Modern Egyptian archaeology, which laid the foundation for modern archaeology today, was introduced to China in the 1940s when Xia Nai finished his study in the UK. However, this study shows that China never fell behind in the reception of the latest developments in Egyptian archaeology since its birth in the late 19th century: Chinese readers of local newspapers were informed about the excavations of de Morgan and Petrie and continued to be updated with news from Thebes and Giza in the 1920s. Moreover, previous studies have shown the impacts of traditional antiquarianism on Chinese reception of Egyptian archaeology in terms of chronology and terminology. This study extends that investigation into the public sphere. It reveals the influence of travel writings by antiquarians, fang gu ji (records of visiting ancient sites), on Chinese narratives of excavations. Other traditional genres in popular literature, such as zhiguai (records of anomalies) and biji (informal notes), also contributed vocabulary and tropes to these narratives.
This study will analyse two case studies. First, a comparison between a Chinese translation of British news on Petrie’s excavation in Denderah (1898) and a Chinese narrative of de Morgan's excavation at Naqada (1897) shows that Chinese accounts of excavations shared similarities with contemporary zhiguai stories about tomb digging and local news of accidental discoveries of ancient burials. And some tropes and expressions, common in fang gu ji, did not necessarily reflect reality. The second case unravels a fabricated archaeological account from the 1930s that combined finds from multiple recent excavations at Saqqara and Thebes. While retaining traditional zhiguai tropes, the narrative also reflects influences from the sexualization of female bodies prevalent in Shanghai’s urban culture and the imported story of Cleopatra through the movie industry.