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27-874: Pottery from the Majiayao culture (3300 to 2000 BC) has been found in Lintao. Until the 20th century, Lintao was known as Didao ( 狄道 ). The Battle of Didao was fought in the area in 255 CE, during the Three Kingdoms era. In the 8th century, an anonymous poet of the Tang dynasty places General Geshu Han and the Chinese army in Lintao, battling the Tibetans. Poet Li Bai reference Lintao in his poem, "Ballads of Four Seasons: Winter." Located at an important Tao River crossing, Didao City (i.e., today's Taoyang Town)

54-593: A continental climate, with hot summers and cool, dry winters. It sits between the arid steppes and deserts to the north and the forests of the Qingling mountains. Its natural vegetation would be a steppe-forest, but it has been transformed by human activity and is mostly agricultural. In Chinese mythology , the giant Kua Fu drained the Yellow River and the Wei River to quench his burning thirst as he pursued

81-667: A headwater of Manba River, a main tributary of the Tao River , which is the second-largest tributary of the Yellow River (behind the Wei River itself). The head of the Wei River proper — formed by confluence of the Qingyuan River with two small tributaries to its northwest — is less than 110 km (68 mi) from the Yellow River at Lanzhou , but due to the sharp north turn the Yellow River takes in Lanzhou to form

108-480: A right tributary of the Yellow River . It borders with Lanzhou in the northeast, with Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture in the west, and with other parts of Dingxi Prefecture-level City in the east and south. Lintao is known for its Huashutang candy (花酥糖) and Nuo opera . Lintao County is divided to 12 towns and 6 townships. The county seat of Lintao County is in Taoyang town. China National Highway 212 and

135-504: Is at Baidaogouping, Gansu . The manufacture of large amounts of painted pottery means there were professional craftspeople to produce it, which is taken to indicate increasing social complexity. Control over the production process and quality declined by the Banshan phase, potentially due to greater demand for pottery to use in funeral rituals, similar to what Hung Ling-yu calls the "modern Wal-Mart syndrome". Pottery style emerging from

162-478: The Lanhai Expressway (G75) cross the county from the north to the south, on its way from Lanzhou to south-eastern Gansu. A military airfield, Lintao Air Base , is located south of the county seat. This Gansu location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Majiayao culture The Majiayao culture was a group of neolithic communities who lived primarily in

189-619: The Ordos Loop , the Wei and the Yellow River do not meet for more than 2,000 km (1,200 mi) further along the Yellow River's course. After being joined by numerous other tributaries just east of the Weiyuan County town center , the Wei River turns slightly southeast until it reaches Wushan County , continuing east for 20 km (12 mi) before turning slightly southeast again at Gangu County and curves north of Tianshui ,

216-595: The Piora Oscillation . Wei River The Wei River ( Chinese : 渭 河 ; pinyin : Wèi Hé ; Wade–Giles : Wei Ho ) is a major river in west-central China's Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. It is the largest tributary of the Yellow River and very important in the early development of Chinese civilization . In ancient times, such as in the Records of the Grand Historian ,

243-583: The Yangshao culture spread to the Majiayao culture, and then further to Xinjiang and Central Asia. The Majiayao culture used a wide variety of symbols in its pottery, some of them abstract and geometric, including the well-known Neolithic symbol of the Swastika , some of them figurative, such as frontal and rather realistic anthropomorphic depictions , The Swastika symbol was particularly used during

270-534: The capital of China ) to the west via Baoji , Tianshui at the Wei's headwaters, Lanzhou , Dunhuang , and the Wushao Ling Mountain , before looping north of the Taklamakan on its way to Kashgar and the routes into Parthia . The Wei River Bridge (Weihe Qiao 渭河桥) featured in the design of the 5000-yuan note of the first series of the renminbi , dated 1953, and shows a train passing over

297-592: The "Gansu Yangshao" culture. This culture developed from the middle Yangshao (Miaodigou) phase, through an intermediate Shilingxia phase. The culture is often divided into three phases: Majiayao (3300–2500 BC), Banshan (2500–2300 BC) and Machang (2300–2000 BC). At the end of the 3rd millennium BC, the Qijia culture succeeded the Majiayao culture at sites in three main geographic zones: eastern Gansu, central Gansu, and western Gansu/eastern Qinghai. Majiayao phase (3300–2500 BC) sites are mostly found on terraces along:

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324-633: The Banshan phase is distinguished by curvilinear designs using both black and red paints. Machang-phase pottery is similar, but often not as carefully finished. Its development is associated with interaction between hunter-gatherers in the Qinghai region and the westward expansion of agricultural Yangshao people. In contrast to plain pottery, the Majiayao painted pottery was produced at large, centralised workshops. The largest Neolithic workshop found in China

351-594: The Hexi Corridor during the Majiayao culture period, although an alternative may be a route through the Eurasian grasslands and then through the Mongolian plateau circa 3500-2500 BCE. Scholars have come to the conclusion that the development of the Majiayao culture was highly related to climate changes. A group of scholars from Lanzhou University have researched climate changes during the Majiayao culture and

378-608: The Sun. The valley of the Wei was one of the early cradles of Chinese civilization, along which the capitals of the Zhou , Qin , Han , and Tang dynasties were situated. The area of Dingxi around its headwaters in Gansu has numerous Stone Age sites from various early cultures. The Wei Valley is likely the earliest center of Chinese civilization, and also the location of China's first major irrigation works. Some Chinese historians now believe

405-596: The Wei is the ancient Jiang River that gave its name to the families of Shennong and the Yan emperor , two Chinese legendary heroes credited with the early development of agriculture there. As "China's natural gateway" to the west, the headwaters of the Wei River are also notable in the development of the Northern Silk Road . The Chinese segment of the Northern Silk Road connected Chang'an (then

432-496: The Yellow River at Tongguan County near the tri-provincial boundary between Shaanxi, Shanxi and Henan provinces , with a series of major cities along its course including Tianshui , Baoji , Xianyang , Xi'an and Weinan . The source of the Wei River starts in the mountainous region in southern Weiyuan County (literally meaning "Wei's source"), Gansu province , with the westernmost headwater of its mainstem Qingyuan River (清源河) less than 1.6 km (0.99 mi) away from

459-714: The bridge. Construction of the Sanmenxia Dam in 1960 caused extensive sedimentation problems in the lower reaches of the Wei river. The construction of the Baojixia diversion works in 1972 and the creation of the Baojixia Irrigation District, with 128,000 hectares (490 sq mi) of cropland under irrigation have resulted in reduced flows. In September 2003 extensive rainfall led to flooding that caused over 30 fatalities, and temporarily displaced over 300,000 people. Ecological aspects of

486-492: The final Majiayao Machang period (2300-2000 BCE), and became a current symbol in Buddhism representing samsara . The symbols include net patterns, eight-angled star patterns, connected-shell patterns, petal patterns, vortex patterns etc... Many motifs were already known from the preceding Yangshao culture (5000-3000 BCE). Bronze technology was imported to China from the steppes. The oldest bronze object found in China

513-476: The results indicate that the climate was wet during 5830 to 4900 BP, which promoted the development of early and middle Majiayao culture in eastern Qinghai province. However, from 4900 to 4700 BP, the climate underwent droughts in this area, which may be responsible for the decline and eastward movement of prehistoric cultures during the period of transition from early-mid to late Majiayao culture. The transition from Yangshao to Majiayao coincides, climatically, with

540-543: The river was called Wei Shui ( 渭水 ; Wèishuǐ ; 'Wei water'). The total length of the Wei River is 818 km (508 mi), covering a drainage area of 135,000 km (52,000 sq mi). Some of the major tributaries include the Luo River , Jing River , Niutou River , Feng River and the Chishui River . In a direct line, it travels due east for 700 km (430 mi) before draining into

567-672: The second-largest city of Gansu. After picking up the Ji River (耤河, the urban river of Tianshui) east of the city, the Wei River enters the Mount Long and emerges to become the principal river in the Guanzhong Basin . It drains into the Yellow River south of the boundary between Dali County and Tongguan County , just as the Yellow River bends sharply east to enter the North China Plain . The Wei River valley has

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594-482: The upper Wei River valley; upper Bailong River valley; middle and lower Tao River and Daxia River valleys; upper Yellow River valley; the Huangshui River ; and lower Datong River . The most distinctive artifacts of the Majiayao culture are the painted pottery. During the Majiayao phase, potters decorated their wares with designs in black pigment featuring sweeping parallel lines and dots. Pottery of

621-420: The upper Yellow River region in eastern Gansu , eastern Qinghai and northern Sichuan , China. The culture existed from 3300 to 2000 BC. The Majiayao culture represents the first time that the upper Yellow River region was widely occupied by agricultural communities and it is famous for its painted pottery, which is regarded as a peak of pottery manufacturing at that time. The Majiayao culture benefited from

648-661: The warm and humid climatic conditions from the Late Glacial to the Middle Holocene, which led to flourishing agricultural production and rapid population growth. These conditions changed with the aridification of the Late Holocene, provoking material and cultural decline. The Majiayao culture may be associated with the expansion of early Sino-Tibetan peoples during the Neolithic. The archaeological site

675-736: Was a knife found at a Majiayao site in Dongxiang , Gansu, and dated to 2900–2740 BC. Further copper and bronze objects have been found at Machang-period sites in Gansu. Metallurgy spread to the middle and lower Yellow River region in the late 3rd millennium BC. Contacts between the Afanasievo culture and the Majiayao culture and the Qijia culture have been considered for the transmission of bronze technology. Domesticated cattle, sheep, and goats first appear in Western Asian circa 8000 BCE. Their introduction in China may have been through

702-573: Was an important trade center during the Northern Song dynasty (ca. 11–12th century), when the more northern route of the Silk Route was blocked by the Xi Xia state. It is known to have been home to hundreds of foreign merchants at the time, some of whom may have been the ancestors of today's Hui people of Gansu. The county is located mostly on the right (eastern) bank of the Tao River ,

729-527: Was first found in 1924 near the village of Majiayao in Lintao County , Gansu by Swedish archaeologist Johan Gunnar Andersson , who considered it part of the Yangshao culture . Following the work of Xia Nai , the founder of modern archaeology in the People's Republic of China, it has since been considered a distinct culture, named after the original site, whereas previously it had been referred to as

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