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Searching for the Origins of Human Life and Civilization (Part VI)

From this updated chart, let us first look at the section on the right. We can see that after the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan killed Chiyou, Chiyou’s people were hunted and forced to migrate rapidly south. One branch fled deep into the mountains and eventually became the Yi ethnic group. The Yi people have a writing system called *Yi script*, and this script can also be found on royal Hongshan jade artifacts.

Here is a large jade plaque carved from Xiuyan serpentine in Liaoning. It is about 60 cm tall. This script also appears on Sanxingdui bronzes. We refer to it as “ancient Yi script,” and it belonged to the royal aristocracy of the Hongshan period.

Because much of this information was restricted to the ruling class, this script was used primarily by Hongshan elites. Ordinary people and officials learned another writing system—Hongshan prehistoric script—which is considered the ancestor of oracle bone script.

Through prehistoric tool marks found on Hongshan jade, we can verify the authenticity of these artifacts. They provide rich information, such as the fact that people with Sanxingdui-like features already used bamboo-strip-like materials for learning or communication. Children of Hongshan royals were taught writing, showing that a writing system existed at the time.

Archaeologists discovered that the small holes on jade figures from Lingjiatan match the tool marks found on Hongshan jade figures from Liaoning. Jade artifacts at Lingjiatan feature Hongshan totemic forms, yet no Liangzhu totems are found there.

Liangzhu culture is known for its extremely complex and fine patterns. Careful study reveals tool marks such as “jump-cut,” “feather-cut,” “nested carving,” and “layered carving.” These marks are impossible to replicate even with modern technology. Their refined craftsmanship is far beyond what Lingjiatan could achieve, and thus they serve as authentic evidence of true Liangzhu artifacts.

Furthermore, some Liangzhu jade pieces contain combined carvings featuring both Hongshan’s Sun God and Liangzhu’s early emblems. Hongshan C-shaped dragons and early round-eyed humanoid figures also include Liangzhu symbols. Many Hongshan jade carvings made from Xiuyan jade display Liangzhu emblems, showing a direct cultural link between the two.

Here is a Sanxingdui mask that contains a Hongshan-style dragon and Liangzhu emblems—an artifact combining all three cultures.

Therefore, I can say that when human societies first developed royal authority, the people who looked like the so-called “Sanxingdui figures” were actually the most outstanding members of the ruling class. The royal clans of Shennong, the Flame Emperor, Fuxi, and Chiyou all shared this appearance.

Thus, the rulers of Hongshan were the prototype of the Sanxingdui appearance, and the so-called Liangzhu emblem originated as a royal Hongshan emblem.

When Chiyou’s people were hunted, many jade artifacts bearing Hongshan royal emblems were taken by one branch to Liangzhu near Hangzhou, while another warrior branch fled to Sichuan’s Sanxingdui. To avoid pursuit, they quickly buried many bronzes in a mound that later became known as Sanxingdui.

Later generations simply named cultures after excavation sites, creating countless “cultures” in modern archaeology.

In ancient times, royal hierarchy was strict. Commoners could not use dragon totems. Thus, the totems seen at Lingjiatan indicate that this group was not earlier than Liangzhu, but rather a lower-level branch of Hongshan commoners.

Liangzhu culture was a branch of Hongshan royalty that escaped to Hangzhou, while Lingjiatan simply happened to be another group that fled toward Liangzhu.

There are also Qijia culture, Longshan culture, and many other excavation-site-based cultures.

If we approach the subject from a higher perspective, the shared tool marks and totems between Liangzhu and Hongshan show their direct connection. Hongshan contains the earliest prehistoric humans, including figures with bent legs, predating fully upright humans. Thus Hongshan must be the ancestral source.

Liangzhu, on the other hand, has very few human figures and mostly abstract totems. When early forms of the Sun God appear in Liangzhu artifacts, this further supports that Hongshan already had upright humans and a system of royal rule.

Therefore, viewing Hongshan, Sanxingdui, and Liangzhu as the core royal civilizations of the origins of life and civilization is correct.

This “iron triangle” then branched into many more cultures, and these three civilizations deserve deep reflection and future research.