II First Visit to China (1923-24) (Investigating "Ordos culture", Discovering "Ordos Man")

Before him, another Jesuit, Father Emile Licent, had investigated and collected primitive vertebrate animals and early human fossils in Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Ningxia, Shaanxi and Gansu Provinces. He also founded the "Museum for the Palaeontology of the Huanghe and Baihe Basins". The Chinese name is the Northern Frontier Museum. It was part of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes set up in Tianjin by the Jesuits.

In 1920 Fr. Licent had discovered the first early stone tool to be found in an authenticated place and position in our country, in the yellow mud of the Xinjia River in Qingyang County, Northern Gansu Province (near Inner Mongolia). This was the dawn of discovery of human fossils. In order to expand the scope and results of the investigations, Fr. Teilhard was invited to come to China to help and assist.

"Teilhard at that time had already become a scientist of international reputation because of his work in identifying and reconstructing the famous Eocene animals of Northern France. Dedicated to clarifying the history of the dawn of the human race, he perseveringly abandoned the comfortable life of Paris and came to China which was then extremely poor and backwards" (Daziran, loc. cit.)

Fr. Teilhard arrived in Tianjin in May 1923 and met Fr. Licent. Disregarding whole oceans of difficulties the two Fathers set out at once, took the train to Baotou. From Baotou they began the labours of their long expedition.

Setting out from Baotou (now Inner Mongolia), they travelled west along the northern bank of the Yellow River. This stretch of the Yellow River suddenly turns north from Lanzhou.

Passing through Ningxia, it turns east for some distance, then suddenly south again, forming a U shapes. The upper reaches are called the Ordos region. Then at the eastern foot of Langshan, i.e. where the Yellow River changes direction, they went south still following the Yellow River and reached Yinchuan in Ningxia. From there they crossed the Yellow River towards the east, reaching Hengcheng on the opposite bank and then went east along the Great Wall. This is the former site of the "Ordos culture" and they found a large quantity of the remains of ancient stone tools. The two Fathers stayed for some time at Shuidong stream, within the borders of Lingwu, thirty Chinese miles to the south-east of Heng- cheng. Here is situated the centre of the Ordos culture.

Then they travelled east along the Great Wall, surveying and excavating as they went, and reached Jingbian County in Shaanxi Province, staying at the church of the Belgian Fathers beside Xiaoqiao (they are the Fathers of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, CICM).

In that area they found a rich collection of fossils of mammals. "This makes clear that the Ordos people of that time could already hunt in groups. As to stone tools, they discovered tools which were sharp-pointed, flaked and chipped, and provided precious material for studying the early production methods of the children of the Yellow River." (ibid.)

In this region they did not find many human fossils. But they did however make one startling discovery: In the fossil of an antelope which had been excavated by Fr. Licent the previous year, they identified the Incisor tooth of a late "Homo Sapiens''. "At the time it had not been recognized but only because of Teilhard's serious attitude to work and high powers of identification－'the perceptive mind knows the hero'－could this priceless treasure come to the light of day and shed a strange light. This tooth identified by Teilhard and called "Ordos Man" is the first human fossil to be found in China…It gave a very great impetus to the excavation of the site of 'Peking Man' which was later to become famous." (ibid.)

Having been only one year in China, he had discovered "Ordos Man".

In 1924 he returned to France; he was already a world-renowned scientist, the president of the French Geological Society and only forty-two years of age!