90th Anniversary of the 1934 Yueliangwan Excavation

90 years ago David Crockett Graham carried out the first archaeological excavation at the site now known as Sanxingdui. His report on the excavation was published in the Journal of the West China Border Research Society* and received international acclaim. While he referred to it as the Hanchow excavation, the village where it took place is now known as Yueliangwan.

Yueliangwan 2019

Chris and Johanna at the site of the 1934 excavation by David Crockett Graham.

Yueliangwan 2019

Chris and Johanna with the great grandson of the farmer who first discovered the jade artifacts in his irrigation ditch.

Sanxingdui Museum 2019

Chris and Johanna Hoogendyk looking at an exhibit about the 1934 Yueliangwan excavation.

Jay Xu was recently in China on business for the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. While in China he helped organize a Symposium at Sichuan University commemorating the 90th anniversary of the Yueliangwan excavation. The symposium, held at Sichuan University on December 13-15, 2024, was titled, “Sanxingdui in the Bronze Age across Eurasia: A Rethinking After Ninety Years.” Through Jay’s influence, I was invited to participate. With the short notice, I was unable to travel there, but submitted a video presentation to be shown as part of the symposium.

I titled my presentation, “David Crockett Graham’s Legacy.” It doesn’t specifically address the events 90 years ago, but rather focuses on access to historical primary source materials, such as letters and diaries, that contain a gold mine of original information about the pivotal period in China from 1911 to 1948.

You can view the presentation on Chris’ YouTube channel.

I’m looking forward to having a report and pictures from Jay after he returns and will post another news update then.

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*Graham, David Crockett (1934). A Preliminary Report of the Hanchow Excavation. JWCBRS 1933-1934, Vol.VI, pp.114-131, 18 plates.