List of Neolithic cultures of China
This is a list of Neolithic cultures of China that have been unearthed by archaeologists. They are sorted in chronological order from earliest to latest and are followed by a schematic visualization of these cultures.
It would seem that the definition of Neolithic in China is undergoing changes. The discovery in 2012 of pottery about 20,000 years BC indicates that this measure alone can no longer be used to define the period. It will fall to the more difficult task of determining when cereal domestication started.
List
| Dates | English name | Chinese name | Modern-day name and location |
| 18000–7000 | Xianren Cave culture | Wannian County, Shangrao, Jiangxi | |
| 8500–7700 | Nanzhuangtou culture | Yellow River region in southern Hebei | |
| 7500–6100 | Pengtoushan culture | central Yangtze region in northwestern Hunan | |
| 7000–5000 | Peiligang culture | Yi-Luo river basin valley in Henan | |
| 6500–5500 | Houli culture | Shandong | |
| 6200–5400 | Xinglongwa culture | Inner Mongolia-Liaoning border | |
| 6000–5000 | Kuahuqiao culture | Zhejiang | |
| 6000–5500 | Cishan culture | southern Hebei | |
| 5800–5400 | Dadiwan culture | Gansu and western Shaanxi | |
| 5500–4800 | Xinle culture | lower Liao River on the Liaodong Peninsula | |
| 5400–4500 | Zhaobaogou culture | Luan River valley in Inner Mongolia and northern Hebei | |
| 5300–4100 | Beixin culture | Shandong | |
| 5000–4500 | Hemudu culture | Yuyao and Zhoushan, Zhejiang | |
| 5000–3000 | Daxi culture | Three Gorges region | |
| 5000–3000 | Majiabang culture | Lake Tai area and north of Hangzhou Bay | |
| 5000–3000 | Yangshao culture | Henan, Shaanxi, and Shanxi | |
| 4700–2900 | Hongshan culture | Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, and Hebei | |
| 4100–2600 | Dawenkou culture | Shandong, Anhui, Henan, and Jiangsu | |
| 3800–3300 | Songze culture | Lake Tai area | |
| 3400–2250 | Liangzhu culture | Yangtze River Delta | |
| 3100–2700 | Majiayao culture | upper Yellow River region in Gansu and Qinghai | |
| 3100–2700 | Qujialing culture | middle Yangtze region in Hubei and Hunan | |
| 3000–2000 | Longshan culture | central and lower Yellow River | |
| 2800–2000 | Baodun culture | Chengdu Plain | |
| 2500–2000 | Shijiahe culture | middle Yangtze region in Hubei | |
| 1900–1500 | Yueshi culture | lower Yellow River region in Shandong |
Schematic outline
These cultures are brought together schematically for the period 8500 to 1500 BC. Neolithic cultures remain unmarked and Bronze Age cultures are marked with *. There are many differences in opinion by dating these cultures, so the dates chosen here are tentative:For this schematic outline of its neolithic cultures China has been divided into the following nine parts:
- Northeast China: Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning.
- Northwest China : Gansu, Qinghai and western part of Shaanxi.
- North-central China : Shanxi, Hebei, western part of Henan and eastern part of Shaanxi.
- Eastern China : Shandong, Anhui, northern part of Jiangsu and eastern part Henan.
- East-south-eastern China : Zhejiang and biggest part of Jiangsu.
- South-central China : Hubei and northern part of Hunan.
- Sichuan and upper Yangtze.
- Southeast China: Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Guangxi, southern part of Hunan, lower Red River in the northern part of Vietnam and the island of Taiwan.
- Southwest China: Yunnan and Guizhou.