ABSTRACT
The Geological Survey was in the forefront to modernise Republican China through science. In 1916, a technical partnership with Sweden led to a programme initiated by J.G. Andersson. Archaeological discoveries by the joint Sino-Swedish teams established the existence of prehistoric exchanges between China and Central Asia, in line with the Silk Road concept suggested by Ferdinand Richthofen. In 1927–28, the newly formed Chinese research organisations joined the Sino-Swedish Expedition, co-headed by Sven Hedin, to research China’s northwest. These collaborations from 1916 to 1935 lead to numerous scientific breakthroughs, promoted modern science, and were instrumental in the setting up of national research institutes that progressed China’s modernisation. The fieldwork helped to establish the Silk Road concept, while the interdisciplinary data collected constitute unique historical resources on early-twentieth-century Central Asia and China.
