Ancient scene depicted in world-famous painting unearthed

ZHENGZHOU－An ancient, once-bustling street market that would once have brimmed with pavement stalls and hawkers peddling goods, as depicted in Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival, a masterpiece by Zhang Zeduan from the Song Dynasty (960-1279), has been unearthed in Dengzhou city, Central China's Henan province.

During its excavation, archaeologists discovered special construction structures in ruins at the Dengzhou street market site. The structures were designed to support the house foundations above drainage pipes. They also uncovered copper coins and ironware near the pipes. The findings suggest that the house owners used to run shops along the street.

In ancient China, drainage pipes belonged to urban public facilities and many dynasties strictly separated residential areas from specialized markets, and citizens were not allowed to open shops in residential areas.

However, the shops found alongside the street at the site made full use of public facilities and took part of the street as their own extension areas. This was a typical embodiment of the development of the commodity economy during the Song Dynasty, explains Bao Weike, a researcher with the provincial cultural relics and archaeology institute, who is also in charge of the excavation project.

The new discoveries in Dengzhou can serve as physical evidence of the ancient economic transition from emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce to promoting the development of a commodity-based economy at that time, says Sun Yingmin, president of Henan's cultural relics and archaeology society.

Previously, as the ancient capital of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127), Dengzhou, was buried by sediment from the Yellow River, it was difficult to excavate its ruins and unearth relics. The new findings have helped to provide further evidence for researchers of the area's history.

During the Song Dynasty, Dengzhou was also a border city and its market reflected that. "The large amount of fine porcelain unearthed at the site indicates that it was probably also where porcelain produced at the famous Deng kiln during the Song Dynasty was sold," says Sun Xinmin, head of China's ancient ceramics society.

Currently, more than 1,200 square meters of the site have been excavated. In a bid to figure out remaining mysteries, excavation of the Dengzhou site is still ongoing.

Xinhua