"Hongshan Culture": the shining pearl of Chinese culture

Hongshan culture is an important member of the pluralistic and integrated pattern of Chinese civilization, witnessing the construction of the early Chinese cultural community. General Secretary Xi Jinping has always attached great importance to the influence of the excellent cultures of various ethnic groups on the formation and development of Chinese civilization. On the morning of July 15, 2019, General Secretary Xi Jinping came to the Chifeng Museum to learn about the excavation and protection of prehistoric cultures such as Hongshan culture and its historical evolution. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "The mainland is a unified multi-ethnic country, and the Chinese nation is formed through continuous exchanges and exchanges between multiple ethnic groups. Rooted in the fertile soil of harmonious and diverse multi-ethnic cultures, the Chinese civilization has a long history and is the only civilization in the world that has developed uninterrupted to the present day. It is necessary to attach importance to the protection and inheritance of minority cultures, support and support intangible cultural heritage such as Gesar (Si)er, cultivate good inheritors, and pass them on from generation to generation. It is necessary to guide people to establish a correct view of history, the country, the nation, and culture, and constantly consolidate the identification of the people of all ethnic groups with the great motherland, the Chinese nation, and the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics. ”

An important symbol of the formation of Chinese civilization

"Plug the red mountain and reflect the blue pool", "the peak is red and the water is blue, looking at the green trees in the distance, and the scenery does not let the south of the Yangtze River." Mr. Lao She praised the beauty of Red Mountain when he traveled to Chifeng in 1961. Located at the foot of the Red Mountain, the Hongshan Cultural Museum attracts visitors to stop and watch from time to time with precious Hongshan jade, vivid archaeological excavation photos, and concise and rich texts.

The Yangtze River gave birth to the Liangzhu culture, the Yellow River gave birth to the Yangshao culture, and the West Liaohe River gave birth to the Hongshan culture, all of which are in the Neolithic Age, and they are all one of the "starry skies" of Chinese civilization. Millions of years ago, in the western part of the northeast region of the mainland, between the Daxinganling Mountains and the Yanshan Mountains, with the Xila Murong River and the Laoha River basin as the center, there was an area of 200,000 square kilometers, about five or six thousand years ago, and the Hongshan culture lasted for 1,500 years. In 1954, archaeologist Yin Da officially named the "Hongshan Culture" in the book "Chinese Neolithic Age". The most important discovery of the Hongshan culture is the large-scale Niuheliang sacrificial center composed of the goddess temple, altar and stone mounds, which is known as the "common ancestor of the Chinese nation". Archaeologist Su Bingqi believes that "the Chinese nation is a melting pot". Among the many named cultural sequences, the Hongshan culture is unique. When civilizations from different regions enter this melting pot, they carry their own cultural characteristics with them, constantly discarding and innovating, forming a broad and profound Chinese culture that embraces all rivers.

The Chifeng Museum exhibits aerial photographs of the Xinglongwa site dating back about 8,000 years. The site is the first prehistoric Chinese ancestor settlement in China that has been unearthed through comprehensive archaeological excavations in the northeast of the mainland and the eastern part of Inner Mongolia, and is currently the first prehistoric Chinese ancestor settlement in China that shows all the residential sites such as house sites, cellars, and tombs, and is called "the first village in China" by the academic community. In 2012, the Ao Han Dry Farming System was listed as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage (GIAHS) by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the world's first Dry Farming Agricultural Heritage System, and Chifeng Ao Han was also known as the "Hometown of the World's Millets". More than 1,500 blackened millet and millet carbonized granules have been excavated at the site, which is believed to be the world's oldest artificially cultivated grain. It is precisely because of the abundance of Hesheng in the past 10,000 years that the Chinese nation has been endless, and the Chinese civilization has a long history. During the Hongshan cultural period of 5,000-6,000 years ago, it became the birthplace of ancient civilization. The landmark artifact of Hongshan culture, the large jasper dragon unearthed in the three-star tala of Wengniute Banner, belongs to the earliest dragon-shaped artifact in the land of China, and is known as "the first dragon in China". Archaeological discoveries such as "the first village in China" and "the first dragon in China" have eloquently demonstrated that the Chinese nation has been a community since ancient times. As a whole, the Hongshan Cultural Site comprehensively displays the unique cultural outlook and outstanding achievements of the northern region in the process of the origin of Chinese civilization from the perspectives of settlements, sacrifices, tombs, and unearthed artifacts, and witnesses the civilization exchanges between different regions of Chinese civilization with physical remains, which is an important symbol of the formation of Chinese civilization.

A typical example of the convergence of ancient cultures

Cultural relics are not only the carriers of history and culture, but also the living teaching materials for the education of the historical outlook of the Chinese nation. The "Liao porcelain" exhibited in the Chifeng Museum inherits the traditional technique of "Tang Sancai" and has its own characteristics, which is called "Liao Sancai". The black color red pottery cylindrical jar unearthed in the territory of the Alukorqin Banner has a black pattern painted on the red pottery body, a diamond-shaped checkered pattern from Central Asia, a rose pattern of Yangshao culture in the Yellow River Basin, and a dragon scale pattern created by absorbing the painted pottery technique of Yangshao culture. Su Bingqi once commented, "This is a typical example of the exchange and convergence of several vigorous ancient cultures in the east and west of Asia and the north and south of China 5,000 years ago."

The Hongshan culture and the Yangshao culture in the Central Plains, the grassland culture in the west, the Dawenkou culture and the Liangzhu culture in the southeast all have cultural exchanges, and they have frequent contacts and burst out of the "spark" of civilization. It is manifested as the coexistence of the "zigzag" pattern sand filling cylindrical jar with the characteristics of the ancient culture of Northeast China and the clay red pottery and painted pottery with the characteristics of Yangshao culture, and the coexistence of fine stone tools representing the nomadic economy of fishing, hunting and herding and polished stone tools representing the agricultural economy. Hongshan faience ornamentation has been constantly absorbing foreign culture, spitting out the old and absorbing the new. The painted pottery of Hongshan culture not only absorbs the factors of the painted pottery of the Yellow River Basin, but also maintains its own characteristics, which shows that the Hongshan culture is mainly developed by inheriting the local culture and absorbing the advanced culture of the surrounding area.

From the unearthed stone tools, it can be seen that the scale of agricultural production during the Hongshan culture period has developed to a fairly high level. The reasons are: first, under the strong influence of Yangshao culture in the Central Plains, the advanced agricultural technology of the Central Plains was brought to the western Liaoning region; second, the massive population growth forced the Hongshan ancestors to seek a more stable and more productive mode of economic activities; third, the Hongshan ancestors lived in an era of great warm climate, which was suitable for the development of primitive agriculture, and many factors promoted the rapid development of agricultural economy in the Hongshan cultural period. On the gentle platform in the northeast of Weijiawopu Village, Wenzhong Town, Hongshan District, Chifeng City, archaeologists also found a large number of fish bones and a small number of large freshwater mussel bones. From these relics, it can be known that the Hongshan culture has gone through more than 1,000 years, and the economic type also reflects the appearance of inheriting the past and opening up the future, exchanging and learning from each other. In the early period, fishing and hunting accounted for a slightly larger proportion, and in the middle period, agriculture began to develop, and in the late period, agriculture and fishing and hunting were equally emphasized, thus forming a variety of livelihood modes of fishing, hunting and farming.

The Golden River Exhibition Hall of the Chifeng Museum exhibits the Qing Dynasty Gesar manuscripts and the contemporary Gesar Quanshu. "Gesar" is a heroic epic jointly created by the Mongolian, Tibetan and Han ethnic groups, which tells the heroic story of Gesar (Si) Er descending to the world to subdue demons and subduing demons, harmonious coexistence of various ethnic groups, and building a beautiful homeland. "Gesar" is also called "Gesar" in Inner Mongolia because of its different transliteration. Chifeng Bahrain Right Banner is an important birthplace of Mongolian Gessel and is known as the "hometown of Chinese Gessel". On May 20, 2006, Gesar was approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.

The soul of the country is transformed by culture and cast by culture. Using historical relics as a medium and walking through the corridor of history, we seem to be able to get a glimpse of the daily life of the ancestors of Hongshan. Their constant exchange and mutual learning of wisdom, spirit and culture is not only the "way to come" for the origin of Chinese civilization, but also the "way to go" for Chinese culture to be passed on from generation to generation. Hongshan culture condenses the common cultural psychology, and in the process of mutual exchanges and blending, it has jointly created the original "cultural identity" on the land of China 5,000 years ago, which has laid a solid foundation for the continuous and stable foundation of Chinese culture for the unity and spiritual dependence of all ethnic groups and the comprehensive construction of the common spiritual home of the Chinese nation.