Hongshan stakes foundation claim

Artifacts reveal society that developed architectural techniques and craftsmanship, Fang Aiqing in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia, Yuan Hui in Hohhot and Wu Yong in Shenyang report.

Just as the Yellow and the Yangtze river basins are seen by archaeologists and historians as the birthplaces of Chinese civilization, so too is the West Liaohe River basin in northeastern China.

Around 6,500 to 4,900 years ago, a late Neolithic culture called Hongshan thrived here, marked by its use of delicate jade ware and the initial totems of the Chinese dragon. Both were of symbolic significance in later history.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the naming of the Hongshan culture. In 1954, it was officially named after a hilly area in suburban Chifeng, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, which means "red mountains".

Since the first archaeological site of Hongshan was discovered in this area in 1921, more than 1,100 sites have been found over the following century, mostly in southeastern Inner Mongolia, western Liaoning province and northern Hebei province.

Studies into these relic sites have outlined an ancient society that developed high-level architectural techniques and craftsmanship based on a mature belief system. It maintained intense exchanges with other contemporaneous cultures in the Central Plains, located at the middle reaches of the Yellow River, as well as the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.