China officially sets civilisation age at 5800 years

The Chinese scholars on May 28, 2018 announced that the Chinese civilization was born 5800 years ago and got matured 3800 years ago.

The announcement was made at a State Council press conference by Guan Qiang, the Deputy Director of State Administration for Cultural Heritage.

The findings were made after 15 years of state-funded work.

Key Findings

• Guan Qiang explained that the first signs of civilisation emerged in areas around the Yellow, Yangtze and Western Liao rivers.

• Other parts of China developed equally advanced cultures some 5300 years ago.

• Around 3800 years ago, a more mature civilisation emerged in the central plains of the country and began to culturally influence the surrounding regions.

15 years of Study

• The findings are the result of a programme that was launched by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology in 2001 and ended in 2016.

• The research was led by experts from the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Peking University with leading archaeologists.

China is considered to be the oldest in the world dating back from antiquity to contemporary times. Till now, it had been widely assumed that the Chinese civilisation had more than 5000 years of history.