice-president of Henan Collection Association and director of Zhengzhou Shanhaijia Museum, introduced Zhengzhou Shanhaijia Museum and had in-depth exchanges with experts and scholars attending the meeting. First of all, everyone affirmed that Zhengzhou Shanhaijia Museum filled the gap in the lack of centralized display of cultural relics in the museum industry, which was very important for carrying out relevant academic research and social education activities. Secondly, we fully demonstrated the Hongshan Culture-era Polygonum multiflorum collection in the museum, and discussed the culture and characteristics of the collection. During the period, we also exchanged the background of the Hongshan Culture period, the characteristics of the collection, the market stock and the market value. Teacher Li Xin, a research expert in Hongshan Culture, gave an important conclusion after watching it: the collection of Hongshan Ilex in Shanhai Museum brought a great discovery to the collection circle. Due to multiple historical reasons, most experts didn't have enough knowledge about Calligonum in the past. For many years, the cultural relics discovered by excavation have been identified as "local jade", because it has many similarities like jade, or it is crystal clear, smooth and moist, and there are many differences with jade, ivory, etc., plus the archaeological community's understanding of Calligonum. The meeting held that the identification of Hongshan Culture Calligonum pushed the cultural relics of Calligonum to the Neolithic Age in advance, and Zhengzhou Shanhai Calligonum Museum not only filled the blank of national Calligonum cultural relics, but also clearly showed the history of 5,000 civilizations in China through Calligonum cultural relics.

At the seminar, experts and scholars also talked about the collection process, collection experience, etc. Secretary-General Han of Henan Collection Association gave guiding suggestions on the development direction of Zhengzhou Shanhaijia Museum, how to improve its status, and the focus of future work.