XMU team members visit cultural relics at Yuncheng Museum. [Photo/en.xmu.edu.cn]

A practice team from Xiamen University's (XMU) School of History and Cultural Heritage launched its summer program with a field trip to Yuncheng, Shanxi province.

The team visited Yuncheng Museum to explore approaches to cultural heritage protection, utilization, and public education. Exhibits of painted pottery, porcelain, and stone sculptures highlighted the city's long history and abundant cultural relics.

To better understand the integration of archaeology and public communication, the students designed exhibition plans, studied museum operations, and reflected on the role of curation in disseminating archaeological knowledge.

While conducting fieldwork, the team visited the Xiyin village site in Xia county, regarded as a landmark in the development of Chinese archaeology, where they experienced an excavation firsthand. At the Dongwu village cemetery in Jinag county, they observed archaeologists cleaning human remains, while at the Dongxiafeng site in Xia county, they engaged in pottery sherd restoration by identifying patterns and reconstructing vessel shapes.

The team also returned to Yuncheng Museum to study digital restoration techniques and well-preserved murals in a brick tomb from the Jin Dynasty (317-420) located in Dongguan village, Jiang county, gaining a deeper sense of the city's historical legacy.

The school and Xia county held an unveiling ceremony for the university student practice base at the local bureau of culture and tourism.