China city builds museum for World Heritage Site ruins

The central Chinese city of Anyang, on Monday, started construction on a museum for the World Heritage Site Yinxu, or the Yin Ruins, to bring people back to the last capital of the Shang Dynasty more than 3,000 years ago.

With an investment of around 1.06 billion yuan (about $162 million), the museum covers an area of nearly 18 hectares and will have a floor area of 51,000 square meters, said Li Gongle, Anyang's Party chief, at the ground-breaking ceremony.

The museum is scheduled to open to the public at the end of 2022 to allow visitors to enjoy the excavation history of the Yin Ruins, the unearthed ruins, oracle bone scripts, and jade and bronze wares.

The Yin Ruins was added to the World Heritage List in 2006 by UNESCO.

The ruins boast archaeological remnants of the ancient city of Yin, the last capital of the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 BC). The oracle bone scripts discovered within the ruins are considered to be the oldest Chinese inscriptions.

"With the museum, the Chinese archeologists' dream of displaying unearthed relics from the Yin Ruins is coming true," said Song Xinchao, deputy chief of the National Cultural Heritage Administration.

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the unearthed relics from the Yin Ruins amounted to 1 million pieces, with over 50,000 considered precious ones.

Li Xiaoyang, head of the Anyang municipal cultural heritage department, said the new museum would better display the rich culture of the Yin Ruins. The city's current display area for the Yin Ruins was less than 1,500 square meters.

The museum will help people get a better insight into the remarkable achievements of the early Chinese civilization, said Yu Xinhua, deputy Party chief of the Chinese Academy of History.

Chinese archaeologists discovered a complex of ruins in Xiaotun village in Anyang in 1928, which were later confirmed to be the site of the Shang Dynasty capital Yin, and most known for its large discovery of oracle bone inscriptions.