The head of the "Goddess of Hongshan",
which was found on November 2,1983 at the ruins of the Temple of
Goddess, is one of the most important parts of Niuheliang Hongshan
cultural heritage.
What is it like to look at a 120 million-year-old bird that has
fossilised where it laid to rest?
How does it feel to walk among 5,500-year-old remnants left
behind by ancient Chinese?
On a warm winter weekend I got my answers to these questions by
traveling to Chaoyang City, in the western part of Northeast
China's Liaoning Province.
After an hour-long drive along the State 101 highway from
downtown Chaoyang, I noticed piles of stones in the fields. "Here
we are," said Meng Zhaokai, deputy director of Liaoning Hongshan
Culture Research Institute. "This is one of the stone tombs of the
Hongshan people," he said.
Guarded with iron wire fences and no bigger than a football
playground, the site looked quiet with wild grass swaying in the
wind. In the stone tombs were piles of chipped rocks, either square
or round.
"It has remained the way it was 5,500 years ago," said Meng,
pointing at a group of red round rocks in the grass.
I knelt down and touched its rough surface. "What does it feel
like?" one of my friends asked. "A bit cold," I joked. But at that
moment I began to imagine that I might be touching the fingerprint
of an ancient man.
Li Kuan, one of the guards of the ruins,
likes to play erhu to pass his lonely hours.
Not far from the stone tombs stand the ruins of the Temple of
Goddess, where archeologists found the head of a "Goddess of
Hongshan" on November 2, 1983. The findings, which consist of
altars, a temple and tombs, startled the world.
Located on the border of Lingyuan and Jianping counties, the
Niuheliang Site belongs to the Neolithic Hongshan Culture, which
was created by tribes living in the west of the Liaohe River Valley
about 5,000-6,000 years ago.
The Hongshan Culture of the late Neolithic Age existed in
today's Southeastern Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, Western
Liaoning and Northern Hebei provinces. The
Chaoyang, an ancient city in western Liaoning
Province, is about a six-hour drive from Beijing on the
Beijing-Shenyang Highway.
Hongshan Culture was named in 1935 after the first site was
discovered in Chifeng City, in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
The Goddess Temple is an important part of this culture. It
consists of two groups of earthen and wooden constructions, with
painted walls exhibiting triangular geometric patterns in reddish
brown, interlaced with yellow and white.
Dozens of fragments of sculpted human busts and hands were
unearthed, including a life-sized head, red-painted faces, eyes,
hands, shoulders, legs and breasts, which were the earliest goddess
statues in China. A large number of animal statues, including jade
dragons, resemble pig and bird.
During the past two decades, Chinese archeologists have
excavated 16 sites around the 50-square-kilometer-Niuheliang
ruins.
According to Meng, the most startling discovery came in 2003: a
3.9 x 3.1-meter stone grave at the No. 16 Site the largest grave
ever found. The archeologists unearthed six tombs, collecting 470
relics in an area of 1,575 square meters, including a jade human
figurine, a phoenix and a dragon.
The jade articles were found well preserved in a stone
coffin.
One of two rice-size relics is enshrined
in this gold pagoda.
Experts say the well-preserved skeleton of a male, about 45-50
years old in hard granite, must have been a wealthy man of high
social status since he was buried with such fine artefacts.
"The discovery provides important clues into the study of burial
customs and religious and sacrificial rituals from 5,500 years
ago," Meng said.
As Meng explained the significance of the ruins, an elderly
farmer approached us. Meng introduced him as one of the two guards
protecting the No 2 Site.
"I have been a guard for six years at this site," said Li Kuan,
a 57-year-old farmer. Li added that he had been working a total of
20 years here switching between three sites.
He and his partner Dong Jingyu take turns every two days on
24-hour watch of the site.
They share a small house no bigger than 10 square meters at the
corner of the site.
Life is a bit boring.
A kang or a brick bed occupied half of the space, leaving a
little room for a table and a brick-made stove for both cooking and
heating.
There is no electricity and water. Li and his partner have to
share 20 candles every month and they have to carry water from the
river two kilometers away.
When he is alone Li enjoys playing erhu. "That can kill the time
during long winter nights since there is nobody to talk to," Li
said.
Li said there are guards on each of the 16 sites, most of who
are local farmers.
To protect the ruins, the local government removed three
state-owned iron mines, three factories and 30 private mines. More
than 10,000 villagers have moved to settle down away from the
reserve.
No wonder Li gets lonely.
(China Daily March 7, 2007)
