The Disciplinary Approach to Tracing the Origins of Chinese Civilization——From the New Pre-Qin History of China to Yanhuang Studies

The comprehensive study of the origins， formation， and early development of Chinese civilization began in the 1920s and 1930s with the multidisciplinary reconstruction of ancient Chinese history. This academic tradition continued into the 1980s， when the origins of Chinese civilization became a hot topic in Chinese archaeology and ancient history. In 1994， Zhang Guangzhi proposed restructuring the pre-Qin history of China and creating the discipline of New Pre-Qin History of China. In 1998， Li Xueqin suggested that the study of ancient Chinese civilization should be regarded as a distinct discipline. By establishing the discipline of Ancient Chinese Civilization， a re-evaluation of ancient Chinese civilization was advocated. In 2017， Xinyang Normal University took the lead in establishing the discipline of Yanhuang Studies nationwide， promoting the in-depth study of the origins of Chinese civilization through the disciplinization of Yanhuang culture. This formed a disciplinary approach to tracing the origins of Chinese civilization. The disciplinization of tracing the origins of Chinese civilization aligns with national projects such as Chronology of the Xia-Shang-Zhou Periods and Origins of Chinese Civilization Project in terms of research scope， data utilization， methods， and research objectives. Among these， the discipline of Yanhuang Studies has fundamentally resolved the issue of disciplinary affiliation in the study of the origin of Chinese civilization， becoming a new discipline and a distinctive concept in the field of philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics.