(lit. 'The Rediscovery of Ancient China'; English-language edition:
The Search for Ancient China) is a pocket-sized book on
archaeology of China published by
Éditions Gallimard in 1998 in the series of their collection. Debaine-Francfort starts this archaeological journey with the "Birth of Archaeology in China" (chap. I), followed by chapters devoted to the
artefacts and other findings of the
Neolithic Age (chap. II, "The Chinese Neolithic: From Singular to Plural"),
Shang dynasty (chap. III, "The Shang: The Emergence of a Civilization"),
Zhou dynasty (chap. IV, "Eight Centuries of Eventful History"),
Qin dynasty (chap. V, "Qin or the First Empire") and
Han dynasty (chap. VI, "The Spread of the Han Empire"). The "Documents" section at the back contains a compilation of excerpts which is divided into four parts: 1, The time of the collectors; 2, The first emperor; 3, Text and memory; 4, A conversation with
K. C. Chang. In addition to the excerpts, it also features in this section a chronology, a table of historical landmarks, a list of further reading, list of illustrations and an index. The book has been translated into American and British English, Italian, Japanese, Russian, South Korean, Swedish and Turkish. At the beginning of the 20th century, China opened its doors to the rest of the world: the clash of cultures, the encounter of East and West. Despite this epoch of political chaos, important discoveries were made and scientific bodies for research were established due to the introduction of new field methods made by western archaeologists. After the communists took control of China, from 1949 until 1973, Chinese archaeology went through a period of darkness and retreat. Today the splendours and achievements of ancient China are revealed to modern eyes: a large number of discoveries, major international exhibitions follow one another. From the early Neolithic painted pottery, the
Shang and Zhou bronzes, the
bronze bells of Marquis Yi of Zeng, the impressive
army of the First Emperor, to the lavish
tomb of the Marquise of Dai; from the
Yellow River to the
Blue River, from North to South, China's origins are revealed. == Selected publications ==