"夫君子之行：靜以修身，儉以養德；非淡泊無以明志，非寧靜無以致遠。" - 諸葛亮One should seek serenity to cultivate the body, thriftiness to cultivate the morals. If you are not simple and frugal, your ambition will not sparkle. If you are not calm and cool, you will not reach far. - Zhugeliang
Hongshan Culture is characterized primarily by the ancient painted potteries, the "Z"-stripped potteries and the unique digging tools-stone spades and laurel leave-shaped two-holed stone knives. The potteries of Hongshan Culture fall into two types-clay potteries and sand-mixed potteries, both manually made.
The clay potteries are mostly red, usually in the forms of bowl, basin, jar and pots, etc., most of which are containers with small flat bottoms. Most of the clay potteries are decorated with black or purple stripes arranged mainly in parallel lines, triangles, scale-shaped patterns and occasionally in "Z"-shaped pressed stripes.
Within the area of Hongshan Culture, bones of oxen, lambs, pigs, deer and river deer have been unearthed, though in small numbers. The oxen, lambs and pigs, which are presumably domestic animals, vaguely indicate that the early inhabitants of Hongshan Culture lived a settled life supplemented by animal husbandry, fishery and hunting.
More than 20 cirrus-shaped jade articles have been unearthed at the site of Hongshan Culture, and each of them represents two fundamental themes-cirrus-shaped angles and minor convexities. Combination of cirrus-shaped angles and minor convexities in different ways constitute the various patterns and designs of the cirrus-shaped jade articles of Hongshan Culture, which is best demonstrated by the enormous blackish green jade dragon unearthed at Sanxingtala Township of Wengniute Banner in 1971. The dragon is 26 cm in height with the head of a swine and the body of a serpent, coiling like cirrus. Similar dragons were found later in Balin Right Banner and the Antiques Store of Liaoning Province. These cirrus-shaped jade articles can be classified into four types by analyzing their patterns and designs: decorative articles, tools, animals and special ones, of which the hoop-shaped articles are among the typical pieces of the jade ware of Hongshan Culture. The association of the shapes of these jade articles with their cultural context indicates that the special articles and the tools were made to meet the needs of religious ceremonies.
The discovery of cirrus-shaped jade dragon at Hongshan Culture strongly suggests Inner Mongoliaas one of the essential sites to trace the worship for dragon by the Chinese people.
From the 1980s, religious relics of Hongshan Culture like the "Goddess Temple" and stone-pile tombs have been found at Dongshanzui of Kazuo County and Niuheliang at the juncture ofLingyuan County and Jianping County of Liaoning Province. The central part of Dongshanzui relics is the foundation of a large-scaled square structure built of stone. The overall layout of bilateral symmetry of the foundation to a south-north axis, which is characteristic of the traditional Chinese architectural style, is the first of its kind ever discovered at the site of Neolithic Age. The pottery figures unearthed at the relics indicate that the sites used to be places for sacrificial ceremonies or similar activities.
In the first place, archeological studies show that Hongshan Culture was developed on the basis of Xinglongwa Culture and Zhaobaogou Culture, and the inheritance and development in religious traditions between the three cultures are evident. No sites devoted exclusively to sacrificial rites have been found so far in Xinglongwa Culture and Zhaobaogou Culture. The discovery of Niulianghe Relics in the 1970s indicates that large-scaled centers for sacrificial rites had shown up by the end of Hongshan Culture. This is not only a breakthrough in the study of Hongshan Culture, but a discovery of great significance to the exploration of the origin of the Chinese civilization.
Secondly, Hongshan Culture is credited with remarkable achievements in architecture, pottery-making, jade-carving and pottery sculptures which are at higher levels than those of Xinglongwa Culture and Zhaobaogou Culture. The duet of square pottery molds unearthed at the relics of a house of Hongshan Culture at Xitai, Aohan Banner,whichis the earliest mold for metal casting, shows that the early people of Hongshan Culture had mastered the technology of bronze casting.
Next, hunting was in the dominant position in Xinglongwa Culture and Zhaobaogou Culture, while by contrast, agriculture played an essential role in the economy of Hongshan Culture.
Judging from the position of Hongshan Culture in the archeological culture of ancient Northern China and China in the Neolithic Age, we can well assume that Hongshan Culture is one of the most advanced cultures among the ranks of its peers in both southern and northern China at that time, when the smelting of bronze had made appearance, the earliest cities surrounded by ditches had shown up, and the division between urban and rural areas had taken shape. Religious activities characterized by worshiping dragon and jade and respecting the ancestors were in vogue. The conflicts among social groups and the subsequent fights for the unification of religious beliefs had become the fundamental social issue. This is another proof to the assumption that the people of Hongshan Culture had marched from the clan society into the historical phase of ancient kingdoms.
Therefore, we can say that by laying a foundation for the development of the Chinese civilization of five thousand years and formulating and influencing the layout of the origin and the progress of the protocol-dominating culture of China, Hongshan Culture plays an extremely essential role in the evolution of the Chinese civilization ============================ |
The Liangzhu culture (Chinese: 良渚文化; pinyin: liángzhǔ wénhuà) (3400-2250 BC) was the last Neolithic jade culture in the Yangtze River Delta of China. Its area of influence extended from around Lake Tai north to Nanjing and the Chang Jiang, east to Shanghai and the sea, and south to Hangzhou. The culture was highly stratified, as jade, silk, ivory and lacquer artifacts were found exclusively in elite burials, while pottery was more commonly found in the burial plots of poorer individuals. The type site at Liangzhu was discovered in Yuhang County,Zhejiang and initially excavated by Shi Xingeng in 1936.
The culture possessed advanced agriculture, included irrigation, paddy rice cultivation andaquaculture. Houses were often constructed with stilts on rivers or shorelines.
The jade from this culture is characterized by finely worked large ritual jades, commonly incised with the taotie motif. The most exemplary artefacts from the culture were its cong (cylinders). The largest cong discovered weighed 3.5 kg. Bi (discs) and Yue axes (ceremonial axes) were also found. Jade pendants were also found, designed with engraved representations of small birds, turtles and fish. Many Liangzhu jade artefacts had a white milky bone-like aspect due to its tremolite rock origin and influence of water-based fluids at the burial sites, although jade made from actinolite and serpentine were also commonly found.
A neolithic altar from the Liangzhu culture, excavated at Yaoshan in Zhejiang, demonstrates that religious structures were elaborate and made of carefully positioned piles of stones and rock walls: this indicates that religion was of considerable importance. The altar has three levels, the highest being a platform of rammed earth. Three additional platforms were paved with cobblestones. There are the remains of a stone wall. On the altar are twelve graves in two rows.[1] A new discovery of ancient city wall base relics was announced by the Zhejiang provincial government on November 29, 2007. All the relics previously identified were parts of city construction. It was concluded the site was the ancient capital of the Liangzhu Kingdom, whose influence spread as far as modern-day Jiangsu, Shanghai, and Shandong Provinces. A new Liangzhu Culture Museum was completed in 2008 and opened late in the year. It is 17.5 kilometers north-west of the north-east corner of West Lake in Hangzhou.
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Neolithic Jade: communicating with spirits
From the Neolithic period (6000 BCE) until today, jade has provided one of the most profound expressions of strength and beauty in Chinese culture. From its earliest use, until today, jade was used as a gift for nobility, emperors, and beautiful women.
Long before written history, (i.e., 1700-1100 BCE oracle bone inscriptions) jade was also used as a special means to contact the world of spirits. The invisible rulers of nature were given indescribably beautiful, finely carved jade, to bring peace, prosperity, and release the souls of deceased relatives from the underworld.
The Neolithic jade pieces shown here were carved as gifts for the “spirit world.” Found in two ancient archeology sites, (two ancient kingdoms), they deeply influenced Shang (1700-1100 BCE) and Zhou dynasty (1100-480 BCE) court ceremonies and burial rites. Treasured by emperors, they are prized acquisitions for art collectors until today.
The first kind of jade carving pictured here is the cong 琮 (pronounce tsong), a square or six sided object with a circular hole drilled down the middle. Cong can be as short as 4 inches, or as tall as 4 ft. They were found, for the most part, in the graves of rulers and their royal families. The kings and queens of the succeeding Shang dynasty collected them, and reburied them in their own gravesites. The Cong of the north and west Neolithic China are quite colorful, simple in decoration, with multiple colors. The Cong found in the Liangzhu 良諸 culture sites (in central China) on the other hand, have exquisite bird face like carvings on their corners. Scholars believe that these bird faces are the precursors and models for the so called “Tao Tie” 饕餮 (pronounce “tao-tye”) images found on the green bronze ritual utensils used in Shang and Zhou dynasty burials. The “Tao Tie” bird carved into jade pieces is thought to be a symbol of the phoenix, or “spiritual bird,” that flies up to the sun on the summer solstice, and brings back a drop of pure green “Yin” jade from the solar center, to insure a plentiful harvest in autumn, and restful contemplation in winter.
Some jade dealers claim that the Cong is a “phallic” symbol, a phrase that assures a higher price when sold to western collectors. More careful analysis of the place that the Cong is given in the tomb shows it was actually used as a funnel conducting the souls of the deceased from the “square” (symbol) of earth into the circular heavens. The archeologist Mou Yangkang points out a passage in the Confucian classic Zhou Li (Rites of the Zhou dynasty 周禮) stating that jade Cong as well as the circular jade Bi were used from ancient times for burial ritual: “Use a green Bi to worship the heavens, and a yellow Cong to worship earth.” All of China’s most developed Neolithic cultural sites, from Liangzhu in the south, Hongshan in the north, Qijiai in the northwest (Gansu), Daxi and Shijiahe , and many other middle and lower Yangtze areas, used Cong and Bi for burial, as well as kingly ritual.
The Yue Jue Shu 越絕書 Lost Records of the Jue Kingdom, which was composed after 475 BCE states: “In the age of emperors Xuan Yuan, Shen Nong, and He Xu weapons were made of stone: in the age of Emperor Huang Di (Neolithic era) weapons were made of jade; in the age of Emperor Yu, (the equivalent of the Xia and hang dynasties) weapons were made of bronze; at the present time, weapons are made of iron.” This Warring States Period text (474-221 BCE), is used by 20th and 21st century scholars to confirm the accuracy of early Chinese myth by using archeological findings.
Along with the square or hexagonal Cong are found in even greater quantities, the circular Bi 璧 form of Neolithic jade, the symbol of heaven. Bi jade pieces were symbols of the king’s heaven given right to rule. They were placed under the head and heart of the deceased during burial ritual. Like the ancient Cong, they remain a popular collector’s item until today. Pictured here are examples of these two ancient jade styles, preserved in the “Art as sacred Encounter” collection of the Tohgendo 桃源洞 (Taoyuan Dong) museum in Kyoto.
Michael Saso Beijing, Los Angeles, Honolulu 3-3-2011
- white jade from a Liangzhu burial site
- various shapes and sizes of Liangzhu jade
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