Encountering Egypt

Abstract The first decade of the 21st century witnessed significant advances in Chinese archaeology abroad, particularly in regions beyond the scope of traditional Chinese historiography. This development challenges the critique that Chinese archaeology is predominantly China-centric. Despite these challenges, the China-centric focus continues to influence archaeologists’ motivations and interpretations even when working beyond China. By examining Chinese encounters with ancient Egypt, this chapter investigates how Chinese-centric views have been both challenged and reinforced in Chinese archaeology abroad. The chapter compares Chinese studies of ancient Egypt during the late Qing period with the present joint Chinese-Egyptian archaeological project at Karnak. It demonstrates that although contemporary China differs significantly from late Qing China, certain narratives in the study of ancient Egypt persist. Ancient Egypt has posed a challenge to the antiquity of China since the late Qing. In response to this challenge, some studies of ancient Egypt have become a projection of Chinese nationalism. During the late Qing, Egypt was portrayed as a branch of Chinese civilisation; recent narratives present China as a parallel to ancient Egypt and emphasise China’s status as one of the oldest civilisations. Moreover, Chinese scholars’ preference for studying written materials and social elites has remained consistent: hieroglyphs have garnered the most attention in both the late Qing and contemporary periods. This research offers valuable insights for international archaeologists to better understand their Chinese colleagues’ work.