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Chapter I.
INTRODUCTION.
1.  Historical and Geographical Notes.

     The site of Yin-hsü(殷墟)[[superscript]]1[[/superscript]], where excavations have been carried on by the Archeological Section of the National Research Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, since 1928,--the work being assisted by the Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, for two seasons in the year 1929,--and with which this report shall be concerned, is located in the village Hsiao-t'un(小屯), a little less than two miles northwest of the city of An-yang Hsien (安陽縣), formerly the capital of Chang-tê Fu(彰德府).  This city lies approximately about E. 114° 20', and 36° 6'.  The Han-ping(Kin-han) Railway passes right between the village Hsiao-t'un and the An-yang city. Topographically the region where this city is located forms part of the Northeastern Alluvium Plain of China Proper.  It is, like the whole span of this Alluvium, less than 100 meters above the sea-level, extending towards the Gulf of Pei-chi-li with almost no undulation.  But towards the west, it raises abruptly, bounding the Tai-hang Range which passes on westward to the Shan-si

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[[footnote]] 1.  Yin-hsü has been variously translated as the Waste of Yin (Menzies) or the Tumulus of Yin(Hopkins) in the English language; but none of these terms expresses the original idea adequately.  In Chinese the term has been used to denote a definite place just like Shang-ch'iu(商邱) or Hsia-yi(夏邑).  As such, there can be no time limit to the remains from the place denoted by this term, althou it may be quite reminiscent of a definite historical event.  To facilitate descriptions and discussions in this report, it seems to be more desirable to use this term in a neutral sense, so instead of partially translating the meaning of this term as interpreted by our predecessors, only the sound value is here transcribed.

Transcription Notes:
Re-opened 11.27.17 to improve Chinese character transcription and translation. - TC Team.