The Hongshan Neolithic Culture dating from 4500-2250 B.C. is one of the earliest and most advanced civilizations discovered. The Hongshan were mainly located in the land area between Inner Mongolia, and present day Liaoning and Hebei provinces (new evidence reveals possible settlements in the Yangtze River area).                                                                                                                                                                                                  

  The Hongshan were temple builders and city builders who created some of the earliest nephrite jade carvings. Their sophisticated Jade carving techniques employed technologies that exceeded simple explanations.  Many of the Hongshan Jade artifacts are well persevered due to the fact that Hongshan culture utilized slab burial tombs and because of the dry arid climate of Inner Mongolia. Perhaps the more famous known Hongshan Jade artifact is the Coiled Dragon Fetus. It has recently been discovered that the Hongshan possessed the knowledge of metallurgy and employed the use of copper (possible iron) metal tools to work their Jade masterpieces. Many Hongshan artifacts express the use of saw blades and drill instruments reflecting the fact that they were a highly technologically advanced civilization. Currently there is no known artifact evidence from other Neolithic cultures that show evidence of metal tools usage to shape jade during this very early period.

Chinese archaeologists have recently discovered a Hongshan pyramid-shaped building dating back more than 5,000 years in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, in north China. According to Guo Dashun, a renowned Chinese archaeologist, the "pyramid structure", located on a mountain ridge one kilometer north of Sijiazi Township in the Aohan Banner (county), is a three-storied stepped pyramid building that is 30 meters long and 15 meters wide. This discovery sheds light on the fact that these ancient people were one of the first known people to build pyramid structures.

These very early Neolithic Hongshan people were transient living in a region that falls between steppe and agricultural climate zones. In the middle period of Hongshan culture it becomes evident that a husbandry and agricultural based society emerges that leads to advancement in social structure.  Discovers from Hongshan burial sites show that they had class structure and interesting is the fact that they cultivated millet and did not grow rice. Animal husbandry appears to have been highly advanced with the domestication of pigs and ducks. There is existing Jade artifact evidence that points to the possibility that they were one of the earliest people to domestic the horse. Archeological evidence shows that with the emergence of social stratification and a ruling class a large handicraft industry of jade workers flourished.

Recent finds from a tomb at Niuheliang and two smaller mound tombs excavated in the same area were the discoveries of metal-casting technologies that were disclosed by small copper rings unearthed at these sites. The use of kilns to produce highly advanced painted and non painted pottery gave the Hongshan the power of intense heat to explore metallurgy. It is of the opinion of my Teacher Wong Tien Chung that these ancient people extracted iron ore/nickel alloys from meteorites to make ritual jade shaping tools.  

 Hongshan employed advanced jade shaping and carving tools that may have been made from meteorite iron. One fascinating study is the evidence of high content iron found in black jades used for ritual objects by the early Hongshan. Many of these artifacts are magnetic and express the possibility that the Hongshan were aware of magnetic earth forces. Another fascinating observation through the study of Hongshan jade artifacts is the abundance of "Alien" like motifs and figurines that are completely unexplainable as they are not found in other Neolithic Cultures. It is obvious from the study of Hongshan artifacts that a highly sophisticated knowledge of mathematics and Astronomy become evident.

The extensive employment of ritual jades in China by the Hongshan during its late prehistory must certainly demonstrate to the world of archeology that these people were not "Neolithic Age" but rather "Jade Age" people. More great discoveries wait under the earth of China. It is my teacher’s belief that the Hongshan were actually the Xinglongwa people who migrated into China from Mongolia when global weather conditions turned their rich forested world into desert. Recent discoveries reveal   that the Xinglongwa people had sophisticated jade carving techniques over 8,500 years ago!

The long lost historic trails of these great people who were called the Hongshan are waiting to be discovered. The greatest discoveries of the origins of human civilization await us in China.  Perhaps, it may be discovered that they are indeed descendents from a long lost advanced civilization. When you hold a Hongshan jade artifact in your hands and you marvel at its age and its message then you begin to understand of a thousand lifetimes.  

The fall of the Tang Dynasty  (681-907) and the disintegration of the Empire did not break China away from its past. The remnants of the Tang Dynasty’s ruling elite and civil service remained unaltered and continued the routine tasks of government with no serious disruption. With the emergence of the Five Dynasties from the ashes of the Tang Dynasty these smaller empires sought to reunify China and by 959 the later descendants of the Zhou had brought much of China back together under a single ruler. When Zhao Kuangyin seized power by a coup in Chenqiaoyi in 960 he was able to consolidate and extend his control in a restrained and methodical manner without causing social chaos. The Song Dynasty that he founded is historically divided into two periods. Firstly, the Northern Song when the capital was in Dongjing (present day Kaifeng City in Henna Province) from 960 to 1127. Secondly, the Southern Song, with their capital in present day Hangzhou from 1127 to 1279.
The founders of the Song Dynasty were centralists who built an effective centralized government bureaucracy staffed with civilian scholar-officials. The power of the regional military generals and governors were replaced by centrally appointed civilian officials that adhered to a strict code of conduct to prevent corruption. This centralized system of civilian rule gave a greater concentration of power to the Emperor who still ruled by the mandate of Heaven.

The Song Dynasty expanded trade and consolidated the Chinese control of the Silk Road whose trade had been disrupted by civil wars and barbarian conquest. Great cultural centers developed that became centers of trade, industry, and maritime commerce. The emergence of an influent class of  scholars, officials, shopkeepers, artisans, and merchants grew rapidly and fueled a new artistic renaissance for China. These privileged classes comprised of wealthy commoners, scholars and merchants flourished as did the arts. An emphasis on education and Confucian scholastic studies arose as printing and education spread, private trade grew, and a market economy shifted to the coastal provinces to the inland Empire.