English archaeologist Jessica Rawson's book Life and Afterlife in Ancient China Photo: Courtesy of CITIC Press Group

In the 1970s, Jessica Rawson, who was then an assistant curator at the British Museum, unintentionally received a key to the museum's artifact storage. It opened a room filled with Chinese jades, and these treasures ignited the English archaeologist and art historian's passion for exploring China's history. That passion never faded and ultimately found its way into her latest Chinese book Life and Afterlife in Ancient China, known as Hou Tu Wu Jiang (lit: Earth without bounds) in Chinese. 

Published in September, the new book features 12 Chinese burial sites spanning more than 3,000 years of history. For Rawson, tombs are not symbols of "closure or death," but ­instead are windows "into the unique traditions and beliefs of ancient China," she told the Global Times. These underground legacies reveal a side of Chinese civilization that has often been "overlooked by Western interpretations on civilization studies."  

English archaeologist Jessica Rawson Photo: Courtesy of CITIC Press Group

Dwellings for the afterlife  

In Life and Afterlife in Ancient China, the writer uses 12 chapters to tell the stories of burial sites through iconic examples such as the sacrificial pit of the Sanxingdui Ruins in Sichuan Province and Gansu Province's Majiayuan ruins. From the wetlands of the Yangtze Delta to China's Loess Plateau and the northern grasslands, buried history under the ground reveals to Rawson how ancient Chinese saw death as life - a belief that differs from Western perspectives on mortality. 

Taking a burial site of the Rui State in Shaanxi Province as an example, Rawson observed that the unearthed bronze artifacts had organized arrangements, both in quantity and size. They reflect the ritualistic tradition ancient China developed to commemorate the deceased. Meanwhile, a set of bianzhong, ancient Chinese ritual bronze bells, was unearthed from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng in Hubei Province. Inscribed with texts describing ritual regulations, these bells exemplify the reverence for ancestral beliefs embedded in ancient Chinese burial customs.

"Preparing for the afterlife was one of the central concerns in China for millennia, a practice that persists even into the modern era. Such preparations reflect a widely held belief in the presence and power of ancestors," Rawson said. 

As her exploration of China's underground heritage deepened, the archaeologist discovered that regional civilizations represented by different burial sites show the multifaceted development of ancient Chinese culture.

In the fourth chapter, Rawson was intrigued by the unique structure of the bronze artifacts unearthed from the Sanxingdui Ruins. For instance, a 260.8-centimeter-tall bronze statue, also known as the "Dali statue," consists of eight individually cast components, including the figure's base and head. This casting technique shows that the Sanxingdui craftsmen were not just capable of casting components using the piece-mold method, but were also skilled at assembling them like a jigsaw puzzle. 

The Yinxu Ruins in Anyang, Henan Province, are also renowned for the bronze casting civilization on display. However, though working with the same material, this region used a different approach. This distinction in craftsmanship shows the regional characteristics inherent in ancient Chinese civilization.

"Although Sanxingdui and Anyang likely knew little about each other, both independently developed self-consistent systems to interpret their cultural worlds," Rawson noted. 

The writer's exploration into the dwellings of the afterlife inspired her to also see how ancient Chinese civilization "uniquely developed" compared to other cultures. Ordinary rammed earth was widely used in ancient China. While it did not lead the Chinese to construct stone temples like those of ancient Egypt, it endowed them with the wisdom to develop large-scale infrastructure throughout history. And such wisdom even continues nowadays. 

While other civilizations built upward above the earth, the unique resource of China's Loess Plateau enabled ancient people to excavate as deep as 7 to 10 meters underground. This is also why, when above-ground heritage faced external destruction, China was still able to preserve underground wonders such as the ­Terracotta Warriors, along with fragile yet precious gems like porcelain and silk textiles. 

"The development of Chinese civilization - a convergence of social, cultural, and environmental conditions - cannot be measured by Western standards of social complexity," said Rawson, adding that if the West "could step beyond their established frameworks" and examine ancient Chinese civilization on its own terms, they would discover its shine.

Evergreen passion 

Life and Afterlife in Ancient China was first published in 2023 in English. Rawson said she hoped the book would help the West to "see and acknowledge China's history." Beyond writing, she herself also takes on journeys to bridge Chinese and Western culture. 

Inspired by that room filled with jades, Rawson organized two exhibitions on Chinese cultural relics in the late 1970s and early 1980s, introducing visitors to the cultural symbolism behind ancient Chinese animal-shaped artworks and decorative patterns.

Since then, she has visited China dozens of times, including many of the archaeological sites mentioned in her new book. In 2024, at the age of 81, she visited the Sanxingdui Ruins for the first time. There, she not only saw the bronze figure in her book, but also entered the laboratories at the site and witnessed how modern technology is being used to preserve the region's ancient Shu culture.

On a visit to Rawson's home, a journalist once noted that her modest yet elegant room was adorned a couplet written in Chinese. Roughly translated, it read:

"Spring fills the universe, blessings fill the home; Heaven adds to the years, we add to life."  

Originating in the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), this lines of this couplet are a renewal blessing. Yet it also reflects Rawson's evergreen passion for Chinese culture, as she once wrote, "I have devoted my entire life to the study of ancient Chinese culture and archaeology."