Southern Culture and the Baiyue Dian-Yue Civilization

Author: Xu Zhifan / Xiao Minghua
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-01
Features: This book first introduces numerous significant archaeological inventions in southern China from the Stone Age to the early Western Han Dynasty, including stone age remains and early human fossils in various regions, the Wucheng Shang Dynasty site in Jiangxi and the "Bronze Kingdom" of Dayangzhou in Xin, the mysterious cliff burials of the ancient Yue people in Minjiang and Ganzhou, the world-famous Mawangdui Han tomb, the Han Dynasty city site on Mount Wuyi in Fujian, the Minyue ancient city at Xindian, the Nanyue King's tomb on Mount Xianggang in Guangzhou, and the ruins of the Nanyue Palace and Imperial Garden. These vividly showcase the profound and rich cultural heritage of southern China, helping people deepen their understanding of the historical process of the development of ancient southern civilizations.
Next, the book vividly presents the splendid and colorful early civilization of southern China through numerous archaeological remains and exquisite artifacts. In the early Paleolithic Age, human activities represented by Yuanmou Man began here. By the middle and late Paleolithic Age, human footprints had spread across the entire province. In the Yunnan region, Neolithic culture can be divided into two major systems: the Trapezoid Stone Culture and the Shouldered and Segmented Stone Culture, which include five types. During the Bronze Age, the residents of Yunnan included the Yue people known as Dian and Dianyue, the indigenous people called Kunming and Jun, and the Qiang people known as Bali. Together, they created a bronze culture with distinct local characteristics, which can be divided into two major systems based on the characteristics of Dian culture and Kunming culture, including six types. By the mid-Western Han Dynasty, Yunnan's bronze culture gradually merged into Han culture. Subsequently, it continued to develop and progress, eventually forming the diverse and distinctive modern Yunnan culture we see today.