뉴스레터

Question

Some archeologists argue that prehistoric culture in northeastern China, represented by Hongshan Culture, is the origin of Chinese civilization. What is the background for such claim, and is it a reasonable argument?

Answer

Hongshan Culture is a Neolithic culture in northeastern China. It dates from about 4500 BC to 2000 BC, and Hongshan sites have been found in today's western Inner Mongolia and eastern Liaoning. It was named after Hongshanhou, a site discovered in 1935 in the city of Chifeng in Inner Mongolia that shows the representative cultural aspects of the Hongshan Culture. Famous artifacts include comb-pattern pottery and animal-shaped jade items, and well-known sites include Dongshanzui and Nieheliang. In particular, a temple with goddess statues and stone tombs were excavated in Nieheliang.

Some Chinese archeologists claim that the earliest civilization of China can be found in Hongshan Culture, considering the large number of people who participated in building the Hongshan sites. In addition, they argue that Hongshan Culture was made possible with continued cultural exchanges with areas in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River (or Huang He), and that it served as an origin of traditional Chinese culture.

Their arguments include: Hongshan Culture had exchanges and clashes with Yangshao Culture; the goddess temple in Niuheliang was succeeded in China's royal shrine system; Hongshan culture's jade craftsmanship led to the creation of China's jade culture; Honshan culture was created by the Huang Di (Yellow Emperor) tribe, which is considered as China's ancestor.

"Unified Multi-ethnic Country" – Attempts to Date Back to Ancient History

However, such claims come from China's attempts to date back to ancient history in terms of its theory of "unified multi-ethnic country", which was developed to prevent ethnic minorities from breaking away and incorporate different minorities groups into one nation. They want to argue that all areas of today's China had cultural unity even in ancient prehistoric times.

Yet the artifacts excavated in Hongshan sites, including jewelry, temple, tombs etc, are quite different from those of traditional Chinese culture, and their arguments are not valid. Korean scholars point out the possibility of relations between Hongshan Culture and prehistoric Korean culture. Comb-pattern pottery and stone tombs are widely found in the Korean peninsula, and the area of Hongshan sites includes a region which is known as the birthplace of ancient Korean kingdom, Gojoseon.