The Sanxingdui Ruins
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ASIA Arnold Schwarzenegger to Star in Upcoming 3D Chinese Blockbuster Film
Arnold Schwarzenegger is the latest prominent Hollywood actor to star in a 3D blockbuster Chinese production. According to Xinhua, the upcoming film is set to combine “Hollywood technology and oriental culture,” which is set around the ancient Sanxingdui ruins located near Chengdu city in Sichuan province. No plot details have been revealed yet for the film which is reportedly titled “The Guest of Sanxingdui”. Schwarzenegger however, was quoted as saying that the movie will be an “international story in order to introduce a global audience to the culture of Sanxingdui.” The mysterious Sanxingdui ruins believed to be the site of a major ancient Chinese city in what is now Sichuan, China. Experts believe that the site contains remnants of the Shu Kingdom which disappeared 3,000 years ago. Arnold Schwarzenegger is the latest prominent Hollywood actor to star in a 3D blockbuster Chinese production. According to Xinhua, the upcoming film is set to combine “Hollywood technology and oriental culture,” which is set around the ancient Sanxingdui ruins located near Chengdu city in Sichuan province. With a planned release of 2019, production of “The Guest of Sanxingdui” is scheduled to begin in March 2017 under the initial investment of $200 million. People’s Daily meanwhile reported (via Shanghaist) that James Cameron’s post-production team is being eyed to handle the finishing touches for the film.
Chinese ancestors came from Red Sea area?
Amateur historian Su San has created an enormous controversy with claims of Chinese ancestors were from the Red Sea area and human civilization began in the Middle East and North Africa. These two stunning conclusions have been put forward in two recently published books, and critics and readers have wasted no time in their attack. "They call my books nonsense," says 40-year-old Su, a Henan Province native. "They just can't bear to think there's a Western ancestor for Chinese." With a bachelor's degree on English literature and a master's degree on economics, Su previously worked for a foreign company and was also an English teacher. Two years ago, she quit her managerial job to study history, but not at university, just on the Internet. She published book reviews and essays on cultural study Websites. In her first book, "A Conjecture on Sanxingdui Civilization," she boldly concludes that the Sanxingdui ruins came from Red Sea civilization. Since excavation in 1929 in Sichuan Province, the Sanxingdui ruins has been the topic of hot debate because of antiques discovered there are exotic and unusual. In her second book, "Toward the East," she traced the origin of Chinese civilization through the Old Testament of the Bible. "The Bible is a serious record of a royal family, who colonized around the Earth with their wealth and wisdom," she says. "I believe Chinese ancestors were Semites, Israelis and from other Middle Eastern nations. The Chinese people's respect for chastity and the elderly originates from primitive Judaism." She even found interesting relations between the earliest Chinese dynasties and the Bible. According to her study, Hagar, wife of Abraham, established the Xia Dynasty (c. 21st century-16th century BC). His grandson Esau's offsprings built the Shang Dynasty (c. 16th century-11th century BC ), and the name of the Zhou Dynasty (c. 11th century-221 BC) originated from the word "Jew." Su emphasizes she has more freedom than traditional Chinese archeologists and historians whom she claims work in a rigid style. "I have a free mind and hate restrain," Su says. "I have no background in education on archeology or ancient cultural study. This allows me to think outside the traditional stereotype and discover the real origins of Chinese." Su grew up in a small mountainous village near Luoyang of Henan Province, the ancient capital of the Zhou Dynasty. "When I left my home to study English in a university in big city, life was such a big contrast," says Su. "I had many interests but my favorite was history. At university I often lay on the lawn to appreciate the night sky, which helped me built up my view of the world." Her first book only took two months to complete. "I studied the Websites of museums, institutes and online libraries. It's efficient and quick," she says. But few experts agree with her claims. "Until now most Sanxingdui antiques belonged to Chinese local civilization and mainstream experts believe Sanxingdui is still a Chinese civilization with only small foreign influences," says He Yun'ao, director of Cultural and Natural Relics Research Institute at Nanjing University. He explains that most jade and pottery antiques discovered in Sanxingdui bear strong Chinese characters. But some bronze antiques are different from traditional Chinese civilizations from along the Yellow River. "This probably shows the variety of Chinese civilizations, which are not only from along the Yellow River," He says. "In Sanxingdui, there's a road to India. But since there's no records for the area, archeology cannot answer the question. Gene analysis can tell the truth but until now no human remains have been unearthed there." Professor Jiang Xiaoyuan, dean of the Human Studies Institute at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, says Su's study can be hard to swallow. "Her opinions are radical and far from traditional research, which probably will be accepted after 100 years," says Jiang. "I agree with parts of her research about Sanxingdui." But most Chinese historians are not even close to considering her research. "She hasn't got a historical education but obviously she has done a lot of library work," comments Jiang. "Her books are far better than amateur nonsense. I suggest she send her articles to professional magazines such as 'Historical Study,' which will draw attention. I guess most experts won't even glance at her books." Su's study may not be traditional but she says it is informed evidence-based research and a new way of thinking. Just like the old Chinese saying, "throw out bricks to draw jades." "I wish my books were bricks, attracting experts' attention and finally discover genuine jade," she says.
Rare two faced 3000 year old bronze head dup up in China
Beijing: Archaeologists have claimed to have discovered a rare bronze head with two faces and dating back to over 3,000 years, in a tomb complex in China’s Hubei province. The sculpture featuring huge eyes, protruding cheekbones and horns has been unearthed from the site, Xinhua reported. Chinese worker digs up ancient artefacts at Yejiashan Graveyard in Suizhou city Chinese worker digs up ancient artefacts at Yejiashan Graveyard in Suizhou city The graveyard consists of a cluster of tombs believed to be related to the nobles during the early Western Zhou Dynasty (1046-771 B.C.). Researchers finished excavating the graveyard two days ago. The sculpture was found positioned over the head of the owner of tomb M111, suggesting that it was of some significance at the time, said Zhang Changping, a history professor at Wuhan University. “It is the first time that such a sculpture has been discovered from the Western Zhou Dynasty,” said archaeologist Li Boqian from Peking University, who suspected the item to be a patron god. The shape and design of the sculpture are similar to masks uncovered from the Sanxingdui Ruins in China’s Sichuan province. But archaeologists said it resembles another two-faced sculpture found in 1989 in a Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 B.C.) tomb in Jiangxi province. First discovered in 2011, the Yejiashan Graveyard was inscribed among China’s top 10 archaeological findings that year. The latest excavation has found the dynasty’s first painted bronze and a tomb burying a set of 19 dings (cooking vessels) and 12 guis (food containers) that surpassed the burial norms for a king. IANS
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1 Located in Guanghan City, southwest China's Sichuan Province, the Sanxingdui Ruins are believed to be remnants of the Shu Kingdom
2 Plans are in the pipeline for an animated movie about the prehistoric Sanxingdui Ruins
3 The mysterious film is titled The Guest of Sanxingdui, referencing the ancient Sanxingdui ruins near the city of Chengdu in Sichuan province.