A millennia-long dialogue between China and Egypt

BEIJING, Aug. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — A news report from China.org.cn on the exhibition “On Top of the Pyramid — The Civilization of Ancient Egypt” at the Shanghai Museum:

In the mysterious, dim “temple of cat goddess,” a silhouette of Bastet, the ancient Egyptian goddess of the cat is reflected on the wall. Amid the rhythm of subtle meows, the goddess of the cat is staring eye-to-eye with real-life cats.

This seemingly bizarre yet heart-warming scene was witnessed at the Shanghai Museum, on the exhibition “On Top of the Pyramid — The Civilization of Ancient Egypt,” in the section “The Secrets of Saqqara.” Multiple Egyptian treasures are on display, including a standing statue of Bastet, and cat mummies, which are archaeological discoveries independently finished by Egypt in recent years. Some of the exhibits are even “freshly dug out” — they were sent to China for exhibition just after basic cleaning.

What’s also worth noting is that the exhibits also include about a dozen antiques from ancient China, as a part of the narrative around “the eternity of humanity” from different cultures. On the exhibition, potteries from Predynastic Egypt are placed side by side with the potteries from ancient China’s Majiayao culture from the Neolithic period, and visitors can find surprising resemblance in the patterns on these potteries; stone tablets are seated across the rubbings of such tablets collected by Chinese scholars from the late Qing Dynasty, bearing testament to a period of fervor for Egyptian culture in China a hundred years ago… The deliberate arrangement stands for a glimpse into the history, while these antiques from the two civilizations prove each other’s existence, in which also reside insights on the continuity and development of the two ancient civilizations.

Over two millennia ago, envoys from China’s Han Dynasty were sent to Alexandria, opening a scroll of cultural communication and exchanges between these two ancient civilizations. Today, to make more relics of antiquity known to the world, the coming generation from both civilizations have carried out even deeper collaboration in archeology. Fruitful progress has been made on the China–Egypt joint archeology project on the Temple of Montu in Luxor, and the architectural elements of the temple along with the buried antiquities are being uncovered. The technologies and equipment brought over by the Chinese team provided a scientific system for excavation, and in turn, the achievements in Egypt have breathed insights into solving related problems in China’s archaeological work. The process marks true cultural exchanges and mutual learning.

Of course, the cultural communications between the two countries are not limited to archeology. Multiple exchange events including the China-Egypt Silk Road Cultural Heritage International Exchange Event, lectures on the fusion of Chinese and Egyptian ceramic cultures, and the China-Arab Animation Industry Forum saw full success, spearheaded by the passion of the people from both countries.

The bells on the ancient Silk Road camels rang all the way to today’s cooperation in various fronts, resonating with the millennia-old China–Egypt friendship.

The exchanges and mutual learning of the two ancient civilizations are bound to inject more impetus into the common development of the civilization of all humanity.

China Mosaic

http://www.china.org.cn/video/node_7230027.htm

A millennia-long dialogue between China and Egypt

http://www.china.org.cn/video/2024-08/23/content_117384328.htm

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