Pioneers of Civilization 5,000 Years Ago: Jade Artifacts of Lingjiatan Culture

Address: Wenhua Hall, Palace Museum, Beijing The Lingjiatan Site is located in Lingjiatan Village, Tongzha Town, Hanshan County, Ma'anshan City, Anhui Province, and dates back 5,800 to 5,300 years. The first thing that catches the eye is the jade artifacts used for sacrificial rituals and divination, such as jade figurines, jade turtles, and jade sticks, as well as jade earrings, jade rings, and jade bracelets worn during divination. How are the earrings and jade rings of that time different from the earrings of today? The pursuit of beauty 5,000 years ago is exactly the same as it is today! One of the inspirations for the design of the medals for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics came from a double-ringed jade bi from Lingjiatan, which is a clever cultural export! The exhibition then introduces how the primitive ancestors of Lingjiatan not only farmed, raised animals, hunted, and fished, but also made various tableware, pottery tripods, pottery bowls, pottery dou, pottery cups, and so on, and they used spinning wheels to spin yarn and mastered relatively mature house-building techniques. This is the first time I've seen so many axes, battle-axes, adzes, and chisels made of jade, which were the main burial objects and symbolized power and status. Two tombs are highlighted: Tomb 87M4 and Tomb 07M23. Tomb 87M4 is inferred to be the tomb of a shaman with certain divine powers based on the jade artifacts buried with the deceased. When I saw the jade huang, I suddenly thought of the popular clavicle chain, and this accessory from more than 5,000 years ago seems simple and fashionable to me! The jade bracelet is also not much different from today's, and I was a little confused as I looked at it. Are you sure this was made more than 5,000 years ago? It's exquisite and fashionable! Tomb 07M23 is the "Tomb of the King" and is extremely rich in unearthed artifacts. There is also a video here that clearly shows how the primitive ancestors laid out the burial objects layer by layer. Finally, the Hongshan Culture, Liangzhu Culture, Xinglongwa Culture, and so on are introduced. Treasures from different eras and places are displayed: jade jue-shaped dragons, jade ancestral statues, two-section human face-patterned jade cong, jade bi, and so on. The discovery of Lingjiatan may have pushed the history of Chinese civilization back to 5,300 years ago, providing more critical information for the study of the origin and development of Chinese civilization! After watching the entire exhibition, I was very excited and somehow started humming a song: "People keep their manners and hearts calm, and the melodious guqin plays the heart of a gentleman. I am awake and waiting for the echo, hovering over the vast Chinese civilization! I write in honor of the past, the vast yellow land of the East, the ink in the mountains and rivers is wiped away, and only the rugged Chinese spirit is seen..."