Editor's Note: Chinese civilization is a unique "Tianxia (All Under Heaven) civilization" pattern. This pattern, together with other cultural genes like ritualism, ancestral worship, sincerity, benevolence, and coexistence of all in harmony, is the fundamental reason for the continuous development of Chinese civilization to this day.

The Chinese civilization is a highly developed, long-standing, and comprehensive entity of material, spiritual, and institutional creation by the Chinese nation. Over 8,000 years ago, Early China in the cultural sense bears its root, marking the first stage of the origin of Chinese civilization. Around 6,000 years ago, Early China in the cultural sense formally took shape, marking the second stage of the origin of Chinese civilization. Around 5,100 years ago, with the emergence of Chinese civilization, the Archaic State stage began. About 4100 years ago, Early China entered the Dynastic State stage.

Civilization, civilized society, Chinese civilization

According to Yan Wenming, ancient Chinese civilization is rich in content, encompassing material, institutional, and spiritual civilizations. Chinese civilization, a civilization created by the Chinese nation with Chinese people as its core, or a highly developed and long-standing integrated entity that is possessed by the Chinese nation, can correspond to the "Early Chinese cultural sphere" or "Early China in a cultural sense" which has entered the state 

stage.

Chinese civilization originates from "three huang (皇sovereigns) and five di (帝emperors)" in the territory of China, which is the basic understanding of ancient China. However, in recent centuries, the situation has changed dramatically. Western scholars' invention of the Western origin of the early Chinese civilization and Chinese scholars' "Doubting-the-Ancient movement" posed an unprecedented challenge to traditional Chinese historiography. As a result, it has become the obligation of modern Chinese archaeologists to explore the origins of early Chinese civilization and restore the true history of ancient China. Attempts to trace Chinese civilization from its origin began in 1921, a year when modern Chinese archaeology was born. After the 1980s, it became clear that Chinese civilization is a civilization born and formed in China. It is a civilization with a long and solid prehistoric foundation.

The first stage of the origin of Chinese civilization

The earliest residents on the Chinese landscape can date back to 2 million years ago. After a long process of evolving and interacting with Neanderthals from the West and early modern humans, they became the ancestors of the Chinese nation. The extreme cold and dry climate of the last Ice Age around 20,000 years ago caused severe food scarcity and contributed to the diversification of food obtainment. The collection and consumption of Gramineae plant seeds pave the way for plant cultivation. Pottery for cooking rice and grain appears as a result. In the Early Neolithic Ages around 10,000 years ago, rice cultivation appeared in the South, and millet cultivation emerged in the North. In the Middle Neolithic Ages around 8000 years ago, the rice-and-millet-based complimentary agricultural systems generally took shape. In the Late Neolithic Ages around 6,000 years ago, the northern part of China entered agricultural society in which agriculture accounts for the majority of the production economy. With a vast territory, the ideal environment, and the two complementary agricultural systems to guarantee the stability of food supply to the greatest extent, this stage lays a solid foundation for the origination and formation of Chinese civilization.

In the Yellow River basin, Peiligang culture and some other cultures unearthed "clan burial" cemeteries which were rare in other areas in Eurasia in the same period. These tombs show special care and respect for the deceased and the emergence of the ancestor worship concept; reflect the order of the people of the same clan (patriarchal clan) in terms of affinity or seniority in the family. The fact that the same cemetery has lasted for one or two hundred years or even hundreds of years indicates that the clansmen had long memories and perseverance in the habitat of their distant ancestors and may have provided justification and "legitimacy" for future generations to live and farm in this place. The tomb owners were basically adult males. Differences can be found in the sacrifice ritual between the chief and ordinary clan members. It is possible that it has already entered a patrilineal clan society.

In short, an orderly society with a certain degree of social differentiation appeared in the middle reaches of the Yellow River and the Western Liaohe River basin 8,000 years ago, and a relatively advanced and complex ideological and knowledge system emerged in most of China. The ideological and knowledge system has been passed down to the present day and forms the core of Chinese civilization.

The second stage of the origin of Chinese civilization

About 7,000 years ago, the Late Neolithic period began, and most areas of China have been integrated into the three major cultural systems. Many symbols, motifs, and sculptures appear at this time indicating the inheritance and development of the previous cosmology and knowledge system. The social order was more rigorous, as shown by the cohesive and centralized trench settlement cluster of the Banpo type in Yangshao culture. The Dongzhuang-Miaodigou Phase of the Yangshao Culture developed rapidly in the border area of Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Henan 6,200 years ago and expanded its influence in a substantial way, leading to the formation of a three-tier cultural unity with the Central Plain at its core. The "Early Chinese Cultural Sphere" or the "Early China in the cultural sense" formally takes shape.

Other areas of the Miaodigou Phase also accelerate the pace of social change. The Lingjiatan culture in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River sees the emergence of a central Lingjiatan settlement of more than 1 million square meters, with large-scale ritual remains and high-ranking burials. Among the burial objects, the "Luoshu jade plaque" is believed to contain early Chinese cosmology of Round Heaven and Square Earth, the Four Directions and Five Positions, the Eight Trigrams and Nine Squares (a divination method used in ancient China). Besides, the jade artifacts indicate that heaven worshipping appears in Lingjiatan. In addition, the fine jade and stone artifacts and the fine wheel-made black pottery from the Youziling and Dawenkou cultures require specialized craftsmen to produce.

In a word, we can see that during the Miaodigou period, chiefs or nobles with a certain amount of public power appeared and the society accelerated in complexity. The previous concepts of "Tian Yuan Di Fang" (round heaven and square earth) and ancestor worship continue to develop. This is the second stage of the origin of Chinese civilization.

Chinese civilization taking shape

The criteria or markers of a civilized era, a civilized society, or a stage of statehood have always been a matter of debate. According to Engels, the state is distinguished firstly by "the grouping of its members on a territorial basis", and secondly by "a public force which is established above all its residents". By these two criteria, the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the middle reaches of the Yellow River have already met the standards of an early state or early civilization from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age 5,100 years ago.

The Liangzhu culture of the lower Yangtze River Valley centers on the Liangzhu site in Yuhang which has an inner city of nearly 3 million square meters and an outer city of 6.3 million square meters with large-scale water conservation facilities such as dams, long dykes and ditches. The construction of so many massive projects, the production of so many high-quality jade articles and the production and storage of such large quantities of food all require the mobilization of a great amount of human and material resources over a large area. What's more, the recurrence of "Shenhui" (the divine emblem), bird and dragon head patterns inscribed on jade indicates the existence of a highly centralized social power and a highly consistent system of primitive religions, forming a controlling network for the whole society. There is no doubt that a regional "kingship" existed in ancient Liangzhu.

There is more than one center in Yangshao culture in the middle reaches of the Yellow River Valley, with the Nanzuo site in Qingyang of the Loess Plateau region as the center. Surrounded by many layers of trenches, the site covers approximately 6,000,000 square meters. Nine large-scale rammed earth platforms and two surrounding trenches form the core area of 300,000 square meters, with a sizeable rammed earth building area (or palace city) and a sizable palace-style building in the center. Research shows several large settlements in the neighboring area have been found with high-quality artifacts excavated, indicating there may have been a regional kingship "Longshan archaic state" on the Loess Plateau with Nanzuo as the center.

Obviously, the sudden emergence of super-large settlements around 5,100 years ago is not a natural development from the original settlements or societies. The construction of such large settlements may require the mobilization of human and material resources over a large spatial area, which means to break the confines of the original clan societies and to some extent highlight the territorial relations, implying the emergence of early states. Since territorial organizations or early states in this period are mainly limited to Taihu Lake areas or the Loess Plateau areas, it is better to call them "archaic states" or "city-states". Despite the "systematized" integration, blood ties and kinship remains the foundation of Chinese society.

Early Development of Chinese Civilization

There are two critical time points in the early development of Chinese civilization, approximately 4,700 years ago and 4,100 years ago.

From Miaodigou Phase II or the Longshan period in the broad sense around 4,700 years ago, the number of sites on the Loess Plateau, especially in northern Shaanxi, increased dramatically, and many stone walled towns of a military nature suddenly emerged along the Great Wall in the north, while the cultural pattern in southern central Inner Mongolia, most of Hebei and central Henan changes abruptly under the strong influence of the Loess Plateau culture. The series of phenomena should be the result of a large-scale war probably related to the documented Battle of Zhuolu in which the Yellow Emperor killed Chiyou.

During the Late Longshan period in 4,100 years ago, the Longshan culture in Central Plain goes south to the southern part of Henan and Jianghan Plain areas like Hunan and Hubei, which probably corresponds to the ancient history of the "subjugation of San Miao by Yu" and Xia Dynasty begins. Through expeditions to San Miao, areas in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River have been included in the territory of the Xia. What's more, the Longshan culture of the Central Plain also moved south to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and Huaihe River some time earlier. So it is likely that the division of Nine Zhou(regions)by Great Yu as recorded in The Tribute of Yu·The Shoo King is historically accurate. In this sense, in the early Xia dynasty, the kings of Xia already had the initial "unified" political power to govern Tianxia (the world). The historical document shows that the ruling group of the Xia dynasty includes other clan members whose family names are not Xiahou. Therefore, the Xia dynasty was a political organization based on blood ties and the Nine Regions, the territory of Xia was the result of the unification of Tianxia, and Chinese Civilization entered the stage of Dynastic State.

References: 

Andersson, J.G. "An Early Chinese Culture."Yuan Fuli Trans, The Geological Survey of China, No.5, Book 1, Beijing: Jinghua Publishing House, 1923.

Engels, Friedrich. The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State. Beijing: People's Publishing House, 1999, p.183.

The views don't necessarily reflect those of DeepChina.

The author is Jianye HAN, distinguished professor of the Changjiang Scholars Program, School of History, Renmin University of China.