Studying History to Understand the Future

n October 1995, a Sino-Japanese joint archaeological team unearthed the tomb of an aristocrat from the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220) in Hotan Prefecture in south Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The tomb yielded a wealth of burial artifacts imbued with Chinese cultural elements. Among them, a brocade arm protector has since become a national treasure. Its vibrant hues remain intact even two millennia after it was made, and it is adorned with eight Chinese characters that, when translated into English, read “The five stars rise from the East, benefiting Zhongguo (China).” (In ancient times, the five stars that were said to appear in auspicious conjunction over China were identified with Chenxing, Taibai, Yinghuo, Suixing and Zhenxing. In modern times these are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn—) This is, to date, the earliest known instance of the word “China” to have been discovered in the world. The