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11.

gist in China should of course be a sinologist and art-critic as well, it is quite possible to do good field work without a knowledge of Chinese, and to bring all the field records to Peking headquarters for elucidation.
     I therefore recommend that competent young men with field experience in other countries be invited to work for us from the start.
     It stands to reason that these scientists will feel themselves somewhat hampered by the fact that they have no acquaintance with the language, and at best but a book knowledge of the history and archaeology of China. But this disadvantage is by no means so great as it would seem to an outsider. An archaeologist with modern training will never lose material evidence of importance merely because he is working in an unknown field. In broad terms every problem attacked by the excavator or field worker is approached afresh and with an open mind. While it is unquestionably an advantage for an archaeologist to know the precise significance of his finds, a general knowledge, such as could be obtained in a month's reading, would give him some understanding of the material on which he is at work and enable him to proceed intelligently. 
     The archaeology of China is far from having reached the advanced stage which has been developed in the Classical countries and in Egypt and the Holy Land. For the first few years we must work on what scanty information is ours, and gradually lay down