Guangxi Zuojiang Huashan Rock Paintings Location
Recently, my country's Zuojiang Huashan Rock Paintings were officially selected into the World Cultural Heritage List. This is the first time that China's rock paintings have successfully applied for World Heritage. Rock paintings are the common mother tongue of mankind and a primitive art that existed in the Stone Age. The artistic images created by rock paintings express human emotions and subjective consciousness at that time. They are an artistic representation of human life at that time. They are also the history recorded on rocks. In some places, they are thousands of years earlier than written history. Even tens of thousands of years.
Guangxi Zuojiang Huashan rock paintings
China is one of the countries with the richest rock paintings in the world. The distribution of Chinese rock paintings is generally consistent with the traditional culture of various ethnic groups. According to the content and style of the rock paintings, as well as the cultural region in which it is located, it is roughly It can be divided into two systems: North and South. The southern rock paintings can be divided into southeast and southwest. Most of the northern and southeastern rock paintings are mainly carved, which also includes grinding, chiseling and line carving. Most of the southwestern rock paintings are painted with red pigments. The pigment is made of hematite mineral powder mixed with ox blood, etc., so that the rock paintings can maintain their color for thousands of years.
The rock paintings of the southwest system bring together traces of religious activities and farming life.
The rock paintings of the southwest system are mostly on cliffs along the rivers. The upper parts of the cliffs often protrude to form "rock buildings", which can not only avoid wind and rain, but also protect against sunlight. Direct shot. The southwest system of rock art is represented by Cangyuan rock art in Yunnan and Zuojiang rock art in Guangxi. The content of the expressions is mainly based on the activities of the characters, especially religious activities, and is also related to the local farming life. The painting method is rock painting, which is generally painted in red, which is consistent with the habitual use of red in primitive art.
Guangxi Zuojiang Huashan Rock Paintings
Guangxi Zuojiang Huashan Rock Paintings
On July 15, at the 40th World Heritage Conference held in Istanbul, Turkey, my country's Guangxi Zuojiang Huashan Rock Paintings were officially selected into the World Cultural Heritage List, becoming the 35th item in our country. World Cultural Heritage, the 49th World Heritage. The Huashan Rock Paintings are the representative of the Zuojiang Basin Rock Painting Group. They are also the largest, richest and best-preserved rock paintings discovered in China so far. With more than 2,600 images, it is the "largest rock art panel in the world."
Guangxi Zuojiang Huashan Rock Paintings
82% of the Huashan Rock Paintings are based on the theme of "squatting human figures". The style is highly unified and is original in the world. The rock paintings were painted about 2,000 years ago from the Warring States Period to the Eastern Han Dynasty. It vividly reflects the spiritual and social life of people at that time along the Zuojiang River. The bronze drum images and related elements in the Huashan rock paintings are directly related to the bronze drum culture of southern my country and have extraordinary historical and archaeological significance. In Guangxi, in addition to Zuojiang Huashan rock paintings, there are also rock art groups such as Fusui County rock paintings and Chongzuo County rock paintings.
Yunnan Jinshajiang Rock Painting Group
Yunnan Jinshajiang Rock Painting Group
Jinshajiang Rock Paintings are mainly distributed in various villages below Yulong County in Lijiang City, Yunnan. Professor Chen Zhaofu, a famous rock painting expert in my country, believes that Jinshajiang Rock Paintings are the most discovered in Yunnan so far. Ancient petroglyphs. Single colors, simple lines, life scenes of ancient humans thousands of years ago were vividly painted in the cliff caves beside the Jinsha River. Although it has been thousands of years, the human figures and animals in the paintings can still be vaguely distinguished.
Yunnan Cangyuan rock paintings
Yunnan Cangyuan rock paintings
Cangyuan rock paintings located in Yunnan Province are painted with pigments synthesized from hematite powder and animal blood. On the limestone cliff, which is about 2 to 10 meters above the ground, there are 1,063 identifiable images, including people, animals, houses, trees, the sun, etc. Most of them are hunting and gathering scenes, but there are also dances, wars and other content. Cangyuan rock paintings have a history of more than 3,000 years. They use silhouette-style outline painting to depict characters. The painting techniques are simple and rough, and the shapes are naive and simple. They have been listed as key protected cultural relics in Yunnan Province.
Guizhou Huama Cliff Rock Painting Group
Guizhou Huama Cliff Rock Painting Group
Huama Cliff is a group of rock paintings located on the top of Pingzhai Village, Gaozhai Miao Buyi Township, Guizhou Province Kaiyang County, with ocher red pigments. Drawn on the thin rock surface of the cliff, the content of the painting not only includes the sun and stars, horses in different postures, and dancing figures, but also fish, dragons, tigers, dogs, cranes, and even more strangely. The stilt-style house frame and some weird and mysterious graphic symbols are called "Horse Painting Cliff" by the locals because there are many patterns similar to horses. However, the origin of these magical patterns is still a mystery.
The rock paintings of the southeastern coastal system bring together traces of farming civilization and maritime activities.
The rock paintings of the southeastern coastal system mainly reflect events related to human farming activities and maritime activities. Mainly abstract patterns, among which "cup-shaped", "concentric gardens", "crouching" figures and abstract linear symbols are common to these rock painting points, and most of them adopt chiseling techniques.
Jiangsu Jiangjun Cliff Rock Paintings
Jiangsu Jiangjun Cliff Rock Paintings
Located in Jiangsu Province, the Jiangjun Cliff Rock Paintings are 22.1 meters long from north to south and 15 meters wide from east to west. They are the first rock paintings discovered in the southeastern coastal areas. The content reflects the primitive ancestors' views on the land, the creator god and the celestial body. It is the earliest stone carving picture that reflects the social life of agricultural tribes discovered in China. In the middle and late Neolithic Age, about 4,000 years ago, there are 11 Neolithic sites including Erjian Village and Taohuajian Paleolithic Sites scattered around the mountain. Late era ruins. It is a national key cultural relic protection unit.
Xitang rock paintings, one of the Guyue rock art groups in Xianju, Zhejiang
On November 4, rock art research experts from all over the country inspected and demonstrated in Xianju, Zhejiang Province
The Xianju Guyue rock paintings are located in Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province Xianju County, carved for the ancient Yue ancestors during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The total area is 1,422.65 square meters. There are more than 220 patterns carved on the rock paintings such as snake shapes, bird shapes, bird head fish body shapes, horse shapes, sun shapes, human figures, hatchet shapes, hoe and rake shapes, and checkerboard shapes. , among which snake-shaped and rake-shaped patterns are commonly seen in various rock painting sites. In May 2013, the Xianju Guyue rock art group was included in the seventh batch of national key cultural relics protection units.
Wanshan Rock Sculptures in Taiwan
Wanshan Rock Paintings in Taiwan
Wanshan Rock Paintings in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. It has rich historical research value. The Wanshan Rock Sculpture Group is located in the traditional area of the Wanshan Society of the Rukai ethnic group in Maolin Township, Kaohsiung County. It was discovered by Gao Yerong under the leadership of the Wanshan people when he was studying the Rukai culture in 1978. In 1989, it was announced as a third-level historic site by the Ministry of the Interior. As of 2008, a total of fourteen rock sculptures have been discovered in the Wanshan Rock Sculpture Group. The clearest thing about these rock carvings is the turbine-shaped pattern. According to the ancestral legends of the Rukai and Paiwan people, they should represent the sun. There are also some dotted patterns and some lines that are not deeply carved, like an unfinished sketch of the composition.
The rock paintings of the northern system bring together traces of hunting, nomadism and war.
The rock paintings of the northern system, represented by the rock paintings of Yinshan Mountain in Inner Mongolia, mostly express hunting, nomadism, war, dance, etc. The graphics include domes, felt tents, wheels, vehicles and other utensils. , as well as gods, earth gods, ancestors, sun, moon and stars, original numbers, as well as handprints, footprints, animal hoofprints, etc.
Inner Mongolia Yinshan Rock Paintings
Inner Mongolia Yinshan Rock Paintings
The rock paintings located in a narrow strip of hundreds of kilometers in the Langshan area of Inner Mongolia are collectively called "Yinshan Rock Paintings". In the 5th century AD, the Yinshan rock paintings were discovered by geographer Li Daoyuan of the Northern Wei Dynasty and made the earliest record of them. A comprehensive investigation of rock paintings began in 1976. More than 10,000 rock paintings have been discovered, of which nearly a thousand have been photographed and copied.
These rock paintings are rich in content and draw from a wide range of materials. Generally speaking, the themes of the rock paintings are based on the hunting activities of nomadic peoples. Among them, the most numerous and most exquisitely carved ones are animal rock paintings. Secondly, the hunting scenes showing the social life of prehistoric peoples are the most gorgeous part of the entire rock art.There are also herding paintings that originated in the late Bronze Age and continued into the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. These grazing methods are still popular in the grasslands of Inner Mongolia today. In addition, there are also a certain proportion of rock paintings such as character dances, battle pictures, dome tents, human faces and hands, animal and animal hoof footprints, original numerals, star maps, and images of gods. They directly reflect the primitive peoples and tribes. ideology and social life. It can be said that this is a painting history of the northern nomads.
Inner Mongolia Mandela Mountain rock paintings
Inner Mongolia Mandela Mountain rock paintings
In 1985, after a preliminary survey by Alxa Cultural Relics Workstation, the ones discovered so far are mainly distributed in Mandela Mountain. Most of the Mandela Mountain rock paintings are carved on vertical walls, rock pans, boulders, and cliffs in the mountains. They are mainly carved and polished, and they are also painted with pigments. Rock paintings have a history of at least 6,000 years from the Neolithic Age, to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, to the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. Covering an area of about 18 square kilometers, the more than 6,000 rock paintings are very rich in content, most of which reflect pig hunting and animal husbandry life. In addition, there are scenes of battles, temples and chanting scenes that reflect religious life, dances, entertainments and juggling that reflect cultural life. They are all lifelike. It is a life story of ancient nomads interpreted with artistic images. In addition, Alxa rock paintings also include Suhaisai rock paintings and Yabulaishan Bubu rock paintings.
Inner Mongolia Zhuizhuishan rock paintings
Inner Mongolia Zhuizishan rock paintings
The Zhuizishan rock paintings located in Wuhai City, Inner Mongolia have a history of six to seven thousand years. There are two types of rock paintings on Zhuizhishan Mountain: the first type is rock paintings on gentle slopes of the mountain, namely Zhaoshaogou rock paintings; the second type is rock paintings on cliffs. Among them, the limestone slopes are mostly decorated with human faces and sun god patterns with different expressions. The rest of the rock paintings are mostly animal figures and figures of people on horseback, reflecting scenes such as sacrifices, hunting, migration, family gatherings, and dances. They are of great significance for studying the aesthetic concepts, religious beliefs and other ideologies of the ancient northern nomads.
Ningxia Helan Mountain Rock Paintings
Ningxia Helan Mountain Rock Paintings
Located in Helan Mountain in Ningxia, there are more than 20 remaining rock paintings. This is an art gallery for Chinese nomads. In ancient times, Helan Mountain was a place where northern ethnic minorities such as the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Turks, Uighurs, Tubo, and Dangxiang lived, hunted, and lived and multiplied. They carved scenes of production and life on the rocks of Helan Mountain to express their yearning and pursuit of a better life, and to reproduce their aesthetics, social customs and life interests at that time.
Xinjiang rock paintings
Xinjiang Habahe County Dogat cave painted rock paintings
Many, and the content is also extremely rich. In 2015, the Xinjiang Ancient Rock Art Dating International Collaborative Research and Expedition Team discovered airplane-shaped rock paintings during an inspection of the painted rock paintings in Duogat Cave in Habahe County, Xinjiang, and confirmed that the earliest rock paintings in the cave were about 10,000 years ago.
River Tibet Rocks
Tibetan Rock Paintings
The rock paintings in Tibet have the characteristics of both the northern system and the southern system. Its content mainly reflects the life of hunting and animal husbandry, which is similar to the northern system. However, due to its geographical location connected to southwest China, some works have the style of the southwest system of rock paintings. For example, many Tibetan rock paintings are painted and carved; some rock paintings are painted with red pigment. Therefore, Tibetan rock art is not only an extension of northern rock art, but also an important turning point in connecting with ancient southwestern rock art.
Archaeologists have discovered more than 40 rock art relics across Tibet in the past ten years, including nearly 60 locations and more than 300 groups of paintings. Most of these rock paintings are distributed on the northern and western Tibetan plateaus. From the pictures, the most reflected and clearest pictures can be identified, which are human life (hunting) and reproduction (reproduction), animal husbandry, war and martial arts, and nature worship.
Henan Juci Mountain Rock Paintings
Henan Juci Mountain Rock Paintings
There are more than 3,000 rock paintings in Yuzhou City, Henan Province.The graphics include rock painting symbols such as circles, squares, bars, and nets, as well as their arrangement and combination. They have special cultural meanings and distinctive features, and are closely related to the ancient culture of the Central Plains. Its age should be no later than the Middle Neolithic period 4000 years ago. All were discovered after 2009 and basically belong to the Southeastern Rock Painting Series. The discovery of these two rock paintings has filled the gap in archaeological discoveries of rock carvings and rock paintings in central my country, and also enriched the connotation of ancient culture in the Central Plains.
The distribution range and quantity of rock paintings in the north and south systems are very different. The northern system has the largest scope and the largest number; although the number of rock paintings in the southeastern coastal and southwest regions is not as high as that in the north, it can form its own system in both content and form.
Author: Wu Jianrong
Editor: Dabai
