Zhang Yalan, born in 1994, has lived in Chongqing Jiangjin Stone Buddha Temple for a year and a half. Her original career setting was interior environmental art design. After graduating from university, she went to Chongqing Cultural Heritage Research Institute to become an archaeological draftsman. The object depicted by the brush has moved from the ground to the “underground”.
The archaeological work station of Shifo Temple is a standard “Riverview Room”. It opens to the Yangtze River. On the other side of the river is the Old Town of Jiangjin. The lights of thousands of houses will come together with the night. If it rains, the surface of the river will be foggy, like a scroll of ink painting. It’s rainy in Chongqing, and Zhang Yalan sighs every time, “The camera can’t capture this beauty.”
The scenery is beautiful, and there is another side to her daily life. “As long as I dress well enough for get off work, no one will know me after work.” Zhang Yalan felt that this sentence was about herself, “Do you know that you are fully armed? Long-sleeved trousers and a fisherman hat with the biggest brim is better. The one with the mask shows its eyes.”
Make-up is unrealistic, and sun protection is the only “truth”. After all, in the sunshine of Chongqing, waterproof cosmetics can’t stop the sweat. Every day from the archaeological get off work, the first thing Zhang Yalan does is to release the long-terms that have been tied up for a day, and the second thing is to wash her face mixed with sweat and sunscreen. “We usually discuss what styles of clothes and hair colors are popular now. After a heated discussion, we said, oh, there is no way to get it, we can only think about it.”
In 2017, the female archaeological team of the Chongqing Cultural Heritage Research Institute (Hereinafter referred to as “women’s archaeological team”) was established. Zhang Yalan joined the archaeological team that year and is the youngest girl in the team.
Once all-male
woman archaeological team captain Jenny after a 80, 2006, graduated from Jilin University archeology. When she first arrived at the Chongqing Cultural Relics and Archaeology Institute (the predecessor of the Chongqing Cultural Heritage Research Institute), she was the only female front-line archaeologist on active duty.
In the past, the overwhelming majority of people who insisted on first-line archaeology were boys. After all, being in the wild for many years, it didn’t sound “suitable” for women. For example, summer—in the summer of Chongqing, a group of boys are shirtless, wearing pants and slippers, but girls can’t do it; for another example, going to the toilet is also an annoying thing, after all, the archaeological site will not give you a special toilet.
The situation changed in 2017. The professional and technical personnel of the Chongqing Cultural Heritage Research Institute are stretched out, so regardless of men and women, they all go to the archaeological site in the first few years of the unit.
In 2012, Yanni obtained the qualification certificate of the archaeological excavation team leader; in 2017, the archaeological work in Chongqing was extremely heavy and the manpower was in short supply. The girls who were originally scattered among various archaeological teams were formed as “women’s archaeological teams.” This is China’s first fully female archaeological team, and Yan Ni is the project leader. The team has grown from 5 backbones at the beginning to 11 now, covering professionals in fields such as field excavation, scientific and technological archaeology, artifact restoration, and drawing.
Cai Yuanfu is a cultural relics restorer. He started working in this industry in the 1980s. He started as an apprentice and worked for more than 30 years. When the women’s archaeological team was founded, she was the oldest sister in the team.
Although the restoration of cultural relics is not “digging”, the restorer still needs to work on the archaeological site. The city of Chongqing is developing rapidly. In the process of development and construction, it is necessary to excavate and protect the underground cultural relics along the line in advance. From the perspective of the entire industry, the restoration of cultural relics is a scarce resource, so even though he is about to retire, Cai Yuanfu still follows the archaeological team for ten and a half months, or even a few months, when he goes out.
Are women competent?
The establishment of the women’s archaeological team allowed the scattered forces to be gathered, and incidentally solved the problems of life such as going to the toilet. “Digging” sounds like a job that combines concrete and mental power. Can women do it?
”Archaeology is actually a relatively procedural work. At the beginning of a project, in strict accordance with the scientific excavation process, the efficiency of a team can be estimated, and there is no special difference between men and women. On the contrary, the coordination of personnel in the team is more important. It’s very important to stay in one place for a few months without seeing family members. It’s very important for teammates to accompany each other and relieve emotions.” Yanni said, “Girls are more delicate, and sometimes they can explain some relic phenomena. Perceptually, it brings a new perspective.”
From the interior designer’s emphasis on artistic creation to the archaeological draftsman’s emphasis on restoring the essence, Zhang Yalan was a little uncomfortable at the beginning. It was not only his profession but also the way of thinking that had to be changed. The “test” is ancient, but the technical requirements for archaeologists keep pace with the times. Zhang Yalan said that in addition to the basic skills of hand-painting, the current archaeological drawing must also be combined with digitalization, such as the overall digital three-dimensional modeling of a site. “My sense of accomplishment comes from the completion of a painting of cultural relics. If my paintings are included in the archaeological report collection, published in the book, and can be seen by many people and recognized by the industry, I will feel more fulfilled.”
2020 There is news that Zhong Fangrong, a girl from Leiyang, Hunan, chose the School of Archaeology, Arts and Sciences of Peking University with the fifth place in the province. It became news because the first reaction of many people was that the profession of archaeology was “unpopular”, “hard work” and “not making money”. For girls, it may be necessary to add one more item, “Despite the family.”
Yanni’s son is almost 7 years old. Every time she goes on a business trip, his son will hold his mother and cry. “Once I went home from the construction site halfway through, he hugged me and asked if you would never leave. I’m almost crying when I say it.”
Zhang Yalan has been on a remote mountain for a long time and cannot see a few people, making it difficult to “play with friends”. The parents were very anxious and introduced her to her several blind dates. The team leader also cared about his subordinates. As long as it was a blind date, they were allowed to leave each time.
Yanni recalled that in early 2007, she conducted a survey in the Jiangjin Xiaonanhai Reservoir. There was no dry road on the return trip. After two hours of riding on the barge, people were too cold. Back in the town, the team members were all disgraced. The captain invited the hot pot, “This is the hottest hot pot I have ever eaten.”
With the overall development of society, the conditions for archaeological work are getting better and better, and accommodation and transportation are gradually no longer the reasons for restricting women. “Contemporary women are not satisfied with the society’s positioning of themselves. We are more independent, have our own professional goals, and are willing to fight for them.” Yanni said.
“Many people think that girls are different from boys, but it is actually out of the requirements of traditional social concepts for girls, such as asking girls to take care of their families. Now that society is diversified, more and more people understand the archaeology industry, and girls who join this industry More and more, this is very good.” Zhang Yalan said.
Have more “life”
If we have to talk about the impact of gender on archaeologists, the most likely thing is that the members of the female archaeological team have more “life” after finishing a day of work.
Skin care is a key topic discussed by the team members, and the most important thing is sun protection. In summer, Chongqing is a stove, and the construction site under the scorching sun is unobstructed. When I saw Yanni at the archaeological site, she was wearing quick-drying clothes and quick-drying pants. In fact, she likes to wear cheongsam every day.
Some migrant workers are hired at the archaeological site, and the team members sometimes live in the migrant workers’ homes. A group of girls just play with the host’s children, chat with the hostess, choose vegetables, cook… The construction sites are mostly in the field, and picking flowers is also one of their leisure activities. They are put in various bottles and placed in the room.
In many cases, dogs are still an important security measure for archaeological sites. At the Jiangjin Stone Buddhist Temple, everyone raised 4 Chinese pastoral dogs. Captain had played a dog name literary, players cried cried, became straightforward called “Flowers”, “black” ……
”bitter is bitter, but we can see good scenery, access to A simple person.” Yan Ni remembered that in 2017, the female archaeological team was responsible for the excavation of the Pingshang site in Yangdu Town, Zhong County, Chongqing. The site of the site is a small village that is not rich. When the excavation is in the later stage, the villagers will send mature longans to the archaeological team they are familiar with.
For the archaeologists, the “Riverview Room” in Shifo Temple is not uncommon. Yanni described it like this: When investigating and prospecting at Zhouhuang Tomb in Fuling, there was a reservoir next to it. In the early morning, mist slowly drifted over from the water. There were many pine trees on the mountain, and sunlight leaked from the gaps between the branches. In summer, it was on the construction site along the river. Sometimes, rows of black sunshade nets are set up, and the wind blows, the net surface bulges, like a sailing sail…
