A Workstation of Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology Established in Xinxing City of Hami City and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps and Remarkable Achievements Made to Support Xinjiang

On the morning of August 19, the Inauguration Ceremony of the Workstation of Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology was held at the Hami Museum in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

In the afternoon, the Signing Ceremony of the Framework Agreement on the Paired Assistance and Cooperation between the Culture and Tourism Department of Henan Province and the Xinxing City, the Thirteenth Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (hereinafter “Xinxing City”) and the Inauguration Ceremony of the establishment of the “Workstation of Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology at Xinxing City”, “Expert Workstation of Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology at Xinxing City”, and the “Expert Workstation of Henan Provincial Institute of Architectural Heritage Conservation and Research at Xinxing City” was held in the Municipal People’s Government of Xinxing City.

Huang Dongsheng, Secretary of the Party Group and Director of the Culture and Tourism Department of Henan Province led the team of “2024 Central Plain Culture Tour to Hami” to participate the activity with the leaders at all levels and heads of relevant units.

In recent years, under the guidance of President Xi Jinping’s important instructions on carrying out paired assistance to Xinjiang, and in the implementation of the deployment of the Third Central Symposium on the Work Related to Xinjiang and the Ninth National Xinjiang Paired Assistance Work Conference, further deepening cultural and tourism exchanges and integration between Henan and Xinjiang, under the overall arrangements of the Communist Party of China of Henan Provincial Committee and the provincial government on paired assistance to Xinjiang, the Culture and Tourism Department of Henan Province and the Henan Provincial Administration of Cultural Heritage have sent several “Flexible Teams for the Assistance to Xinjiang” to Hami of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Xinxing City to carry out cultural and tourism system assistance activities. In response to the actual needs of local cultural and tourism work, a series of museum exhibition projects, collection archiving, and collection protection and restoration work have been carried out. This year, under the unified arrangement of the autonomous region’s cultural relics department, a series of cultural assistance activities have been launched, taking the Fourth National Cultural Relics Census and other specific work as entry points to actively support and cooperate in the development of cultural relics archaeology work in Hami and Xinxing.

Under Henan Province’s plan of assistance to Xinjiang this year, and the requirements in the Assistance Program of “Work Teams” in the Field of Culture and Tourism issued by the Organization Department of the Communist Party of China of the Party Committee of the Autonomous Region, the Culture and Tourism Department of of the Autonomous Region, and the arrangement of the Culture and Tourism Department of Henan Province and the Henan Provincial Administration of Cultural Heritage, Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology deployed personnel and equipment to set up an expert team for the assistance to Xinjiang. An implementation program has been developed for the heritage protection work organized by Hami Municipal Bureau of Culture, Sports, Radio, and Tourism. An optimization to enhance the professionalism and operational capability of the Hami heritage protection personnel, as well as an in-depth excavation of the historical and cultural connotations of the Hami, has been targeted to carry out a series of activities, including: to comprehensively investigate the historical and cultural connotations of the Hami region, to provide a scientific basis for the protection and utilization of cultural relics, to strengthen the collection and collation of basic information on cultural relics, to promote the declaration and implementation of scientific research projects, and to assist the Hami Municipal Bureau of Culture, Sports, Radio, and Tourism in completing the Fourth cultural relics census, so that we can have a comprehensive grasp of cultural relics resources. All the activities aimed at promoting the sharing and exchange of cultural relics protection resources between Henan Province and Hami City, and enhancing the informatization level of cultural relics protection.

In May, Yang Wensheng, Vice President of Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology went to Xinjiang to work with the Hami Municipal Bureau of Culture, Sports, Radio, and Tourism and the relevant departments of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region to prepare for the specific tasks and arranges of the assistance group to Xinjiang. Combined with the actual needs of the current work on the remains and relics in Hami City, the cooperation group determined the pre-assistance work to assist the Hami Municipal Bureau of Culture, Sports , Radio and Tourism in carrying out the Fourth National Cultural Relics Census as the work focus, mainly tackling the difficulties of the staff capability and technical equipment by playing the advantages of the group and overcoming the shortcomings.

In early July, a five-member expert team arrived in Hami, stationed in the assisted units, and quickly immersed themselves in the work of the Fourth National Cultural Relics Census under the unified arrangement of the Hami Municipal Bureau of Culture, Sports, Radio, and Tourism. After several work consultations, a comprehensive preparation work was carried out including checking the number of the personnel, the number of remaining cultural relics sites, the geographical distributions, and remaking a unified census plan to clarify the organization of the personnel, to reasonably classify the geographical distributions, to make an effective time planning, to clarify the workload of the personnel, to conduct an efficient and qualified data collection work of the cultural relics sites. As a complementary assistance group, the experts from Henan Province were instructed by the Hami Municipal Bureau of Culture, Sports, Radio, and Tourism, who were mainly responsible for the investigation records of the cultural relics and aerial photography with drones.

Members of the Assistance Group from Henan Province

Hami City has a vast area, a long history, and a large amount of cultural heritage. According to the Third National Cultural Relics Census, the city now has 838 registered immovable cultural relics, including 12 Key Historical and Cultural Sites under National-Level Protection, 47 at the autonomous region level, and 262 at the city and county levels.

The Fourth National Cultural Relics Census started from November 2023 to June 2026, with the on-site investigation stage from May 2024 to June 2025.

The National Cultural Relics Census helps to fully investigate all the immovable cultural relics above and below the ground in Hami City, such as ancient sites, ancient tombs, ancient buildings, rock paintings and inscriptions, important historical sites and representative buildings in modern times. The focus of the census is to collect the data such as the names of the census objects, spatial locations, protection levels, cultural relic categories, ages, ownership, uses, preservation status, etc., to review the identified and registered immovable cultural relics, as well as investigating, identifying, and to register newly discovered immovable cultural relics, so as to ensure that the results of the census comprehensively and objectively reflect the status quo of the city’s immovable cultural relics resources.

Up to now, the Henan provincial cultural relics and archaeology group has participated in the investigation of more than 40 cultural relics sites, involving various types of immovable cultural relics such as ancient sites, ancient tombs, ancient buildings, rock paintings and so on. They have written more than 30 investigation records, taken hundreds of drone aerial photos, measured dozens of RTK geographical positions, discovered and collected several cultural relics specimens, and timely summarized, organized and reported the relevant record data. They have also provided training on drone aerial photography operations and RTK geographical coordinates surveying for the staff of the Bureau, which has effectively supported the work of the Fourth national survey in Hami.

In terms of cultural relics protection, the expert team helped the Hami Municipal Bureau of Culture, Sports, Radio, and Tourism to formulate a project report on the protection of the Lafuqueke Ancient City in just three months and helped Xinxing City to complete the formulation and application of the maintenance and protection design of the Beacon Tower body. A lot of technical guidance and support were also provided to the local cultural relics protection, which significantly promoted the progress of cultural relics preservation.

At the same time, the expert team, focusing on long-term research directions and topic selection, has meticulously analyzed the characteristics and protection needs of the cultural relics in the Hami region, as well as the current state of academic research. Based on this analysis, they have established the work content and priorities for the next three years and beyond. These include the survey and preliminary data organization of the Eastern Tianshan rock art, the investigation and preliminary data organization of ancient Beacon Tower remains in the region, archaeological investigations of early Bronze Age cultural relics, digital collection and protective research of the Eastern Tianshan rock art, digital archiving and protective research of ancient Beacon Tower remains, and actively preparing for project applications and project initiation. The implementation of these projects is of great significance for gaining a more comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the historical value of these precious cultural heritages in Hami, ensuring their better protection and transmission for future generations. 

In the middle of summer, the group members not only enjoyed the fragrance of fruits and vegetables in Hami, but also experienced the passion of the Gobi Desert. Not only did they sweat hard on this land, but they also reaped the joy of walking on high mountains, grasslands, and desert streams, and completing one survey task after another. In the work ahead, they will continue to maintain an optimistic work attitude, overcome difficulties, fulfill their mission, and contribute their modest efforts to the cause of Hami cultural relics.