Giving Egyptology a new Chinese voice

Members of Shanghai University's Center for Egyptology take part in the Sino-Egyptian joint archaeological project at the Temple of Montu in Egypt. CHINA DAILY

On a sweltering summer day at Shanghai University, 30 students crowded into a classroom, their enthusiasm undimmed by the heat outside. Selected from over 70 applicants worldwide, they had gathered for five intensive days to learn one of humanity's oldest writing systems: ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Professor Guo Dantong, the university's leading Egyptologist, delivered six hours of instruction each day. "Many people mistakenly believe hieroglyphs are just pictorial symbols to be interpreted literally," she explains. "I felt an obligation to clear the air, to teach Egyptology in its authentic form, and build foundational understanding rooted in our own linguistic context."

That workshop reflects a broader mission. This year marks the first anniversary of Shanghai University's Center for Egyptology.

"If I had to use one word to summarize our first year, I would choose 'starting'," says Guo, who directs the center. "Not starting from zero, but starting through exploration, growing through exchange, and accumulating through cooperation."

The launch of the book Legal Records of New Kingdom with Transliterations, Chinese Translations and Annotations. CHINA DAILY

A fresh perspective

Established with support from a Chinese Academy of History's funding program for obscure yet essential disciplines — niche or endangered fields vital to understanding human civilization — the center pursues three core objectives: compiling and translating ancient Egyptian documents, supporting archaeological work and heritage protection in Egypt, and studying exchanges between Egypt and neighboring civilizations.

For more than two centuries, Western scholarship has dominated Egyptology. "When Chinese scholars translate hieroglyphs directly into Chinese rather than through English or French, we bring our own critical thinking to the text," Guo explains. "This is a crucial step toward building our own academic discourse."

Chinese Egyptology's strength, Guo argues, lies in bringing a distinct comparative perspective to international scholarship. Chinese researchers are well-placed to contextualize Egypt within broader regional networks, examining exchanges with West Asia, the Mediterranean and Africa, while comparing Egyptian civilization with ancient China, Greece and Mesopotamia.

This methodology draws heavily on traditional Chinese historiography, which emphasized rigorous textual verification, historical geography and source cross-validation. Applied to Egyptology, this means systematically synthesizing written records, visual artifacts and geographical data.

"We study Egypt not merely to understand another ancient civilization, but to reconsider fundamental questions about statehood, religion, society and humanity's relationship with nature," Guo reflects. "Chinese scholars are both researchers of Egyptian civilization and observers who bridge different traditions."

This perspective is already yielding results. Li Yang, a center researcher who completed a visiting fellowship at Yale University, illustrates how Chinese insights can enrich international dialogue.

"Western scholars often applied Mesopotamian paradigms to ancient Egyptian cities and questioned whether Egyptian cities even existed," Li recalls of her doctoral research. "Drawing on Chinese historical experiences — Bronze Age cities as political hubs rather than purely economic centers — we found fresh comparative angles that intrigued Western colleagues."

Her American adviser, fascinated by this cross-civilizational approach, frequently asked about Chinese archaeology. "We discussed how the motif of a person looking through a doorway appears in both Egyptian funerary art and Chinese tomb paintings from the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220)," Li says. "It suggests the universal symbolic significance of thresholds."

"Our edge lies in the indigenous academic tradition — analytical methods refined through rigorous training, deliberation and empirical testing," says Zhang Youran, a center lecturer.

Egyptology was included in the 2024 funding list of the Chinese Academy of History's support program for endangered scholarly disciplines. CHINA DAILY

From texts onward

The center's emblem — a pyramid flanked by a bird and a papyrus scroll — symbolizes its mission to explore ancient Egyptian wisdom through systematic documentation and translation.

To date, the center has published two translated volumes of economic and legal documents from Egypt's New Kingdom period, with a third underway. In December 2025, it launched Egyptology Studies, the first Chinese collection of academic papers dedicated exclusively to the field.

"All academic journals aim to provide platforms for exchange," says Zhang, who also serves as the publication's executive editor. "This allows us to gather research while helping international colleagues better engage with Chinese scholarship."

These efforts also extend into digital terrain. The center is developing tools including a hieroglyphic database, an ancient Egyptian geographical information system, and optical character recognition software for hieroglyphic texts.

"Chinese teams only began fieldwork in 2018, much later than Western counterparts," Guo notes. "Creating comprehensive Chinese-language documentary resources is therefore critically important."

Zhang emphasizes the potential of digital humanities to give Chinese Egyptology a distinctive advantage. "While we may lag behind Western institutions in traditional archaeological fieldwork, we have opportunities to lead in digital transformation," she says.

"Breakthroughs in database construction, hieroglyphic recognition, and AI-assisted analysis can secure us a greater voice in global academic discourse," she adds.

Building scholarly talent

Egyptology in China qualifies as juexue, a niche or obscure discipline, because of its high entry barriers, extensive linguistic requirements, and prolonged training cycles. Yet, the center has made talent cultivation its central pillar.

It currently has six full-time researchers, four doctoral candidates, and over 10 master's program students. Nine doctoral graduates have taken positions at universities across China. Through national scholarships, several young scholars have also been sent to leading institutions including Yale, Johns Hopkins and the University of Munich.

"Our philosophy is straightforward: build rock-solid foundations and cultivate broad international vision," Guo says. "Going abroad expands horizons and enables scholars to actively participate in global discussions. Returning home allows them to enrich domestic research and elevate Chinese Egyptology globally."

Guo rejects the notion that "niche" implies a lack of value. Understanding cross-cultural exchanges and mutual learning, she argues, remains profoundly relevant to modern global discourse, and requires sustained investment and stable platforms.

The center pursues multiple strategies for disciplinary vitality: intensive talent cultivation and overseas exchanges, open platforms connecting dispersed scholars, and digital tools that lower barriers to primary sources.

"The solution for obscure disciplines isn't making them trendy," Guo notes. "It's establishing sustainable mechanisms for cultivation, exchange and dissemination. As long as people want to learn, can teach and continue researching, even seemingly obscure fields can develop vibrant traditions."

For young researchers like Zhang, the discipline offers both aesthetic beauty and contemporary relevance.

"Ancient Egyptian civilization may seem quiet, its script a silent language," she says. "In that silence, we hope to build something resonant. Studying how ancient civilizations met across oceans reminds us that human societies have always been interconnected."

As the center enters its second year, Guo's aspirations center on a single goal: evolving from "having a center" to "forming an academic community".

"Looking five years ahead, I hope our center serves as an influential platform within Chinese academia and a recognized collaborator internationally," she says.

Her vision encompasses three goals: cultivating a stable cohort of internationally trained young scholars, producing substantial research achievements with distinctive Chinese perspectives on comparative civilization studies, and establishing the center as a genuine bridge connecting Chinese and international Egyptological communities.

"When international academia looks at Chinese Egyptology, we want them to see a distinct, active presence," Guo says, "one grounded in Chinese scholarship, engaged with the world, and using the story of ancient Egypt to better understand the broader human experience."