A government-backed research project on the origins of Chinese civilization will begin in southern Shanxi Province and northwestern Henan Province.
This was recently disclosed by Li Xueqin, the scientist in charge of the research on the history of the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties from about 2100 BC to 256 BC.
His research group has 200 experts and scholars who have completed histories of the three ancient dynasties. Now they have turned to southern Shanxi to find more clues on China's origins.
They were trying to make a more precise, scientific and comprehensive account of the history before the Xia Dynasty (2100-1600 BC), Li said.
(Xinhua News Agency July 11, 2002)
