Hongshan culture can date back to five or six thousands years ago. It is an agricultural civilization created by a tribe whose members lived in the north of Yanshan Mountain, between Dalinghe River and upstream of XiLiaohe River Basin. It was named after been first discovered on the outskirts of Hongshan sites in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
    Hongshan Culture which extends 200,000 square km centers Xilamulun river, Laoha River and Dalin river, the tributaries of Liao river.It can date back to five or six thousands years ago and last about two thousand years. During its beginning period, Hongshan culture was in its heyday of matriarchal society, whose key social structure is mainly composed by tribal groups linked by blood strain of women. Gradually it transited into the patriarchal society. The agriculture-based economy, integrates animal husbandry, fishing, and hunting as one. Its remains are made up of the unique painted pottery, “Z”-shaped pottery and microlith which owns features of Neolithic culture.
    Hongshan culture can trance its history to pre-4000BC to pre-3000BC. During that period, the residents mainly engaged in agriculture, they not only kept pig, cattle, sheep, and other domestic animals, but also hunted and fished, and the development of microlith are flurishing; there also appears the stone knife with two holes through the processes of grinding and forging, stone plow, shoulder-shaped stone hoe, stone-made millstone, stone frotton, stone bunt and so on. Pottery is different from others in seal press “Z”-shaped patterns and painted pottery. The category can range from can to pot, from urn to bottomless barrel. Painted pottery usually was decorated with running spiral design, triangular pattern, squame-shaped design and parallel-shaped pattern. The advanced structured kilns with two rooms connected with each other were also discovered in that period. The art of jade carving developed to a higher level. There are finished articles including jade crockery with the shape of the head of pig and the body of dragon, jade turtle, jade bird, quadruped-shaped jade, nubiform-shaped jade wearing, band-shaped utensil, rod-shaped jade and so on. The discovery of some relics of crucibles proved that copper smeltery had come into being. The sites are square crypts in which half of the crypt is under ground and half of it is on the ground. Some of these crypts are large and some of them are small. 
    Hongshan Culture was situated in West Liaohe River valley. It is an advanced civilization which was in the same period of Yangshao culture in the Central Plain. During its development, Hongshan culture communicates and exchanges with Yangshao culture in the Central Plain and northern grassland culture. It is a polynary culture which is full of vitality and creativity. The handicraft industry has reached a higher stage, meanwhile, the distinctive art of pottery decoration and the advanced art of jade-making begun to take shape. Most of painted pottery of hongshan culture was made of mud, and the colors were usually red and black. The pattern is very rich and varied, and the designs were simple and vivid. Jade articles were produced through the process of polishing. These articles are smooth, crystal, bright, charming, professional, systematic, and standardized. Up to now, more than 100 pieces jade articles of Hongshan culture have been unearthed. One of them is the “C”-shaped dragon unearthed in Hongshan Mountain (Red Mountain), Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia. The dragon’s whole body is curly, holding its mouth high; hair is dancing with Wind.
    Hongshan culture fully reflects the identity and meaning in Neolithic period in northern China. Later, the site of Zhu culture owning the similar characteristics of Hongshan culture was discovered in the vicinity of Chifeng. These two sites were collectively known as the Hongshan Culture. The sites that had been proved to belong to this culture were distributed in nearly 1000 places in the western region of Liaoning province. It is rich in content, which include a large number of vivid and unique jade items, such as pig, turtle, bird, cicada, and fish and so on. In 1970s, these jade articles were identified by archaeologists. At the same time, a good-sized jade dragon was also found at here.