Scientists to Trace Back 5,000 Years of Chinese HistoryScientists are determined to trace Chinese history back to 3070 B.C., so as to explore the origin and development of ancient Chinese civilization.Li Xueqin, a leading researcher on the remote history of China, told Xinhua in an interview that the move will be a follow-up to their research findings last year, which traced China's history back to 2070 B.C. In November, 2000, Chinese scientists published a chronological list of the ancient Chinese dynasties of Xia, Shang and Zhou, in which they said the Xia Dynasty started in 2070 B.C. Chinese scientists, eager to find out what happened before the Xia dynasty, the oldest period of China's recorded history, are mapping out plans for the research program to be completed during the country's tenth Five-Year-Plan period (2001-2005), said Li. "This is going to be an interdisciplinary study that will yield positive results," he said, "as the Chinese civilization is integrated and continuous." |
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