Qiu Shihua was born in July 1932 in Rugao County, Jiangsu Province. After graduating from Nantong High School in Jiangsu Province in 1951, he was admitted to the Department of Physics at Zhejiang University. In 1952, following university restructuring, he transferred to the Department of Physics at Fudan University in Shanghai. Upon graduation in 1955, he was assigned to the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He first underwent one year of specialized training in nuclear physics before joining the nuclear detector group led by Professor Qian Sanqiang. In 1959, he was transferred with Cai Lianzhen to the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, tasked with establishing a 14C dating laboratory. The laboratory was completed in 1965.
In 1979, he was appointed Director of the Laboratory and a member of the Academic Committee of the Institute of Archaeology, serving as a Research Fellow. Starting in 1996, he served as the Chief Expert and Deputy Leader of the Expert Group for the "Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Project." He was included in the 22nd edition of the Dictionary of International Biography by the International Biographical Centre in Cambridge, UK. In 2006, he was honored with the title of Honorary Member of the Academic Divisions by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (Honorary Academician).
He served as a doctoral supervisor and a member of the academic committee of the Department of Archaeology at the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He concurrently held positions including Head of the 14C Chronology Group of the Chinese Quaternary Research Committee, Director of the Quaternary Chronology Professional Committee, and Vice President of the Chinese Society for Science and Technology in Archaeology. In 1988, he received the First Prize for Outstanding Achievements from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. In 1989, he was awarded the Third Prize for National Scientific and Technological Progress. In 1992, he received the Outstanding Achievement Award for New Archaeological Technologies from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. In 2004, he was awarded the Third Prize for Outstanding Achievements in New Archaeological Technologies from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. In 1992, he was granted the government special allowance for outstanding contributions issued by the State Council.
Publication:
•Studies on Radiocarbon Dating in China (Co-authored, Editor-in-Chief), Science Press, 1990.
•Radiocarbon Dating Data Set in Chinese Archaeology (1965-1981) (Co-authored), Cultural Relics Press, 1983.
•Collected Papers on Radiocarbon Dating and Scientific Archaeology (Co-authored), Cultural Relics Press, 2009.
•"On the Decomposition of Quenching Gas In G-M Counters," Acta Physica Sinica, 1958, Vol. 14, No. 2.
•"Report on Radiocarbon Dating (I)" (Co-authored, Principal Writer), Archaeology, 1972, No. 1.
•"When Did Artificial Lime Burning Begin? Radiocarbon Dating Can Determine," Archaeology and Cultural Relics, 1980, No. 3.
•"Radiocarbon Dating and Archaeological Research" (Co-authored, Principal Writer), Archaeology, 1982, No. 3.
•“REPORT ON THE CHINESE SUCROSE CHARCOAL STANDARD FOR 14C DATING”.A Monthly Journal of Science,1983,(05):707-713.
•"Accelerator Mass Spectrometry for Radiocarbon Chronology," Archaeology, 1987, No. 6.
•"Modern Natural Science and Technology in Archaeology" (Co-authored, Principal Writer), Collected Papers on Chinese Archaeology, Science Press, 1992.
•"The Radiocarbon Dating Framework in the Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Project" (Co-authored), Archaeology, 2001, No. 1.
•"On the Chronology of the Erlitou Culture" (Co-authored), Research on the Erlitou Site and Erlitou Culture, Science Press, 2006.
