A painted ceramic basin with dancing figures of the Majiayao culture, unearthed at Qinghai Province Photo: Ren Guanhong/CSST

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Around 10,000 years ago, humanity underwent a significant shift from the Paleolithic Age, which was defined by hunting and gathering, to the Neolithic Age, which was characterized by the development of agriculture and animal husbandry. This transition was marked by the emergence of various agricultural centers, such as the Yangtze and Yellow River basins in China, the Tigris-Euphrates basin in West Asia, the Indus River basin in South Asia, and the Nile River basin in North Africa. 

The development of agriculture and animal husbandry represented a significant milestone in human history. The famous archaeologist Vere Gordon Childe referred to this as the “Neolithic Revolution” in his book Man Makes Himself. These agricultural centers all entered the civilized era around 5,000 years ago. Ancient China, Mesopotamia, ancient India, and ancient Egypt became the earliest civilizations with independent origins in the world. Childe referred to this second leap forward in human history as the “urban revolution.”

Plurality and Unity

Diverse geographical environments in different regions led to variations in agriculture and animal husbandry practices, which in turn gave rise to a wide range of distinct civilizations. The Yellow and Yangtze rivers in China roughly run west to east, with the Yangtze situated at a latitude of 30 degrees north and the Yellow close to 35 degrees north. Similar climate and soil conditions produced analogous crops, which in turn determined roughly the same production and lifestyles of the early Chinese, allowing them to settle the region relatively early. Although there were different cultural regions and civilizations [within China at that time], the differences between them were not significant. Thus, Chinese civilization featured a plural system in its early development stage, and naturally evolved into a “Plurality and Unity in the Configuration of the Chinese Nationality” pattern in the Xia (c. 21st–16th centuries BCE), Shang (c. 16th–11th centuries BCE), and Zhou (c. 1046–256 BCE) dynasties. The cultural connotations and forms of civilization in the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties can be traced to the same origin.

The civilizations centered around the Indus River basin, the Mesopotamia, and the Nile River basin collapsed after a period of growth and development. In contrast, the Chinese civilization has never been interrupted, thanks in large part to its agricultural and animal husbandry production areas centered around the Yellow and Yangtze rivers. These regions have been thriving for over 10,000 years, providing a stable foundation for the sustained development of Chinese civilization, which is unique in world civilizational history.

Chinese civilization became prosperous during the Spring and Autumn Period (770–476 BCE) and Warring States Period (475–221 BCE). After the Qin (221–207 BCE) and Han (206 BCE–220 CE) dynasties, Chinese culture underwent continuous changes. However, these changes were transformations and innovations of pre-Qin culture under different historical backgrounds. Although dynasties rose and fell, civilizational elements such as agriculture and animal husbandry, Taoism and Confucianism, kinship systems, and the national psyche were passed down and continued to develop.

Pre-history communications

Following three million years of development in the Paleolithic Age, humanity transitioned to the Neolithic Age approximately 10,000 years ago, driven by global climate changes that brought about warmer temperatures. Integrated studies in climatology, paleontology, and other disciplines indicate that between 80,000 and 10,000 years ago, global sea levels receded due to the impact of the Dali Glaciation [a glacial activity period named by Hermann Von Wissmann after he investigated the step-like landform at Cangshan Mountain at present-day Dali, Yunnan Province in the 1930s]. During this period, it is believed that the Bering Strait may have formed a land bridge known as the “Bering land bridge.” Many islands in present-day Philippines, Indonesia, and Australia may have connected to Chinese mainland. As the Paleolithic Age drew to a close, the climate grew warmer, creating more favorable conditions for plant and animal life to thrive. This abundance of resources led to a growth in population.

Perhaps under population pressure, ancestors of East Asian people are thought to have migrated to North America via the “Bering land bridge” from the Yellow River basin, crossing through Central America and eventually reaching South America. Similarly, early inhabitants of the Yangtze River region may have migrated southeastward to the Philippines and Indonesia, even reaching as far as Australia and the other parts of Oceania. Based on animal bones found in caves and numerous rock paintings in places such as America and Oceania, archaeologists and paleontologists have inferred that the early East Asian people continued their hunting and gathering activities wherever they went, leaving traces of their ancient culture.

In the Neolithic Age, about 9,000 years ago, the “Bering land bridge” became submerged due to rising sea levels, while landmasses in Southeast Asia and Oceania were fragmented by seawater. Despite these changes, the cultural legacy of the late Paleolithic Age continued to exert an influence on production and lifestyle in the Pacific Rim region, giving rise to unique cultures and civilizations. The famous Chinese archaeologist Li Ji proposed that ancient Chinese culture represents a primitive culture that was widely spread along the Pacific coast. K. C. Chang believed that Chinese and Maya civilizations share a common ancestry, albeit from different locations and time periods. He referred to this shared cultural heritage as the “the Mayan-Chinese Culture Continuum,” the geographical scope of which covers the entire Old World and the New World. 

The bronze cultural belt 

China entered the Bronze Age during the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, lasting for over 1,000 years. At the same time, civilizations in the Indus River basin, Mesopotamia, and the Nile River basin also entered the Bronze Age. While the Chinese civilization continued to progress along its own trajectory, the other three civilizations experienced violent turmoil and even collapse.

During the Bronze Age, Chinese culture spread westward from the “Crescent-Shaped Cultural-Communication Belt” [stretching from Northeast China and Korea along the Tibetan borderlands all the way to Yunnan in southwest China], a notion proposed by the archaeologist Tong Enzheng. In the southwestern end of this cultural belt, a mountainous belt of bronze culture connecting South Asia, West Asia, and North Africa formed. This belt started in Sichuan, passing through the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau, the mountainous regions of Myanmar and Bangladesh, the Indus River Valley, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, finally arriving at the Tigris and Euphrates River Valleys in Western Asia. It also stretched to the Nile River civilization in North Africa via the Sinai Peninsula. The colored pottery found at the Harappa Site and the archaeological ruins at Moenjodarothe on the Indus River basin, dating back about 5,000 years, resembles the Majiayao colored pottery unearthed in Gansu, Qinghai in northwest China. Such resemblances are believed to be due to long-distance communications through this bronze cultural belt.

At the time of the Shang and Zhou dynasties, Chinese silk appeared in Thebes, Egypt, while the bronze vessels unearthed at China’s Sanxingdui share similarities with the Eye of Horus, the scepter of Thutmose III, and Tutankhamun’s golden mask of ancient Egyptian civilization. These cultural elements may also be the evidence of inter-cultural communication along the bronze cultural belt.

From the northwest end of the cultural belt, through the Hexi Corridor in Gansu and the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang, another bronze cultural belt connected the northwest of China with the Eurasian steppe. The Oxus Civilization, Sintashta culture, and Andronovo culture at the Amu Darya basin in Central Asia are all located along this belt. The colored pottery originating from China’s Central Plain spread to Central Asia, West Asia, and Europe through this belt. The spoked-wheel chariot and the prone burials found at China’s Yinxu site, dating to the late Shang Dynasty, were probably derived from the Sintashta and Andronovo cultures via this belt.

Archaeologists have discovered noble tombs dating to the 5th century BCE around the Altay Mountains. Among them, distinctive silk textiles with phoenix-shaped embroideries, four-wheeled chariots, images of sacred trees, and even a Qin-style bronze mirror were discovered from the Tomb No.5 of the Pazyryk culture [a Saka nomadic Iron Age archaeological culture (6th to 3rd centuries BCE) in the Siberian permafrost, the Altay Mountains, Kazakhstan and nearby Mongolia]. Scholars believe that these embroidered silk fabrics and four-wheeled chariots may have been from the Central Plain, the sacred tree may have been influenced by the Sanxingdui culture in Sichuan, and the Qin-style bronze mirror was a typical product of the Guanzhong region in present-day central Shaanxi. 

The Chinese archaeologist Yan Wenming summed up the role of bronze culture in Xinjiang as a channel for cultural exchanges between the East and the West: In the early days, the Western bronze culture brought wheat, sheep, metallurgical technology, and later drove horses into Xinjiang, from which they spread eastward to Gansu and other places. Millet and painted pottery techniques from Gansu and other places in the East were also introduced to Xinjiang, and even spread as far as Central Asia. This mutual transmission later developed into the famous “Silk Road.”

From the Qin and Han dynasties to the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties, cultural exchanges between China and the outside world became more extensive, frequent, specific, and profound. During the Qin Dynasty, Xu Fu sailed to the Korean Peninsula and Japan [on the orders of Qin Shi Huang, the first Qin Emperor, in search of a medicine of perpetual youth and longevity, according to ancient texts and legends]. During the Han era, Zhang Qian traveled to the Western Regions [commissioned by Emperor Wu with the major goal of initiating transcontinental trade along the Silk Road]. During the Tang Dynasty (618–907), the Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang travelled to India to obtain Buddhist scriptures. In the Ming era, Zheng He, a diplomat under the Yongle emperor, sailed to Southeast Asia first, and then crossed the Indian Ocean to South Asia, West Asia, Africa, and other places. These examples are representative of China’s cultural exchanges with other countries around the world.

Jiang Linchang is a distinguished professor from the School of History and Culture at Shandong University.

Edited by REN GUANHONG