The practice of archaeology in China today is inseparable from its sociopolitical conditions.  This lecture explores the agenda of archaeologists and their sponsors since the introduction of modern scientific archaeology into China during the 1920s, and the continuing frictions between this modern archaeology and traditional antiquarianism and text-based historiography. Lothar von Falkenhausen is professor of chinese archaeology and art history and associate director of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA.