Decoding the land of pharaohs

Days of exchange

Since French historian and linguist Jean-Francois Champollion deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs, whose lineage had been lost to history, and founded Egyptology in 1822, the transliteration system has been based on Western languages. With centuries of academic accumulation, Western scholars have led the development of associated fields of studies, according to Jin Shoufu, an Egyptologist at Fudan University in Shanghai.

"An individual or country can usually contribute to the academic system little by little rather than expect to make a blockbusting discovery overnight," he says.

But for China, excavations at the Temple of Montu are a milestone, he adds.

In 1998 and 2000, Jin accompanied Egyptologist Jan Assmann, his PhD supervisor at Heidelberg University in Germany, to excavate and study the mausoleums of officials in Luxor.

"I never thought in my lifetime I would be able to see Chinese scholars conduct their own excavations in Egypt," Jin says.

He participated in preparations for the joint mission and, in 2019, was also a member of the excavation team for academic consulting.

"It's really inspiring to think that Chinese Egyptologists will have firsthand materials for research in the near future," Jin says.