Wang Wei

Professor and deputy director of the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
 

Born in the May of 1954 in Changchun, Jilin Province, Professor Wang got his BA from the Department of Archaeology, Jilin University in 1982. After graduation, he started his career as a research fellow in the Department of Xia, Shang and Zhou Archaeology of the IACASS. In 1995, he won the title – “Doctor of Humanity” from the Kyushu University, Japan with his book The Yamatai State and the Wo Regime in Ancient Chinese Texts (in Japanese). One year later, he got his Ph.D. from the Graduate School of the CASS. The title of his dissertation is “Dongya diqu gudai tieqi he yetieshu de chuanbo yu jiaoliu” (Ancient Iron Objects and the Diffusion and Exchange of Iron Metallurgical Techniques in the East Asia). He was appointed as the head of the Department of Xia, Shang and Zhou Archaeology in 1996. In 1997, he was promoted as a professor and got the title -“CASS Outstanding Middle -aged/Young Scholar”.

At present, he is the deputy director of the IACASS, deputy director and secretary general of the Research Center of Ancient Civilizations of the CASS, director of the Research Center of Frontier Archaeology of the CASS, deputy director of the Academic Committee of the IACASS, member of the Professor Committee and Degree Committee of the Graduate School of the CASS, head of the Department of Archaeology of the Graduate School of the CASS, supervisor of Ph.D. candidates, deputy director of the editorial board of the IACASS, chief editor of Kaogu, member of the Committee of High Academic Position of Historical Sciences of the CASS. He is also a member of the Fifth Evaluation Group of Historic Sciences of the Degree Committee of the State Council, member of the Academic Committee of the national major project – “History and Present of Northeast China”, head of the project “Pre-research on the Origin of Chinese Civilization” – a national major project of key scientific problems during the eleventh Five-Year Plan, vice president of Chinese Yinshang Culture Association, part-time professor of the Archaeological Research Center of the Beijing University, member of the Academic Committee and guest professor of the Research Center of Frontier Archaeology of the Jilin University, president of the Academic Committee of the Research Center of Archaeological Sciences of the Zhengzhou University, and guest professor of the Humanity Faculty of the Xiamen University.

From 1982 to 1987, he had joined the excavations of the capital city and cemetery of the Yan State of the Western Zhou Dynasty at Liulihe, Beijing. From 1988 to 1990, he had excavated several important sites in Japan, including the Nara period noble residence, the ancient tomb and the shell mound. From 1996 to 2000, he had taken part in two sub-projects of the famous Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Project – the “King Wu conquest of the Shang” and the “Chronology of the Kings of the Western Zhou Dynasty”. He had been the director of the excavations of the palace city of Yanshi Shang city in Henan from 1996 to 1998. In 2000, he directed the excavation of the palace site of the Western Zhou Dynasty at Zhouyuan in Shaanxi. From the September of 2000, he has been the director of a major project of the CASS – “Ancient Environment, Human Behavior and Development of Civilization in the Middle and Lower Yellow River Valleys”, which is the first multi-disciplines project in China for the study on man-land relationship in ancient time. He started to direct another major project of the CASS – “Origin and Early Development of Chinese Civilization” in 2001. In 2002, he was appointed as the head of the project –  “Pre-research on the Origin of Chinese Civilization”.

Professor Wang had spent four years (1987-1990, 1995-1996) in Japan to do researches and fieldworks. He has given lectures in more than twenty universities and institutes in Japan, South Korea, Great Britain, Canada and Germany and in many international conferences. Main topics of his lectures including origin of civilizations in China and the East Asia, formation of early states in the East Asia, prehistoric environment and the origin of rice and millet agriculture in the East Asia, environmental changes in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties and the southward movement of Steppe peoples, diffusion and exchange of bronze and iron metallurgical techniques in the East Asia.

His major research interests are archaeology of the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, archaeological study on the formation and development of ancient civilization in the East Asia, and archaeological study on culture communication in the East Asia. In recent years, he started to pay more attention on multi-disciplines research in archaeology, and has directed two projects – the DNA analysis on human skeletons of the Shang Dynasty and the research on the relationship between changes of ancient environment and development of ancient cultures.

His main publications in Chinese include:
2000 (with Xu Lianggao) “Xianzhou wenhua de kaoguxue tansuo” (Archaeological research on the pre-Zhou culture), Kaoguxuebao 3.
1999 Dongya diqu gudai tieqi he yetieshu de chuanbo yu jiaoliu (Ancient Iron Objects and the Diffusion and Exchange of Iron Metallurgical Techniques in East Asia), Beijing: Zhongguo Shehuikexue chubanshe.
1998 “Yanshi Shangcheng kaogu xinfaxian jiqi xiangguan wenti” (New archaeological discoveries at the Yanshi Shang city and related issues), in Qingguoji, Beijing: Zhishi chubanshe.
1997 “Cong maju kan san – liu shiji dongya diqu gudai wenhua jiaoliu” (Horse gear and cultural exchange during 3-6 centuries in the East Asia), Kaogu 12.
1996 “Cong kaogu faxian kan si shiji de dongya” (Archaeological discoveries and the East Asia in the fourth century), Kaoguxuebao 3
1995 “Shangdai chema yuanyuan lice” (Brief research on the source of the Shang chariot), In Zhongguo Shang wenhua guoji xueshu taolunhui lunwenji.
1993 “Xia Shang Zhou shiqi Liaodong bandao yu Chaoxian bandao xibeibu de kaoguxue wenhua xulie ji xianghu guanxi” (Chronology of archaeological cultures in Liaodong and Korea Peninsulas in the Xia, Shang and Zhou periods and the communication between them), Zhongguo kaoguxue luncong, Beijing: Kexue chubanshe.
1987 “Shang wenhua yuqi yuanyuan tansuo” (Sources of the Shang jade objects), Kaogu 8.

His main publications in Japanese include:
1997 “Emergence and development of bronze cultures in Northeast Asia”, ancient bronze culture
1997 “Influence of China in the Yayoi and Kufen period tombs”, Kodai No Nihon to torai Benka, Gakusei Shya
1996 “International communication in the Five-Kings period of Wo”, Archaeology Quarterly Vol.54.
1996 “Social structure of Wo in the first half of the 3rd century recorded in Chinese ‘Weizhi Worenzhuan’”, Kyushyu Rekishi: 2
1995 Cultural exchange among Eastern Asian countries in the 6th century, ancient culture of east Asia issue 83.
1995 “Archaeological discoveries and the Longshan Time in China” Hakoukenkyu:10.
1993 The Yamatai State and the Wo Regime in Ancient Chinese Texts  Japan:Yuuzangaku publishing company
1990 “Social Structure in the Early Yangshao period”, Hakoukenkyu initial issue.

His recent projects include:
2000-present: “Settlement pattern and Social Structure” (a sub-project of the national major project of social sciences in the           tenth Five-Year Plan – Pre-research on the Origin of Chinese Civilization), director.
2000-2005 : “Origin and Early Development of Chinese Civilization” (major project of the CASS), director.
2000-2005: “Comprehensive study on the bronze cultures in northwest China” (Sino-Germany cooperative project), director of the Chinese research group.
2000-2004: “Ancient Environment, Human Behavior and Development of Civilization in the Middle and Lower Yellow River Valleys” (major project of CASS), first director.
2001-2003: “Archaeological research on prehistoric cultural exchange within Northeast Asia” (Sino-Japan cooperative project), director of Chinese research group.
2000: “Excavation and research on the large rammed earth foundation of the Western Zhou Dynasty at Zhouyuan, Shaanxi”, director.
1999-2002: “Settlement pattern in the Huan River Valley, Anyang, Henan”. (Sino-American cooperative project), head of the Chinese research group.
1999-2001: “DNA of ancient people in Anyang” (funded by National Natural Sciences Foundation), director of archaeological research.
1996-2001: Chinese Archaeology Vol. 1 (national major project of social sciences in the ninth Five-Year Plan), chief editor.
1996-2000: “Chronological study on burials and the Western Zhou city site of at Liulihe” (part of the Xia-Shang-Zhou Chronology Project), director.
1996-1998: “Excavation and research on the palace complex within the palace city of the Yangshi Shang city in Henan” (major project of the CASS), director.
“Sources of unearthed sea shells of pre-Han period” (Sino-Japan cooperative project), director of Chinese research group.

Current research interests:
Establishment of an information system for the IACASS.
Origin and formation process of Chinese civilization.
Changes of environment, human behavior and development of civilizations.