On November 28, the last day of the special exhibition "Founding Yan – Liulihe Site in Fangshan" at the Capital Museum, many visitors flocked to the gallery. Through multimedia interactive displays, they "conversed" with star artifacts such as the Bronze Li Lobed Tripod Cauldron Inscribed by Bo Ju (伯矩鬲), embarking on a journey across more than 3,000 years of civilization.
"I used to know this only as an archaeological site. After visiting the exhibition, I truly feel we are living at the origin of Beijing – it's so inspiring!" said Mr. Zhang, a resident of Fangshan. The exhibition opened his eyes to how cultural heritage can capture the public interest – beyond the gallery, cultural and creative products and desserts inspired by Liulihe Site relics abound.
Online, a digital panoramic exhibition features 180 precious artifacts, remains of Western Zhou city walls (西周城垣), and rammed earth foundations (夯土遗迹), allowing viewers to unlock Beijing's founding codes and examine intricate bronze patterns and inscriptions with a fingertip touch.
"Museum curators must actively adopt new technologies, methods, and forms of expression to make cultural achievements accessible to more audiences," said Huang Xiaoyu, a research fellow in the exhibition department of the Capital Museum. The museum employs digital technology to achieve the permanent preservation and sustainable use of cultural relics. Through virtual exhibition halls, high-definition imagery, and 3D modeling, it breaks through time and space constraints, allowing visitors to "cloud-tour" the museum anytime, anywhere. The museum is also exploring immersive technologies such as artificial intelligence to reconstruct historical scenes, enabling visitors to "converse" with history. "We will plan and launch more interactive, engaging cross-disciplinary exhibitions and educational activities, turning static artifacts into vibrant teaching materials that spark public curiosity and imagination."
The fourth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China called for "stimulating the cultural creativity and innovative vitality of the whole nation, and promoting the prosperity and development of socialist culture." The key to igniting such creativity and vitality lies in bringing to life the cultural relics housed in museums, the heritage displayed across the vast land, and the texts preserved in ancient books.
The Beijing Municipal Cultural Heritage Bureau reported that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Beijing's "museum city" initiative (aiming to build a city of museums) has seen remarkable progress: 49 newly registered museums, 56 museum-like institutions opened, bringing the total to 266. Institutions such as the Chinese Archaeological Museum and the Grand Canal Museum of Beijing have opened, while the China Great Wall Museum, the new site of the Natural History Museum of China, and the Northern Branch of the Palace Museum are under construction, forming a comprehensive museum network across the city.
At the same time, Beijing continues to stimulate the intrinsic dynamism of its museums. By anchoring its efforts in high-quality exhibitions, the city drives the development of cultural and creative products, enhances public services, and promotes branded events. It organizes initiatives such as the Beijing Museum Season and the "Cultural Relics Speak: The Story of China" series, while launching the "Beijing Museum" cultural and creative brand. These efforts consistently aim to tell Beijing's story well and enrich the cultural offerings for the public.
Museums serve as cultural bridges linking the past, present, and future. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the discovery of the Liulihe Site. The ongoing exhibition stands as a testament to the accumulated endeavors of generations of archaeologists. Wang Jing, head of the Liulihe Site excavation project at the Beijing Institute of Archaeology, noted that the site is the earliest urban remains discovered in Beijing and served as the capital and the first enfeoffed capital of the Yan State during the Western Zhou period. "In recent years, we discovered the first double-walled city fortifications of a Western Zhou enfeoffed state here, along with large-scale rammed earth structures (夯土建筑) within the city walls. Throughout the archaeological excavation process, we have employed interdisciplinary research approaches to reconstruct various aspects of ancient life." Inscriptions on artifacts such as the "Tai Bao Yong Yan (太保墉匽)" from the Zuo Ce Huan vessel set (作册奂器组合) provide evidence of Beijing's 3,000-year urban history. High-precision whole-genome sequencing has, for the first time in China, reconstructed family trees in Shang–Zhou archaeology, offering important insights into the familial and social structures of the Western Zhou Yan State.
"This year, the Liulihe Site has been selected as one of China's Top Ten Archaeological New Discoveries, with the excavation work achieving a series of major breakthroughs," said Chu Jianhao, Deputy Director of the Beijing Municipal Cultural Heritage Bureau. He noted that the site has now been included in China's Tentative List for World Heritage, and preliminary work for its World Heritage application is being fully advanced, while the construction of the Liulihe National Archaeological Site Park is progressing in an orderly manner.
"During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, we will continue to carry out refined archaeological excavations, interdisciplinary comprehensive research, and value interpretation, striving to complete all preliminary work for the World Heritage application of the Liulihe Site," said Wang Jing. She added that archaeologists will fully leverage scientific and technological means in cultural relic preservation, digital reconstruction, and comprehensive archaeological research to restore a more vivid and multidimensional ancient society, bringing the public closer to Beijing as it was over 3,000 years ago.
Translator: LU Junying
Reviewer: LIU Qingchen
