About the author
Xu Hong, born in Gaizhou, Liaoning, in 1963, is a research fellow at the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and a former head of the Erlitou archaeological team. His research focuses on early Chinese cities, early states and early civilizations, moving between fieldwork and writing. He has published thirteen works, including Why China: The Central Plains in 2000 BC, The Great Capital Without Walls: A Dynamic Reading of Early Chinese Capitals, and The Bronze Wave of East Asia: A Millennium of Change Before Oracle Bone Script, which reconstruct the complex picture of pre-Qin history from archaeological evidence. He also writes popular essays such as Let's Talk About Archaeology and has contributed to history primers for children. His prose is plain and restrained, emphasizing evidence and reasoning, and he is an active advocate of public archaeology. Public information on his education, awards and detailed career is limited.
Written (17)
Rating 3.9★ My Archaeological Notes · Erlitou Xu Hong Qingdao Publishing House · 2026 This is the first volume of the "Young Explorers · Archaeology" series, which aims to create "a paper archaeology documentary for children in China." … Rating 3.5★ Translation Science: History and Theory from Ancient Times to the Present 列·利·涅柳宾 / 格·泰·胡胡尼 / Xu Hong / 司晓锋 Heilongjiang University Press · 2026 This translated work is based on the original written by Professor L. L. Nelyubin, full member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences and the Inte… Rating 4.4★ Great Capitals Without Walls: A Dynamic Interpretation of Ancient Chinese Capitals (Interpreting Early China) Xu Hong SDX Joint Publishing Company · 2025 Archaeological remains, especially those of capital cities as large-scale sites, are less直观 and easy to observe than artifacts, yet they are precisely… Rating 4.3★ What Makes China: The Central Plains in 2000 BC Xu Hong SDX Joint Publishing Company · 2025 The word "China" first appears on the ancient and mysterious bronze vessel He Zun. Unearthed in Baoji, Shaanxi, in the 1960s, this great ritual bronze… Rating 4.3★ The East Asian Bronze Tide: A Thousand-Year Transformation before the Oracle Bone Script Era Xu Hong SDX Joint Publishing Company · 2025 The ritual and musical system is the essence of Chinese culture, and bronze ritual vessels are the vehicle and emblem of China's ritual and musical ci… Rating 4.2★ A History of Cities in China Xu Hong Henan Literature and Art Publishing House · 2024 The author begins with the appearance of China's earliest city walls 9,000 years ago, continues through the urban systems of the Qin and Han empires, … Rating 4.1★ Chinese History Introductory Course for Children 1: Mythological Age Ma Yong / 刘媛媛 / Xu Hong Guangxi Normal University Press · 2024 This book is an introduction to Chinese history for children aged 7–12. Through engaging stories and numerous illustrations, it presents China's mytho… Rating 4.3★ Tracing China to Its Sources Xu Hong Henan Literature and Art Publishing House · 2022 This book is by the renowned archaeologist Xu Hong. Grounded in China's formative period, it considers from a macro perspective the formation of Chine… Rating 4.2★ Let's Talk About Archaeology Xu Hong Henan Literature and Art Publishing House · 2022 What is daily life like for an archaeologist? Often covered in dust, occasionally making earth-shattering discoveries. The archaeology team came up wi… Rating 4.2★ Tracing China's Origins Xu Hong Henan Literature and Art Publishing House · 2022 How did the Central Plains civilization rise? In the millennium or so after about 3500 BC, many regions along the Yellow and Yangtze river valleys wer… Rating 4.0★ Seeing People Through Objects: Light Archaeological and Non-Archaeological Essays Xu Hong Henan Literature and Art Publishing House · 2022 This book distinguishes itself by drawing comprehensively on prior field archaeology materials (several of which are published here for the first time… Rating 3.9★ Pretending to Be at Leisure: Light Archaeological and Non-Archaeological Essays Xu Hong Henan Literature and Art Publishing House · 2022 At this moment of renewal in all things, I begin by revisiting Xia Nai's arguments on the archaeology of the early dynastic period and offer a few rou… Rating 3.2★ Kotler's Marketing Thinking Xu Hong Qunyan Publishing House · 2021 Kotler's Marketing Thinking offers a comprehensive overview of corporate marketing issues. Through Kotler's profound insights, you can quickly update … Discovery and Inference: An Archaeological Chronicle, Volume One Xu Hong Shanxi People's Publishing House · 2021 This book is the first volume of archaeologist Xu Hong's "An Archaeological Chronicle" series, collecting twelve chronicles that tell the history of t… Rating 4.0★ Why China: The Central Plains in 2000 BCE Xu Hong SDX Joint Publishing Company · 2016 Around 2000 BCE, the East Asian mainland reached a pivotal turning point: what had been a landscape of numerous small polities, like stars scattered a… Rating 3.8★ Great Capitals Without Walls: A Dynamic Reading of China's Ancient Capitals Xu Hong SDX Joint Publishing Company · 2016 This book is another work by the archaeologist Xu Hong, following The Earliest China and Why China?, in the "Reading Early China" series. The title ph… Chinese Medical Classics Collation Series: Jinhjing Neitai Fangyi Xu Hong People's Medical Publishing House · 1986 Jinjing Neitai Fangyi is a monograph on Cold Damage formulas written by the Ming dynasty physician Xu Hong (style name Zongdao, a native of Jian'an), …Publishers
People's Medical Publishing HouseShanxi People's Publishing HouseGuangxi Normal University PressHenan Literature and Art Publishing HouseSDX Joint Publishing CompanyQunyan Publishing HouseQingdao Publishing HouseHeilongjiang University Press