CGTN | 04-Aug-2020 | By Li Yimei
“Are they aliens?” – That was my first impression when I saw weird masks of different sizes floating in a big display room at Sanxingdui Museum in southwest China’s Sichuan Province.
Their ears resembled those of elves, their eyes in cylindrical or triangular shapes.
Sanxingdui translates into “Three-Star Piles.” It is a cultural relic from the ancient Shu Kingdom. The name refers to the three earth mounds at the eponymous site, whose discovery attracted international attention and rewrote the history of Chinese civilization.
These masks were unearthed from sacrificial pits, were archaeologists also found decorative animals including dragons and snakes, a giant wand, and sacrificial altars. But these large bronze masks with angular human features, including exaggerated triangle-shaped eyes, big noses, and huge ears, do not reflect how Asian people look.
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