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Ancient Chinese urban planning encompasses the diverse set of cultural beliefs, social and economic structures, and technological capacities that influenced urban design in the early period of Chinese civilization. Factors that have shaped the development of Chinese urbanism include: fengshui, and astronomy; the well-field system; the cosmological belief that Heaven is round, and the Earth is square, the concept of qi (气; 氣); political power shared between a ruling house and educated advisers; the holy place bo; a three-tiered economic system under state control; early writing; and the walled capital city as a diagram of political power.
Urban planning originated during the urbanization of the Yellow River valley in the Neolithic Age, which began in China around 10,000 B.C. and concluded with the introduction of metallurgy about 8,000 years later, was characterized by the development of settled communities that relied primarily on farming and domesticated animals rather than hunting and gathering. [1] The process in China, as elsewhere in the world, is related to the process of centralizing power in a political state. Although several cultures formed competing states, the direct ancestor of the Chinese state was Longshan culture. Therefore, the earliest Chinese urban planning was a synthesis of Longshan traditional cosmology, geomancy, astrology, and numerology. This synthesis generated a diagram of the cosmos, which placed man, state, nature, and heaven in harmony. The city was planned in the context of this cosmic diagram to maintain harmony and balance.
Urbanization begins at Banpo (4,800–3,750 BC) on the Zhongyuan plain of the Yellow River. Banpo grew from a typical Yangshao village in both size and organization until the construction of the Great Hall ca. 4000 BC. Like Eridu in Mesopotamia, Banpo in East Asia was the first instance of specialized architecture, something other than a house. Physically, Banpo was composed of 200 round pit-houses and the Great Hall across 5 hectares and surrounded by a ditch. These pit houses were sited for solar gain by aligning the door to the Yingshi (营室; 營室; yíngshì, or simply shi室) asterism just after the winter solstice. [2] Already, at this early stage the principle of south-facing entry was firmly established.
As in other Neolithic communities, life at Banpo was synchronized to the agricultural year, which was timed by the movement of the Big Dipper, which functioned as a celestial clock. The Classic of Poetry describes this annual cycle. Beginning in spring, adolescents swam through the flood waters at the triangular confluence of two rivers. They emerged shivering, and in this state they were infused with the souls of ancestors buried in the earth who had reemerged at the springs of the Yellow River. [3] In this energized state, they procreated in a location deemed to possess magical earth energy. These locations were unsuitable for agriculture, usually a hill, and therefore were uncleared primeval forests. Consecrated procreation was essential to maintaining the cycle of life. When the flood waters receded, the triangle was divided into fields between the families. In autumn there was a large festival at the completion of the harvest. In winter, the men left their homes and retired to the Great Hall, where they were led by the village elders in drinking and singing to repel the cold.
The needs and beliefs of Banpo society contributed significantly to the development of the early Chinese urban form. Sacred procreation sites from the springtime rituals eventually became known as the Holy Place, referred to as bo (verify spelling). Additionally, the concept of the relationship between ancestors, the earth, and fertility laid the groundwork for the theory of qi energy and fengshui geomancy. This idea is elaborated in the Book of Burial, which describes the notion of qi (气; 氣, literally 'vital energy' or 'atmosphere') as a fundamental force. In this theory, humans are seen as concentrated qi, and when their bones are returned to the earth, they are re-energized by qi. The descendants of the deceased are affected by the qi generated from the bones of their ancestors, similar to how the vibration of one lute string can influence another nearby string.
This philosophy suggests that the world is an active matrix of qi, and for harmony to be maintained, graves, houses, and cities must be carefully positioned according to fengshui principles. The cosmological model that guided this idea described the world as having a round heaven and a square earth. This cosmological view, known as gaitian cosmology (盖天说; 蓋天說, literally 'canopy-heavens theory'), originated from Neolithic Chinese astronomy. The cosmic diagram is often depicted on jade bi (a flat disc) and cong (a cylindrical object), which were used to communicate with sky and earth spirits, respectively. In particular, Yangshao pottery decorated with a pattern representing the Big Dipper on a nine-in-one square (earth) surrounded by a circle (heaven) illustrates a cosmological worldview of earth divided into nine parts. Over time, this model of the nine-in-one square served as the basis for the well-field system, a fundamental and geometric concept used in urban planning. Similarly, the design of the Great Hall would later serve as a model for the palaces and imperial cities of China. Longshan Culture (3000–2000 BC) arrived from the east one thousand years after Banpo in the same area. This arrival is mythologized by the story of the Yellow Emperor, a man of vigorous energy who dispensed law, standardized measures, invented writing, and conquered. The Longshan tribes formed a superstratum over Yangshao culture. As they fused ideologically and socially, all the elements of a new state and civilization appeared. Culturally, protowriting in the form of the Longshan Script was used on oracle bones. Politically, a Longshan warlord ruled with the help of a Yangshao adviser. Both the use of oracle bones, and the rule of a king with adviser, had continuity into the Shang dynasty. The first capital was Chengziya in 2500 BC, followed by Taosi in 2300 BC and finally by Erlitou in 2000 BC. Longshan Culture developed directly into the Xia and Shang dynasties.
The hierarchical and militaristic aspects of Longshan culture are evident in their cities. Their shape is a walled square filled with square houses. The transition from round to square homes is always accompanied by centralizing power in history. [4] The square shaped city, itself a product of centralized power, historically arises from a military encampment. It is the city as a diagram of political power. The new order made its mark on the Urban-Regional context. Three levels of settlement emerged in the early Longshan state, village called Jū (0–1 ha), city Yi (1–5 ha), and capital called Dū (<5 ha). These three tiers of settlements are the physical realization of central place theory. The original Yangshao Jū villages formed a matrix of production that channeled goods upward to larger Longshan Yi and ultimately to the Dū. Political power was therefore defined as the amount of the highly productive matrix of agriculture and villages under control. The greater the area, the more wealth passed upwards to the capital. Other cities were economically unnecessary, as there were neither long-distance trade nor markets.
The final Longshan capital, Erlitou is the physical manifestation of massive social change in China c 2000 BC. Erlitou began in the Neolithic as a Yangshao bo, with later additions of altars and temples. It was a sacred city, even when absorbed by the Longshan tribes, and thus was never walled. Erlitou was the site of transition into the Bronze Age. The legendary Xia dynasty may have been the ruling class of Erlitou.
Erlitou is sited at the confluence of the Luo and Yi rivers, a sacred place known as the Waste of Xia. Geographically, the Waste of Xia marked the center of the nine-in-one square earth. During the transitional Erlitou Culture, diverse Neolithic traditions were woven into one coherent harmonious philosophical and political system. In this system, earth was the mirror of heaven ruled by the Jade Emperor. Residing in Polaris, he sent the heavenly breath of qi down to earth through meridians. The qi concentrated in mountains and rivers, and by informed site planning a building and even a city could fit into this energized matrix. Politically, qi flowed from heaven through earth into and the through the divine emperor, through his city, and out of the gates into his realm. The emperor kept heaven and earth in harmonious balance through his absolute power. An adviser class interpreted the omens of heaven to inform his actions.
Geographically, the state was believed to be square-shaped and centered on the ruler. As described in the Book of Documents , China is a square of 45,000 li with five nested squares spaced at 500 li to create five zones. Beginning at the center, Royal Domain (500 x 500 li), Noble Domain, Domain of Peace-Securing, Domain of Restraint, and Wild Domain. Outside the fifth zone, the barbarian tribes lived. [5] The Xia and early Shang palace was a miniature diagram of this cosmos. It had a traditional Longshan square shape oriented strictly north–south since qi flows that direction. This square was further subdivided into nine parts based on the now ancient nine-in-one square, which had become a prosperity symbol. A rectilinear walled settlement for servants and craftsmen formed around this palace.
The nine-in-one square was transformed into the Holy Field symbol, sometime during the Shang dynasty. In a myth the founder of the Xia dynasty, Yu the Great, received the Holy Field symbol from a magical turtle sent by heaven. Its importance cannot be underestimated as it is the geometric basis of ancient Chinese architecture, urban planning, and geography. By the time of the Xia dynasty, the nine-in-one square territory of earth was divided into nine states (Chinese :九州; pinyin :Jiǔzhōu).
Although an important stage in urbanization, Erlitou was not a true city. It was a palace complex surrounded by an oversized Neolithic village. During the Bronze Age, expensive bronze artifacts belonged exclusively to the aristocracy, and the peasants still lived at a neolithic level of development. There was a succession of these palatial du capitals during the Xia and into the Early Shang dynasties. Each successive capital had a higher level of development until the Late Shang capital Yin. Yin was the first true city and represented the culmination of Longshan Culture. The design of the palace at Yin was copied by the Zhou dynasty to create the palace at Zhouyuan, which consolidated all the addition and experimentation of Yin over centuries. Although a copy, Zhouyuan was innovative for its high level of planning. This feature of Zhou urbanism would later be implemented on a national scale. Politically, the Zhou tribe, a vassal of the Shang dynasty, moved through a series of three capitals, Fan, Bo, and Shen, before settling at their ancestral capital, Zhouyuan on the Weishui River.
As China moved into the Iron Age the control of the Zhou over their empire dissolved into multiple states. This period, called the Eastern Zhou dynasty, was a time of great urbanization in China. Chengzhou became the political capital of the Eastern Zhou in 510 BC (its fortification tripled in width). The cities lost the rank to size hierarchy imposed by Zhou authority and grew according to their economic and military functions. This period, although politically chaotic, was a great period of urbanization and experimentation with architecture and urban planning.
Along with the growth of cities, there was a parallel growth of urban society; independent merchants, artisans, scholars, and the like all emerged as a new social class at this time. In addition to the growth in the Yellow River Valley, the Yangtze River Valley began to urbanize under the cultural model of the Zhou dynasty. The cities of states such as Wu, Yue, Chu, and Shu had regional variations. By the time of the Qin dynasty conquest there was a great diversity of wealthy cities across China, excluding the Lingnan region.
The city marketplace with tower was a new feature of this era that marked the beginning of an integrated economic function of cities. The architecture of the warring states featured high walls, large gates, and towers. The development of the tower as a symbol of power and social order especially defined this era. The tower usually projected outward at the top to create an image of strength and intimidation. The new marketplace was always overlooked by a tower.
Capitals of China (3000–700 BC) [5] | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
rank | pinyin | Chinese | date | size | population | location | dynasty | note |
1 | Chéngzǐyá | 城子崖 | 2500–256 BC | 20 ha | 10,000 | 36°44′09″N117°21′15″E / 36.7358°N 117.35415°E | PreDynastic (Longshan) | none |
2 | Táosì | 陶寺 | 2300–1900 BC | 3 ha | ? | 35°53′48″N111°29′46″E / 35.896667°N 111.496111°E | PreDynastic (Longshan) | none |
4 | Yángchéng | 陽城 | 2188–2146 BC | 30 ha | ? | Wangchenggang site in Gaocheng township Dengfeng County, Henan 34°23′47″N113°08′01″E / 34.396488°N 113.133596°E | Xia | also: Ji |
5 | Dìqiū | 帝丘 | 2146 BC | ? ha | ? | Puyang, Henan | Xia | also: Shangqiu (predynastic Shang Capital) |
6 | Yuán | 原 | 2079–2057 BC | ? ha | ? | Jiyuan, Henan | Xia | none |
7 | Lǎoqiū | 老丘 | 2057–1900 BC | ? ha | ? | Kaifeng, Henan | Xia | none |
8 | Xīhé | 西河 | 1900–1879 BC | ? ha | ? | Tangyin, Henan | Xia | also: Bi |
9 | Ānyì | 安邑 | ? BC | ? ha | ? | Xiaxian, Shanxi | Xia | also: Xiayi |
10 | Píngyáng | 平陽 | ? BC | ? ha | ? | Linfen, Shanxi | Xia | none |
11 | Zhēnxún | 斟鄩 | 2100–1500 BC | 300 ha | ? | Zhenxun, Erlitou, Henan 34°42′06″N112°41′49″E / 34.701759°N 112.697079°E | Xia | 二里头; 二里頭; Èrlǐtóu |
12 | Jìnyáng | 晉陽 | ? BC | ? ha | ? | Taiyuan, Shanxi | Xia | none |
13 | Xībó | 西亳 | 1766–1552 BC | 20 ha | ? | Shixianggou Township, Yanshi County, Luoyang, Henan 34°42′58″N112°45′47″E / 34.716106°N 112.763191°E | Shang | also: Bo of Tang, Yanshi, Henan |
14 | Áo | 隞 | 1562–1549 BC | 400 ha | ? | Zhengzhou, Henan 34°44′56″N113°41′02″E / 34.748968°N 113.683774°E | Shang | also: Xiao |
15 | Xiāng | 相 | 1534–1525 BC | ? ha | ? | Neihuang, Henan | Shang | none |
16 | Xíng | 邢 | 1525–1506 BC | ? ha | ? | Xingtai, Hebei | Shang | also: Xiang |
17 | Bì | 庇 | 1510–1420 BC | ? ha | ? | Yuncheng, Shandong | Shang | none |
18 | Yǎn | 奄 | 1321 BC | ? ha | ? | Qufu, Shandong | Shang | none |
19 | Yīn | 殷 | 1299–1050 BC | 300 ha | ? | Anyang, Shaanxi 36°07′17″N114°19′01″E / 36.12139°N 114.31694°E | Shang | also: Beimeng |
20 | Zhōuyuán | 周原 | 1158–771 BC | ? ha | ? | Xi'an, Shanxi 34°29′51″N107°50′34″E / 34.497520°N 107.842903°E | Zhou | destroyed by Rong people |
21 | Fēng-Hǎo | 豐鎬 | 1066–1036 BC | ? ha | ? | Xi'an, Shanxi 34°15′01″N108°45′05″E / 34.250241°N 108.751428°E | Zhou | also: Zongzhou (宗周) |
22 | Chéngzhōu | 成周 | 1036–1021 BC | ? ha | ? | Luoyang, Henan 34°43′00″N112°37′12″E / 34.716592°N 112.620086°E | Zhou | post-dynastyic capitals: Zhou Ge, Bo, Gu, and Yidu |
23 | Wángchéng | 王城 | 1021–771 BC | ? ha | ? | Luoyang, Henan 34°40′03″N112°25′04″E / 34.667484°N 112.417719°E | Zhou | also: Luoyi (洛邑) |
4 | 9 | 2 | |
3 | 5 | 7 | |
8 | 1 | 6 | |
original diagram | modern notation |
During the Warring States and Han, the beginnings of a classical textual tradition of city planning developed. Although there is little direct evidence that any classical text exerted an important influence on urban design until the late imperial period, the texts themselves have a much longer history. While some important literary evidence concerning Zhou urban construction can be found in the Classic of Poetry and the Book of Documents , during the Han dynasty a text emerged that would later become the locus classicus of the ideal imperial capital.
This text, the Kaogongji , is a description of craftsmen's techniques that includes two sections on city construction. It is a late addition to the Rites of Zhou one of three ritual classics canonized during the Han. The Rites of Zhou is a blueprint for governmental administration divided into six offices representing Heaven, Earth, and each of the four seasons. The section for the Offices of Winter, a bureau charged with the oversight of public works, was lost sometime before or during the Qin to Han transition. During the Western Han, the Kaogongji was added as a replacement.
The first section on urban construction in the Kaogongji describes ancient techniques for siting a city, including methods for precisely orienting the site to the cardinal directions and determining the levelness of the land. The second section describes the basic features of the ideal capital city:
The carpenters construct the capital city, which is a square of nine li on each side. On each side there are three gates. Within the city there are nine north-south and nine east-west roads; the north-south roads are as wide as nine carriages side by side. The ancestral temple of the ruling house is to the left of the palace, the temple to god of the soil is to the right. The palace faces the court in front and the market is behind it. The court and the market are both one fu in area. [6]
This section goes on to describe the structure and dimensions of important buildings (as well as their historical precedents), and the heights of the towers surmounting the palace, inner city wall, and outer city wall.
There are several cosmologically significant features of this basic urban outline, including cardinal orientation, square shape, (implied) centrality of the ruler's palace, grid structure, and the prominence of the number nine. The nine-by-nine grid has led some scholars to suggest that the plan is based on the cosmological belief that the Earth is a square divided into nine sections. This structure is reproduced by the magic square, a tool for divination.
Although the Kaogongji does not explicitly identify this model with any historical city, it has been traditionally associated with Chengzhou, a city built by the Duke of Zhou soon after the Zhou conquest of the Shang. The “Proclamation at Luo,” a chapter of the Book of Documents, describes how the Duke of Zhou traveled to Luo (near the site of present-day Luoyang) to establish a secondary capital for the new Zhou dynasty, further solidify the Zhou receipt of the Mandate of Heaven, and relocate the former subjects of the defeated Shang.
The imperial era of urban planning was marked by an attempt to extend imperial authority uniformly across China by creating an economic and political urban hierarchy. In the Han, this integration was imagined as the resurrection of an idealized memory of the golden age of the Zhou dynasty. Each province was divided into prefectures and each prefecture into counties. The network of imperial administrative cities was overlaid on an existing network of unwalled villages and townships. One county therefore ruled over several townships and many more villages. At the apex of this administrative hierarchy was a new creation, the imperial capital.
Historically, the cities of the Seven Warring States were combined into one unified regional system under the Qin dynasty unification of China. Also under the Qin dynasty Chengzhou lost its status and was renamed Luoyang in 236 BC. The Qin dynasty destroyed most of the Eastern Zhou urbanization to concentrate its collected wealth at the capital Xianyang. Colonization of the Lingnan and Ordos regions began at this time, using a modified version of the Zhou classical standard of urban design. The Qin created a national system of military garrisons on a three-tier administrative hierarchy as a practical measure to control the population according to strict legalistic principles. The Qin soon lost power in a revolt and were replaced by the Han dynasty, who continued many aspects the Qin system of imperial administration, including its system of laws.
At its inception, the Han dynasty was immediately faced with the task of rebuilding the urban infrastructure which had been destroyed by Qin dynasty purges and the war of succession after its downfall. According to the Records of the Grand Historian, Gaozu, the Han founder, initially desired to establish the new capital at Luoyang, the former site of Chengzhou, in order to associate the Han with the illustrious early Zhou. However, it was ultimately decided that the new capital, Chang'an, should be built near the old Qin capital at Xianyang.
During the Han dynasty official administration extended only to the county level. The county (县; 縣; xiàn) was the primary unit of government control which harnessed the productive power of the villages in its area of control to concentrate wealth. The county was thus a city-state in function with two parts; a walled settlement 1×1 li at the geographical center of the territory. The city had no name of its own, it was named by adding the suffix -cheng (城) to the county's name. The territory of the county was divided into districts called townships (乡; 鄉/鄕; xiāng) which were subdivided into villages (村; cūn). Villages generally had a population of 100. Currently the village level is the lowest level of administration in China. These local units, counties, were collected in groups of 8–10 called prefectures, and the prefectures were gathered in groups of 12–16 to form provinces. Economically, the county was a market for productive countryside, which consisted not only of agriculture, but also townships and villages of people to work the land and produce goods by cottage industry. The county extended military control over a segment of this productive matrix and was the entry point for goods to channel upward to the Imperial City. There were approximately 1500 counties in China proper. This economic structure was later modified by commercial towns in the Middle Ages.
A county was controlled by a magistrate in a walled complex in the walled county center. He was responsible for tax collection, justice, postal service, police, granaries, salt stores, social welfare, education, and religious ceremony. The magistrate's complex (yamen) was sited at the center of this the city at the point where the main east–west street crossed the main north–south street. The main entrance was in the south and axially aligned along the main north south street connecting to the south gate of the walls. Two arches on the east west street marked the entry forming a small plaza. The south side of the plaza was a dragon wall and the north was the main gate of the compound. This gate lead to a courtyard passing through this courtyard to another gate, called the gate of righteousness, lead to the main courtyard of the complex. The north side of this courtyard was the central hall where the magistrate worked the two side halls contained the six offices. Behind the central hall was another courtyard and hall where the magistrate met with higher-ranking officials. The three courtyard compound formed the center of the complex to the east west of it were other halls, offices, granaries, stables, libraries, official residences, and prisons.
The imperial capital was meant to exist outside of any one region, even the one it was physically located in. To achieve this it used a text based plan, a cult of heaven, forced migration, and symbolization of the city as the Emperor. The evolution of the imperial capital occurred in three stages, first the super-regional capital on Xianyang, [7] followed by the semi-regional and semi-textual capital of Chang'an, and finally fully realized in the fully textual capital of Luoyang. The capital city of the Western Han dynasty, Chang'an, was built to exceed its predecessor, Xianyang. Luoyang, the capital of the Eastern Han dynasty, would in turn become the model of all future imperial cities.
As the empire was divided into counties prefectures and provinces
Summary of Regional and Urban Economic Hierarchy | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Economic Rank | Urban | Rural | ||||
1. Regional City | capital | jīng | 京 | Nation | guó | 國 |
2. Local City | provincial capital | dū | 都 | province | zhōu | 州 |
3. Central Market | city | shì | 市 | prefecture | jùn | 郡 |
4. Middle Market | district | fāng | 坊 | county | xiān | 縣 |
5. Standard Market | subdistrict | pái | 牌 | township | xiāng | 鄕 |
6. Commune | neighborhood | hútòng | 胡同 | village | cūn | 村 |
7. Household | block | qū | 區 | compound | sì-hé-yuàn | 四合院 |
It is uncertain to what extent the planners of early and medieval Chinese cities consciously took the Kaogongji as a model. Very little textual evidence preserves the motives and debates surrounding the construction of China's great pre-modern capitals. However, during the Ming (1346–1644) there was a close formal correspondence between the capital at Beijing and the Kaogongji model. [8]
The history of China spans several millennia across a wide geographical area. Each region now considered part of the Chinese world has experienced periods of unity, fracture, prosperity, and strife. Chinese civilization first emerged in the Yellow River valley, which along with the Yangtze basin constitutes the geographic core of the Chinese cultural sphere. China maintains a rich diversity of ethnic and linguistic people groups. The traditional lens for viewing Chinese history is the dynastic cycle: imperial dynasties rise and fall, and are ascribed certain achievements. Throughout pervades the narrative that Chinese civilization can be traced as an unbroken thread many thousands of years into the past, making it one of the cradles of civilization. At various times, states representative of a dominant Chinese culture have directly controlled areas stretching as far west as the Tian Shan, the Tarim Basin, and the Himalayas, as far north as the Sayan Mountains, and as far south as the delta of the Red River.
The Zhou dynasty was a royal dynasty of China that existed for 789 years from c. 1046 BC until 256 BC, the longest of all dynasties in Chinese history. During the Western Zhou period, the royal house, surnamed Ji, had military control over ancient China. Even as Zhou suzerainty became increasingly ceremonial over the following Eastern Zhou period (771–256 BC), the political system created by the Zhou royal house survived in some form for several additional centuries. A date of 1046 BC for the Zhou's establishment is supported by the Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project and David Pankenier, but David Nivison and Edward L. Shaughnessy date the establishment to 1045 BC.
The Shang dynasty, also known as the Yin dynasty, was a Chinese royal dynasty that ruled in the Yellow River valley during the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and followed by the Western Zhou dynasty. The classic account of the Shang comes from texts such as the Book of Documents, Bamboo Annals and Shiji. Modern scholarship dates the dynasty between the 16th and 11th centuries BC, with more agreement surrounding the end date than beginning date.
The Xia dynasty is the first dynasty in traditional Chinese historiography. According to tradition, it was established by the legendary figure Yu the Great, after Shun, the last of the Five Emperors, gave the throne to him. In traditional historiography, the Xia was succeeded by the Shang dynasty.
Shangdi (Chinese: 上帝; pinyin: Shàngdì; Wade–Giles: Shang4 Ti4), also called simply Di (Chinese: 帝; pinyin: Dì; lit. 'God'), is the name of the Chinese Highest Deity or "Lord Above" in the theology of the classical texts, especially deriving from Shang theology and finding an equivalent in the later Tiān ("Heaven" or "Great Whole") of Zhou theology.
King Nan of Zhou, personal name Ji Yan, also less commonly known as King Yin of Zhou, was the last king of the Zhou dynasty of China. He was the son of King Shenjing and grandson of King Xian. He was king from 314 BC until his death in 256 BC, a reign of fifty-nine years, the longest in the Zhou dynasty and all of pre-imperial China.
Yanshi District is a district in the prefecture-level city of Luoyang in western Henan province, China. Yanshi lies on the Luo River and is the easternmost county-level division of Luoyang.
The Longshanculture, also sometimes referred to as the Black Pottery Culture, was a late Neolithic culture in the middle and lower Yellow River valley areas of northern China from about 3000 to 1900 BC. The first archaeological find of this culture took place at the Chengziya Archaeological Site in 1928, with the first excavations in 1930 and 1931. The culture is named after the nearby modern town of Longshan in Zhangqiu, Shandong. The culture was noted for its highly polished black pottery. The population expanded dramatically during the 3rd millennium BC, with many settlements having rammed earth walls. It decreased in most areas around 2000 BC until the central area evolved into the Bronze Age Erlitou culture. The Longshan culture has been linked to the early Sinitic . According to the area and cultural type, the Longshan culture can be divided into two types: Shandong Longshan and Henan Longshan. Among them, Shandong Longshan Cultural Site includes Chengziya Site; Henan Longshan Cultural Site includes Dengfeng Wangchenggang Site in Wangwan, Taosi Site and Mengzhuang Site in Hougang.
The Erlitou culture was an early Bronze Age society and archaeological culture. It existed in the Yellow River valley from approximately 1900 to 1500 BC. A 2007 study using radiocarbon dating proposed a narrower date range of 1750–1530 BC. The culture is named after Erlitou, an archaeological site in Yanshi, Henan. It was widely spread throughout Henan and Shanxi and later appeared in Shaanxi and Hubei. Most archaeologists consider Erlitou the first state-level society in China. Chinese archaeologists generally identify the Erlitou culture as the site of the Xia dynasty, but there is no firm evidence, such as writing, to substantiate such a linkage, as the earliest evidence of Chinese writing dates to the Late Shang period.
The Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project was a multi-disciplinary project commissioned by the People's Republic of China in 1996 to determine with accuracy the location and time frame of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties.
East Yi West Xia is an obsolete theory which proposes that the culture of the Chinese Shang dynasty was established by two ethnic groups; namely, that the Western part of the Shang dynasty was developed by the Xia ethnic group, and the eastern part of Shang dynasty was developed by the Yi ethnic group.
The Nine Tripod Cauldrons were, a collection of ding in ancient China that were viewed as symbols of the authority given to the ruler by the Mandate of Heaven. According to the legend, they were cast by Yu the Great of the Xia dynasty.
Luoyang Museum is a historical museum in Luoyang, Henan Province, China. Situated in the Yellow River valley. It offers exhibits of the rich cultural heritage of Luoyang, a major Chinese cultural centre, which was the capital of several Chinese dynasties including the Eastern Zhou and the Eastern Han.
The history of Zhengzhou, a city that is today the provincial capital of Henan Province, China, spans over 10,000 years from its beginnings as a Neolithic settlement to its emergence as a trading port during the final years of the Qing dynasty.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to ancient China:
The Wǔfāng Shàngdì, or simply Wǔdì or Wǔshén are, in Chinese canonical texts and common Chinese religion, the fivefold manifestation of the supreme God of Heaven. This theology dates back at least to the Shang dynasty. Described as the "five changeable faces of Heaven", they represent Heaven's cosmic activity which shapes worlds as tán 壇, "altars", imitating its order which is visible in the starry vault, the north celestial pole and its spinning constellations. The Five Deities themselves represent these constellations. In accordance with the Three Powers they have a celestial, a terrestrial and a chthonic form. The Han Chinese identify themselves as the descendants of the Red and Yellow Deities.
In 2001, the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences organized a poll for China's 100 major archaeological discoveries in the 20th century. The participants included eight national-level institutions for archaeology and cultural relics, provincial-level archaeological institutes from 28 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions, as well as from Hong Kong, the archaeological departments of 11 major national universities, and many other scholars in Beijing. After three months and three rounds of voting, the results were announced on 29 March 2001 and were published in the journal Kaogu (Archaeology). In 2002, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Press published the book China's 100 Major Archaeological Discoveries in the 20th Century (二十世纪中国百项考古大发现), with more than 500 pages and 1,512 pictures.
The earliest human occupation of what is now China dates to the Lower Paleolithic c. 1.7 million years ago—attested by archaeological finds such as the Yuanmou Man. The Erlitou and Erligang cultures inhabiting the Yellow River valley were Bronze Age civilizations predating the historical record—which first emerges c. 1250 – c. 1200 BCE at Yinxu, during the Late Shang.
The Baijia culture (Ch:百家文化) is an ancient Neolithic culture of China, dated to 5800-5000 BCE. It is considered as the earliest Chinese culture to make painted pottery. The pottery was sometimes painted in simple red.