China and Greece launched their first joint archaeological project at the Chinese School of Classical Studies at Athens on Friday.

Located in western Greece, the Aggelokastro project marks the first time that Chinese archaeologists have participated in leading roles of an excavation project in a core region of Western civilization.
The project is an important part of systematic cooperation between the Greek Ministry of Culture and the Chinese School of Classical Studies at Athens, and has been approved as part of a five-year joint archaeological program.
Aetolia-Acarnania, where Aggelokastro is located, has been an important area for Greek archaeological studies since the 19th century.
"Within the Aetolia-Acarnania area during the Hellenistic period (323 BC-31 BC), that's around China's late Warring States Period to early Han Dynasty, an Aetolian League was formed, and there were extensive cultural exchanges across the Eurasian continent. Now we can say that the ruins were a significant small city-state at that time. It is also hoped that we could discover some clues of ancient long-distance trade," said Li Xinwei, head of the Chinese School of Classical Studies at Athens, which was founded in November 2024 as the first research institute on classical civilizations established in Greece by an Asian country.