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^[[40]]

1.

Chapter III.

Excavation Works: The Spring Season of 1929.

A.  Reorganization of the Field Party.

From November 2 to November 8, in 1928, the author made a short study in Canton on his way back to Beiping from his European tour.  Here he was told by a friend that he was being expected by the director of the newly created National Research Institute of History and Philology, Mr. Fu Ssu-nien, who, at that time had his headquarter in Canton.  A meeting with him was immediately arranged.  The result of this meeting is his acceptance of the offer of the Institute to become the Chief of its Archaeological Section; his immediate duty was to make plan to start some systematic excavation at Yin-hsü where Mr. Tung Tso-ping had already made a happy start.  On November 13, he arrived at Shanghai, where he met Mr. Ts'ai Yuan-pei, President of the National Research Institute(Now Academia Sinica) and Mr. Yang Ch'uan, the chief secretary; both of [[strikethrough]] whom [[/strikethrough]] ^[[them]] confirmed the appointment.

This certainly had been a rare combination of opportunities for any archaeologist; the right to dig under the auspice of the National Research institute [[strikethrough]] could not be challenged;[[/strikethrough]] ^[[is the most indisputable]]; the financial assistance of the Freer Gallery of Art made one confident to be in the position to choose any system of procedure that is best suited to the nature of the site, and judged by the report of Mr. Tung the site chosen is both rich in its content and primary in its importance.  So everything was ready for the application of the spade.  But what should be the plan of field operation?  Here is a serious question!

In the three months following, his whole time was devoted to a detailed study of the history of the site and the preparation for a systematic excavation. The service of the following gentlemen was successfully secured for the spring season of 1929.