Hongshan Neolithic Culture
红山文化
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The Stone Graves
After building the Goddess Temple and burying the exquisite jades, where did the Hongshan people go? Information is curiously scarece. There have been no discoveries of neolithic and early bronze temples on the same model, or jade objects further developing the style and techniques of Hongshan - the Shijiahe, Lingjiatan and Shang jade have their own sophisticated styles but are not clearly descended from Hongshan, though occasional Hongshan jade items, perhaps handmedowns from ancesters, have been found in Shang tombs.
However, graves constructed with stone blocks like the Hongshan tombs did turn up, in western Sichuan!
These were believed to be left behind by the Cancong clan 蚕丛氏, who, local legends say, migrated into the region, bringing knowledge of silkworm raising, the 丛 in the name hinting that they had the Xia 夏 vertical eye 目 on their foreheads and were related to them. Legends do not say where they went afterwards, but histories of other regions indicate they moved south into Guizhou and Yunnan, and some may have merged with tribes of neighbouring Tibet.
Liangzhu
The early period of Liangzhu culture of southern Jiangsu overlapped late period Hongshan, and both were significant in jade working techniques and jade artistic designs, though neither appears to have influenced the other. The prominent motif on Liangzhu jade was the two faced demon:
which appears on the ritual cong 琮 object and jade axes frequently; it probably represents the legendary demon Xingtian 刑天 who, after his head was chopped off by Yellow Emperor, used his breasts as eyes and navel as mouth, to continue fighting, till he was killed a second time. This motif passed into Longshan and Xia culture, e.g., the Erlitou turquoise mosaic appears to be a variation of the two faces design
with further development into the Shang taolie 饕餮 face the appears widely, with variations, in numerous kinds of Shang and Zhou bronze
the earliest silk weave was also found in a Liangzhu site, dated to approximately 2700BC, coinciding with the tail end of Hongshan
Chahai-Xinglongwa
whose pottery was clearly inherited by Hongshan, but perhaps more interesting are the following two items:
though lacking the artistic and technical sophistication of Hongshan jade, the Xinlongwa jade objects represent the earlier, developmental phase
though looking nothing like the Hongshan jade dragons, the importance of this mythical animal is indicated, and Hongshan provided its particular artistic expression
zhaobaogou
an alternative, perhaps more artistically sophisticated, presentation of the dragon, with bird/deer/pig heads and floating bodies
xiaoheyan
coming up in the same region after Hongshan, Xiaoheyan culture seems trite, but its pottery moves forward and becomes the basis for the bronze utensils that will soon emerge; it seems little influenced by Hongshan
xiajiadian
with a decorative style somewhat derivative from Xiaoheyan, and vaguely related to Shang bronze, Xiaojiadian culture spanned the still mythical Xia dynasty, Shang and early Zhou in the lands southward
Hongshan Neolithic Culture
红山文化
web support: Asia Youth Media
we operate in Palo Alto and
Singapore
ph: 65-96623201
fax: 65-64652558
alt: 65-96539476
mail