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[[underlined]] Chapter I. [[/underlined]]                 5.

pret the ancient Chinese culture; yet they did not admit, and perhaps did not even realize, their total lack of the highly specialized technical training demanded of the field archaeologist today. I found further, save on the part of a very few, an absence of comprehension regarding the true nature and purpose of modern scientific exploration. Chinese scholars have from the Sung Dynasty (960-1279 A.D.) onward produced antiquarian studies of great value; but these have not been based upon the results of scientifically conducted and carefully recorded excavation. The only work of the latter character, to the best of my knowledge, hitherto performed in China had been that carried out a year or two previously by Dr. J. G. Andersson under the auspices of the Geological Survey of China; but the remarkable results which he then attained had not yet had time to become widely known or properly understood.
   After careful study of the situation, I at length proposed to Dr. V. K. Ting and Dr. W. H. Wong, both of them scientists of international repute, the organization of|a Chinese Archaeological Society for the specific purpose of acting in coöperation with our expedition. These gentlemen thought well of my suggestion, and promised to call a meeting to that end on May 28th.

[[underlined]] Visit to the Buddhist Grottoes of Yün|Kang. [[/underlined]]
   The interval I utilized by paying a visit to the Buddhist sculptured grottoes of Yün Kang 雲岡, in northern Shansi province ([[underlined]] cf. [[/underlined]] plate [[strikethrough]] II [[/strikethrough]] ^[[2, fig 1),]] dating from the North Wei Dynasty (386-534 A.D.). These I had seen some years before, and they had likewise been studied and photographed by various others; but as far as I was aware, there had been no attempt to ascertain what possibilities they might offer for