Li Chi Reports

Li Chi was a prominent Chinese archaeologist, trained in the United States and one of the first Chinese archaeologists to conduct and teach scientific archaeology in China. This collection contains the manuscripts of the reports Li Chi prepared for the Freer Gallery when he was a member of the archaeological expeditions in China sponsored by the Freer Gallery of Art and headed by Carl Whiting Bishop during the years 1926 to 1929. The Li Chi Reports describe the expedition's findings at various Chinese archaeological sites, including Hsi-yin-ts'un which details an archaeological dig co-sponsored by the Freer Gallery of Art and the Tsing Hua Research Institute and the 1928-1929 excavation at Yin-Hsu.

Li Chi was born in 1896 in Hubei Province, China. He recieved his Ph.D. in anthropology from Harvard in 1923. He was a member of Carl Whiting Bishop's archaeological team during Freer Gallery sponsored expeditions to China from 1926 to 1929. His later activities were funded both by the Freer Gallery and Academia Sinica. His chief contribution to archaeology was the systematic excavation of Anyang, and the establishment of the historical authenticity of the Shang dynasty. After the Japanese invasion and the fall of the Mainland to the Communists, Li fled to Taiwan where he was head of anthropology and archaeology at the National University.

FSA A2003.10

Li, Ji, 1896-1979

Bishop, Carl Whiting, 1881-1942

Li, Ji, 1896-1979

China

Archaeology

Archaeological expeditions

Li Chi Reports

Transferred from the Library in 2003.

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Reports

Photographs

Maps

Li Chi Reports. FSA.A2003.10. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

The collection is arranged into 2 series: Series 1: Report Manuscripts, 1926-1931, Series 2: Rubbings, Photographs and Maps, 1926-1929

Reports

Photographs

Maps

Collection is open for research.