Based on the major research results of the "Chinese Civilization Exploration Project" and "Archaeological China", under the guidance of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the Propaganda Department of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, supported by the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage, and created by Shanghai Radio and Television, the third episode of the 8-episode large-scale documentary "Why China" "Star Dou" was broadcast on Dragon TV and Blockbuster TV at 21:15 on the evening of December 22, and simultaneously broadcast on Internet platforms such as iQiyi, Tencent Video, Youku, and Station B.
The famous archaeologist Su Bingqi once proposed that the origin of Chinese civilization "is not like a candle, but like a sky full of stars". This episode "Star Fight" is named after this. In this era of shining stars, people from all over the world recognize each other and converge and condense. The painted pottery at the bottom of the temple has swept most of China, and the noble jade has also been widely spread between the north and the south. Following "The Cradle", the episode of "Star Dou" follows the context of time, starting from the painted pottery and jade culture, to explore the ancient civilization on the land of China.
More than 5,500 years ago, at the junction of Shanxi, Shaanxi and Henan provinces, there were Yangguanzhai in Gaoling, Quanhu Village in Huaxian County, Yangping in Lingbao Beiyangping, and Lingbao Xipo in the area of hundreds of thousands or even millions of square meters of Yangshao cultural large-scale central settlements. Yangshao culture lasted nearly 2,000 years, and the temple ditch period was its middle period, which was named after the temple ditch site in Shaanxi County, Henan. The floral pattern is the most representative pattern of the temple ditch faience. Archaeologist Su Bingqi praised the common patterns in the painted pottery of the temple ditch as "Huashan rose", and called the people who created the flowers of the temple ditch the original "Chinese".
The painted pottery of Yangshao culture is undoubtedly one of the most splendid flowers in the Neolithic Age. Through the diffusion and flow of mature dry farming people, the influence of Miaodigou faience first reached the Heluo area, and then took the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River as the starting point, and radiated to the broader world of Yinshan in the north, the sea in the east, Ganqing in the west, and the Yangtze River in the south.
The wide spread of painted pottery obviously has a deeper cultural significance, indicating that Yangshao culture has established an unprecedentedly close network of communication both inside and outside the society. In terms of artistic presentation, the documentary designed the image of "flower", sketched a flower on the map, and marked the typical utensils influenced by the temple ditch culture in various places. This "flower" not only represents the most typical floral pattern of the temple ditch, but also alludes to the Chinese prehistoric cultural pattern of "double-petaled flower" proposed by the famous archaeologist Yan Wenming.
In the episode "Star Fight", the documentary team created specific character images such as Xipo youth and Lingjiatan youth through film and television reproduction, and through the journey of Xipo youth along the Yellow River to the east to visit Dawenkou, symbolizing the exchange between Yangshao culture and Dawenkou culture. Archaeology pays attention to "seeing people through things", and from the similar artifacts unearthed in various places, we may imagine the exchange scenes between different regions and different cultures in that era.
When presenting the earthen relics, the film crew carried out a very difficult combination of shots. The Lingjiatan site in Hanshan, Anhui Province, has unearthed a large number of jade artifacts. Among them, there are more than 300 pieces of jade artifacts buried in tomb No. 07M23, which shows the identity of the leader of the tomb owner and the prosperity of prehistoric jade culture. The film crew invited archaeologists Wu Weihong and Zhang Xiaolei to restore the complex and strict customs of the time through detailed on-site records and repeated placement analysis during archaeological excavations.
Whether it is the jade pendant that originally hung around the neck of the tomb owner, or the 10 jade bracelets worn on both arms, or the special ritual utensils that were worn around the waist and abdomen, such as turtle shells interlocking and jade sticks inside, all make people imagine the grandeur of this ceremony thousands of years ago. What the documentary "Why China" wants to present is not to display specific cultural relics in museum display cases in the form of individuals, but to reproduce the social style and cultural traditions of the time through film and television means, and to understand the people, objects, society and civilization of that era from the artifacts that are placed and used. Lingjiatan people are still jade, and they embody the concept of faith in the jade and reflect the order of etiquette.
"The episode of "Star Fight" was filmed with a lot of combinations, including painted pottery and jade. Wei Guoge, executive director of "Why China", introduced. For example, in the No. 21 tomb N2Z1M21 the second site of the Niuheliang site, the owner of the tomb buried 20 pieces of jade, including oblique cylindrical ware, animal face plaque, gouyun-shaped ware, jade turtle, etc., which are presented in the form of combined shooting, reflecting the strong primitive religious characteristics of the stone mound and funeral rites of Hongshan culture.
At the same time, the film crew also filmed near the ruins of the Niuheliang Goddess Temple, with the help of the restored semi-crypt-like building in the shape of "Ya". The temple of the goddess adopts a rare multi-room structure, with a total area of about 75 square meters. "It is rare that we brought the actors to the Niuheliang site to shoot, and the young man of Lingjiatan looked at Zhushou Mountain from afar, which means that he has entered the core area of Hongshan culture. Wei Guoge said.
In the documentary, the journey of Xipo youth and Lingjiatan youth thousands of years ago allows the audience to see the people behind the cultural exchange, implying the cultural integration that took place on the land of China in the Neolithic period. In the film, you can also see that similar jade artifacts have been unearthed at the Niuheliang site and Lingjiatan site, including a jade figure with both hands on the chest, a curled jade dragon, a barrel-shaped vessel with an oblique mouth, and a jade turtle. The bottomless painted pottery cylindrical ware that surrounds the stone mound has a hooked vortex on the surface, which is reminiscent of the influence of the painted pottery at the bottom of the temple.
In the eyes of archaeologists, these discoveries seem to confirm that there was a long-distance material and spiritual cultural exchange between societies in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and the Xiliao River basin more than 5,000 years ago. With the diffusion of Miaodigou cultural faience, the westward spread of Dawenkou culture, and the formation of oriental jade cultural centers, the cultural interaction and integration between various regions in China have become increasingly close. This starry sky shone brightly, shaping the geographical core of early China. Since then, regional cultures have developed and developed in parallel, accumulating a deep soil for the diversification of Chinese civilization, and deepening exchanges and interactions between regions have accumulated strength for the future of integration.