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马浩轩 -MAHAOXUAN

I am a person with extremely strong interests in academic matters related to archaeology, cultures, and history even in my life. Since childhood, my favorite places have always been the museums of cities I visit, where I immerse myself in the sea of curious artifacts. I also enjoy traveling, and no matter whether it’s China, Egypt, or Greece, their marvelous ancient sites have always possessed the power to fascinate me. While remaining indoors, I take pleasure in learning about languages, ancient scripts, and coinage, with Chinese calligraphy, music, and medicine always helping me to reconnect with my roots.

Archaeological Novels

My novel on Ancient Egypt started as a writing exercise assigned by my Chinese teacher. However, creativity and ideas ran wildly in my brain and soon I realised I could help but to continue my storyline. Therefore, I ultimately decided to write a full length novel, which I have since constantly edited and refined for accuracy. I chose Ancient Egypt as the background because just like the main character has stated in the novel, it is an ancient civilisation that I have always found mysterious and deeply intriguing. Also, the novel would be an enjoyable way to demonstrate my knowledge on archaeology, which admittedly can be quite mundane if presented in other formats. Furthermore, as Modern Egypt has a great cultural difference with its predecessor, the mainly Egyptian background of the characters in the novel is a great way to bridge this unfortunate gap and argue for some degree of continuity of the ancient civilisation in modernity, on the contrary to some extreme claims that the ancient civilisation had died out thoroughly. As I have never been to Egypt at the time when I finished my first draft, to ensure an accurate portrayal of the country, I decided to embark on a journey to Egypt in December 2022 in order for editing my novel in accordance with my sights.

During the first few days of our trip it was quite fortunate to encounter an archaeology team excavating a site. The conversation with the head of the project was insightful!

At the Old Kingdom pyramids, including the stepped Pyramid of Djoser, the first example of such. The famous Pyramid of Khufu (the one my novel revolves around) can be entered via a robber’s hole and nothing else can be found inside except for King Khufu’s empty sarcophagus.

After marvelling at the Pyramid texts inside the Pyramid of Unas, I visited the Egyptian Museum and chatted passionately with the tour guide. The next few days of my trip involves the sights in Upper Egypt, including the Karnak Temple, the Theban necropolis as well as some later temples between Edfu and Aswan.

Last but not least, another highlight of my trip was meeting people from all over the world. I met two American families on the Nile cruise who are also interested in Egypt. The most unexpected conversation was with a local Cairene family. It allowed me to gain knowledge on the lifestyle of Egyptians in the modern day, which could potentially be referenced while editing my novel.

READ MY NOVEL

My novel

Hong Kong Jade Auction Site for Cultural Relics

Greece Study Tour

The Oxford Comparative Philosophy

The Stanford Summer Humanities Insititute

MORE

Advancement

While studying about Ancient China I developed strong interests in Guqin, a traditional Chinese instrument. In 2019, I contacted master Choi Chang Sau, an expert at Guqin making, and inquired about Guqin making techniques. He recommended me to Dr. Tse Chun-yan, another Guqin expert who later became my Guqin tutor. Learning how to play the instrument as well as reading the musical notations was genuinely pleasurable. In 2023 I participated in a Guqin competition in Singapore and won the bronze medal.

Together with Hong Kong intangible cultural heritage inheritor, 92 year old master of chopping the qin Cai Changshou, and Hong Kong guqin master Professor Xie Junren

Responsibility

I also did charity work lasting for two years, using the time in summer breaks wisely to organize charity fund-raising activities for poor elderly people and students in Shandong.

Due to the diverse language requirements for cultural relics in Jinan Museum, I and other volunteers utilized our expertise to complete the translation of cultural relics introductions. Due to my strong interest in cultural relics and my expertise in English, I am mainly responsible for translating the introduction of Chinese cultural relics in museums into English.

White Pottery “Gui”
The vase shape called “Gui” is the most characteristic shape of the Dawenkou Culture. This artifact was made by firing Kaolin clay, and is shaped like a bird. Ancient Shandong is also known as Dongyi, and their totem was a bird. The Dongyi people worshiped birds and their art thus resembles the physical characteristics of birds.

“Gui” is a vase used by the prehistoric Chinese people to boil water. By applying their knowledge on the stability of tripod structures, combined with their exaggerated art style, they created three pouch-shaped legs. This feature not only expands the capacity of the vase, but also increases the heating surface area, resulting in a shorter amount of time required for boiling water, demonstrating a unity between artistic quality and practicality.
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英文配音：志愿者马浩轩

Mold for minting Ban Liang
This artifact is a kind of mold used for minting Ban Liang (the first unified currency of the Chinese Empire). Stones were used as the material for coin molds because of their low cost, sturdy texture as well as the fact that they are easy to preserve. Stone molds were used in the Qin and Han dynasties and are relatively simple to manufacture, especially in the first half of the Han dynasty. The shapes of the coins alongside the channel of which the molten copper would flow through are first designed on the polished surface of a stone, before being carved directly into it. When casting the coins, the respective interlocking molds for the obverse and reverse are put together, while the gaps between them would be filled. Molten bronze would be poured in via an opening, and would be left to cool down. The coins would then be disconnected from the resulting product, with the rough edges being sanded off, becoming the coins that we now see.
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英文配音：志愿者马浩轩

“Ya chou” Bronze lei, Shang dynasty
“Ya chou” Bronze lei has an overall height of 42 cm, a mouth diameter of 13.4 cm, and a mass of 9000 g. It has a straight mouth, a high neck, a lid, round shoulders, a deep belly with a gradual decrease in diameter, and a low, circular foot. Because of the inscriptions “Ya chou” found inside the lid and the mouth, the lei was called “Ya chou lei”. The vase is tall and large, possesses a polished surface, clear motifs, orderly arrangement of designs, and is skillfully made and well-preserved. The interior and exterior of the vase isn’t covered with the rust and mud typical of bronze vases. Instead, it has a black, shiny patina. This is probably caused by the great care taken by each generation of collectors after it was unearthed.
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英文配音：志愿者马浩轩