![](https://www.hzyyingyu.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/test-223-339x1024.jpg)
Figure 1: Lacquerware unearthed from Liangzhu.
Figure 2: Jade crown ornaments unearthed from Liangzhu.
Figure 3: Painted folding belly basin unearthed from Taosi Temple.
Figure 4: A flat pottery pot unearthed from Taosi Temple.
Figure ⑤: Stone carvings unearthed from Shimao.
Figure ⑥: Copper jue unearthed from Erlitou.
The above pictures are all provided by Dai Xiangming
Core Reading
The pattern of diversified integration of Chinese civilization has gradually formed in China’s unique natural and cultural environment and continuous historical development.
Between around 5000 to 4300 years ago, Liangzhu showed a rapid development towards a primitive state form, providing important physical evidence for the more than 5000 years of Chinese civilization.
From 3800 to 3500 years ago, during the Erlitou period, the Erlitou culture in the hinterland of the Central Plains rose strongly, becoming an important symbol of the formation and development of Chinese civilization.
We must implement major projects such as “Comprehensive Research on the Origin and Early Development of Chinese Civilization” and “Archaeological China”, and do a good job in researching and interpreting the origin of Chinese civilization.
From the agricultural origin of southern rice and northern millet (millet) 10000 years ago, to the widespread occurrence of settled life and prominent regional cultural characteristics, China’s Neolithic Age has gone through thousands of years of development. Around 5500 years ago, signs of social differentiation began to emerge in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, Yellow River, and Yanshan and Liaohe regions. Archaeologists have discovered high-grade tombs, large central settlements, large-scale buildings, and city sites of a certain scale at sites such as Dongshan Village in Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu, Lingjiatan in Hanshan, Anhui, Chengtou Mountain in Lixian, Hunan, Xipo in Lingbao, Henan, Dawenkou in Tai’an, Shandong, and Niuheliang in Chaoyang, Liaoning. These archaeological discoveries signify the dawn of civilization, and after that, Chinese civilization entered a stage of rapid development.
Liangzhu’s Empirical Study of Over 5000 Years of Chinese Civilization
Between around 5000 to 4300 years ago, the development of various regions began to accelerate. High level settlements have emerged in the Yellow River Basin, including Dadiwan in Qin’an, Gansu, Nanzuo in Qingyang, Shuanghuaishu in Gongyi, Henan, Taosi in Xiangfen, Shanxi, and several large cultural sites of Dawenkou in Shandong and northern Jiangsu. These regions have further developed in terms of social organization scale, complexity of social structure, and cultural achievements reflected in cultural relics. Especially in the plain and hilly areas of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, based on developed rice farming, mature prehistoric civilizations have been nurtured, and the two lakes region was the first to see a situation of numerous city sites.
Centered around the Liangzhu Site Group in Yuhang, Zhejiang, archaeological discoveries have been made of the massive Liangzhu Ancient City, the Mojiaoshan Palace Area resembling Taicheng, royal tombs and altars of nobles such as Yaoshan and Fanshan, and the high and low dam system in the northwest mountainous area. These all demonstrate from different perspectives the continuous inheritance of civilization, especially the large population size and orderly settlement pattern, which can mobilize and organize.A large labor force and highly skilled professional craftsman. These situations indicate that Liangzhu has shown a rapid development towards a primitive state form, providing important physical evidence for the empirical study of over 5000 years of Chinese civilization.
The Rise of Civilization in the Middle Reaches of the Yellow River
During the Longshan period from 4300 to 3800 years ago, the once developed and even leading plains in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River gradually declined, while the Loess Plateau in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River continued to prosper and develop. Especially, the middle reaches of the Yellow River began to reach another peak in prehistoric cultural and social evolution.
In the sites represented by the Xiangfen Taosi Temple in southern Shanxi and the Shenmu Shimao in northern Shaanxi, archaeology has discovered large settlements with urban characteristics, towering city sites and deep trenches, large high-level buildings and aristocratic tombs, jade and stone products, lacquered wooden ware, and painted pottery, all of which showcase the early national landscape. The introduction of large livestock such as cattle, sheep, and goats from West Asia and Central Asia, combined with traditional millet agriculture and pig farming in the local area, has enabled the Loess Plateau region west of the Taihang Mountains and north of the Qinling Mountains to gain new productivity and accumulate a relatively strong economic foundation, thereby promoting social development in the Loess Plateau region. The social development of the Loess Plateau region also benefits from actively absorbing advanced cultural elements from the surrounding areas. For example, many representative jade artifacts of Liangzhu culture have spread to southern Shanxi, northern Shaanxi, and northwestern China. Archaeologists have discovered many Liangzhu style jade artifacts in large settlements including Taosi, Shimao, and the Qijia culture in the northwest. The upper social etiquette system reflected in the Jinnan Taosi Tomb was directly influenced by the Dawenkou culture in the Haidai region.
Continuous vitality in cultural exchange and integration
During the Erlitou period from 3800 to 3500 years ago, the eastern plain areas such as the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the lower reaches of the Yellow River continued to decline. The strong rise of Erlitou culture in the hinterland of the Central Plains has become an important symbol of the formation and development of Chinese civilization, from the semi lunar highlands of Yanliao in the northeast, Hetao in the north, Ganqing in the northwest, and Bashu in the southwest..Strengthening the construction of etiquette and further enhancing the level of national governance is a manifestation of the family.
The rise of the Xia Dynasty in the Central Plains was the result of further innovation by integrating advanced culture and production factors from surrounding areas. This includes extensive learning of cattle and sheep breeding in the north and rice cultivation in the south, development and utilization of salt and copper resources in southern Shanxi, inventions and creations that combine metallurgical technology with ritual construction, extensive reference to traditional jade making and usage in different regions, and so on. These excellent traditions were carried forward by the subsequent Shang and Zhou dynasties, and the radiation area of the Central Plains civilization continued to expand. The scale of the Shang and Zhou capitals such as Zhengzhou Shangcheng, Yinxu, Zhouyuan, and Fenghao discovered in archaeology is several times or even more than 10 times larger than the urban settlements including Erlitou. Large palace buildings, large-scale high-level aristocratic tombs, and even a large number of exquisite bronze and jade artifacts unearthed from royal tombs are incomparable to previous historical stages. Mature writing also emerged during the Shang and Zhou dynasties. It can be said that the Shang and Zhou dynasties pushed China’s bronze civilization to its peak.
It was the bronze civilization developed by the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties that established the important position of the Chinese civilization centered on the Central Plains in early Chinese history, and became an important force in integrating Chinese civilization from diversity to unity. At this point, the Chinese civilization system, with the Central Plains Chinese culture as the backbone and multiple regional cultures around it, resembling a “double petal flower,” has initially formed.
Through sorting, it can be seen that the formation and development of Chinese civilization are interrelated, and the continuity and unity of Chinese civilization have inherent logic and causal relationships.
As archaeologist Yan Wenming said, the continuous development of Chinese civilization is closely related to China’s unique geographical environment. China is surrounded by mountains, deserts, grasslands, and oceans, forming a relatively independent geographical unit. This geographical unit is vast enough and has a diverse environment, making it easy to form multiple regional civilizations in the early stages. These regions are also easy to exchange and interact with each other, learning from each other’s strengths and complementing each other’s weaknesses. The essence of civilizations in different regions is constantly spreading and developing. This diversity ensures that Chinese civilization can always constantly innovate and maintain vitality. The pattern of diversified integration of Chinese civilization has gradually formed in China’s unique natural and cultural environment and continuous historical development. Meanwhile, archaeology shows that exchanges between China and other countries and regions have never ceased since prehistoric times. The continuity, innovation, unity, inclusiveness, and peace of Chinese civilization enable it to continuously enhance its own development ability by actively absorbing the beneficial achievements of other civilizations and creatively developing and applying them.
Dai Xiangming