Guo Dashun

Standing director of the Chinese Institute of Archaeology, former deputy director of the Liaoning Provincial Department of Culture

At the site in Niuheliang, the ruins of a goddess temple, altars, and stone mounds from 5,500 years ago suggest a grand hub for sacrificial ceremonies. It is the only prehistoric temple ruin to have been excavated in China to date.

The people of Hongshan Culture particularly favored jade. Sacred animals including dragons, phoenixes, tortoises, and silkworms, are depicted in many jade artifacts, demonstrating their role in communication with the deities. The reverence for jade can also be seen in later Confucianism, which made it a metaphor for many virtues.

Hongshan Culture was deeply rooted in the history and traditions of northeastern China, but it also absorbed cultural elements from elsewhere in a sign of its vitality.

This inclusive attitude toward neighboring cultures may have provided the impetus to form and pass on Chinese civilization from one generation to the next. Hongshan Culture, which is represented by Niuheliang, proves the continuity of Chinese civilization and is the root of ancient Chinese culture.