President Xi Jinping has always held the country's cultural heritage dear to his heart, consistently urging greater preservation efforts. The Yinxu Ruins, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is one of the cultural sites he once visited.

"I have long been yearning to visit here," Xi said during his visit to the Yinxu Ruins in Anyang, Henan province, on Oct 28, 2022, where he observed cultural relics such as bronze ware, jade ware and oracle bone inscriptions.

"This time, I come here to gain a deeper understanding of the Chinese civilization so that we can make the past serve the present and draw inspiration to better build modern Chinese civilization," he said.

Xi pointed out that oracle bone inscriptions retained evidence of the Chinese written language from 3,000 years ago, helping to extend recorded Chinese history to nearly 1,000 years earlier than previously believed.

Xi then urged attaching more importance to and putting more efforts into archaeological research to carry forward the project of tracing the origins of the Chinese civilization.

"With a long and continuous history stretching back to antiquity, the Chinese civilization shaped our great nation, and this nation will continue to be great," he said during the visit.

The Yinxu site has been confirmed as the capital site of the late Shang Dynasty (c. 16th century-11th century BC) and is globally renowned as the home of the oracle bone inscriptions.

Earlier this year, the new building of the Yinxu Museum opened to the public with nearly 4,000 unearthed cultural relics, offering a remarkable opportunity for visitors to appreciate the brilliance of the Shang civilization.