The Yellow River is the cradle of the Chinese nation and the mother river of China people.

The Yellow River civilization is one of the great ancient civilizations. The Yellow River civilization was formed on the basis of the splendid Neolithic culture in the whole Yellow River basin. The Yellow River Basin in Neolithic Age is divided into three interrelated and distinctive cultural areas according to the upper, middle and lower reaches.

Neolithic culture distributed in Gansu and Qinghai in the upper reaches of the Yellow River is characterized by exquisite and gorgeous painted pottery.

Among the famous rivers, the Yellow River is named after its color. The star springs in the Xinghai Sea converge into streams and rivers. In ancient times, people only called the Yellow River a river. The surging Yellow River passes through numerous canyons on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, goes straight down to the Lanzhou Basin at the western end of the Loess Plateau, goes north along the western edge of the Loess Plateau, turns northeast to Inner Mongolia, then turns sharply south, rushes across the Loess Plateau, and the river is yellow and swaying, hence the name Yellow River. The color of the Yellow River is given by the Loess Plateau.

In the piedmont area at the southern foot of the Loess Plateau, an east-west river alluvial area of 700 kilometers was formed, which was fertile and suitable for farming and became one of the most developed agricultural areas in ancient China.

Weihe River, the longest tributary of the Yellow River, is located at the southwest foot of the Loess Plateau, across Longdong and Guanzhong Plain. Weihe River is often flooded by mountain torrents, forming fertile alluvial soil on the south bank of Weihe River, which not only provides fertile soil for farming, but also provides pure and delicate high-quality clay. In this yellow pure land full of vigor and aura, the earliest painted pottery in China was born.

1979, in the excavation of the Neolithic site in Dadiwan, taian county, Gansu Province, a cultural relic containing painted pottery earlier than the Banpo type of Yangshao culture was discovered, which was called Dadiwan culture. Painted pottery of Dadiwan culture is made by layered deposition of clay pieces, and pottery is red pottery with fine sand. The temperature is not high, the texture is crisp, and the pottery is primitive. The pattern of painted pottery is very simple. Draw a circle of red wide-band lines outside the mouth edge of a round-bottomed bowl or a three-legged bowl, and also draw a circle of red narrow-band lines inside the mouth edge. This simple red broadband pattern, like Fu's paintings, cuts through the darkness of ignorance and chaos.

Some painted pottery bowls in Dadiwan culture are painted with unique red symbols, such as ‖, ×, ○, ●, ┆ ┊, ╮, ╮. Reference symbols appear on painted pottery of Dadiwan culture and continue to develop on painted pottery of Banpo and Majiayao culture, which provides valuable information for studying the origin and development of ancient Chinese characters in China.

The carbon dating of Dadiwan Phase I site is from 8 170 to 7370 years ago (revised). Therefore, the painted pottery of Dadiwan culture is the earliest known painted pottery in China. Hasuna culture in the two river basins was considered as the earliest ancient painted pottery culture in the world 8000 years ago. Dadiwan culture is the same age as Hasuna culture and one of the earliest ancient cultures with painted pottery in the world.

Banpo type, after Dadiwan culture, entered the period of rapid development of painted pottery. Banpo type is about 6000 years ago, mainly distributed in eastern Gansu and Guanzhong area. After long-term pottery production practice, pottery processing, pottery molding, pigment development, painting and other technologies have been greatly improved. Painted pottery is mostly pure fine clay red pottery. Large and medium-sized pottery is mainly made of clay strips and clay boards. Besides maroon, black is also used for painting. When drawing a blank and making a long line, use a ceramic wheel with faster rotation speed. All these provide technical conditions for Banpo painters to draw colorful pottery patterns with rich connotations.

The patterns of Banpo painted pottery in Gansu mainly include fish patterns and various fish and aquatic animals. These patterns run through the development of Banpo type, showing a series of processes from realistic natural patterns to schematic geometric patterns. Banpo clan people have a soft spot for fish patterns, which should be related to the totem worship of primitive juice society. The fish patterns on Banpo painted pottery are an atlas of Banpo clan fish totems.

About 5500 years ago, the Miaodigou type centered on the adjacent areas of Shaanxi, Henan and Shanxi had a wide spread and influence, reaching the central part of Gansu in the west. Gansu painted pottery in Miaodigou period has gradually shown regional characteristics, and the variant fish pattern has become the main painted pottery pattern. In the foundation of an early Miaodigou-style house in Dadiwan, Qin 'an County, a pair of variation fish-pattern painted pottery pots with a diameter of 5 1 cm were planted in the mountains. The shape of the vessel is regular, the thickness of the side wall of the pottery is uniform, and the lines depicting the fish body are more than one foot long, showing extremely high painting skills. This pair of variant fish-pattern painted pottery pots is the masterpiece of early painted pottery pots.

Qin 'an Dadiwan also unearthed an early Miaodigou-shaped painted pottery bottle with a head mouth. A round sculptor's head is covered with neat short hair at the mouth, and there are small perforations in his ears, which are used to tie ornaments. The eyes and mouth were carved into holes, and only a small mouth was opened at the top of the bottle. Therefore, this kind of painted pottery bottle with a head-shaped mouth is not a daily practical vessel, but may be an object used for primitive religious sacrifice. People's heads have correct facial features and can accurately grasp the appropriate turning relationship, which is a masterpiece of primitive social sculpture.

More than 5000 years ago, painted pottery in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River began to decline. Located in the upper reaches of Weihe River, Gansu Province, in the western Han River and Bailong River basin, after Miaodigou type, Shilingxia type appeared, and painted pottery art further developed.

Among the patterns of painted pottery under Shiling Gorge, the variation fish pattern has disappeared and replaced by amphibian pattern. The most common patterns are the giant fish pattern and its variant patterns, and most people decorate the abdomen of painted pottery bottles in the form of individual patterns. The giant fish, commonly known as the giant salamander, was called bighead in ancient times. This kind of animal with some similar characteristics to human beings is easily regarded as a sacred object by clan people, so the giant fish pattern is gradually deified. The patterns of early giant fish are more realistic. The painted pottery bottle with the pattern of the giant fish in the late Miaodigou unearthed in Xiping, Gangu County shows that the head of the giant fish looks like a human face, and the pattern like a beard is drawn in a straight line. Only a pair of upper limbs and four fingers are drawn, which is equal to the four fingers of the upper limbs of the giant fish. There are also reticulate patterns on the strips, and the fish patterns on painted pottery often indicate scales with reticulate patterns. Therefore, this personalized giant fish pattern has a special meaning, and some experts think it is the embryonic form of Fu.

The giant fish pattern on the painted pottery bottle unearthed in Fujiamen, Wushan County has been further deified, with eight limbs and a crescent-shaped body.

The giant fish pattern on the painted pottery in the late period of Shiling is gradually abstracted. The head and claws disappeared, leaving only a pair of crescent-shaped bodies, which were arranged symmetrically. Finally, the giant fish pattern is condensed into the emblem pattern.

There are many geometric patterns in the painted pottery under Shiling, which are composed of uniform arc stripes, enriching the composition style of the patterns. The artistic features of painted pottery under Shiling have been fully developed in Majiayao culture, which ushered in a prosperous period of painted pottery art.

South-central Gansu is the central area of Majiayao culture and the intersection of the Yellow River system and the Yangtze River system. The Yellow River culture and the Yangtze River culture in the late Neolithic period in northwest China meet here, and the colorful and exquisite painted pottery art of Majiayao culture is the spark of the collision between the two river systems in the late Neolithic period.

Majiayao culture can be divided into three types: Majiayao, Intermediate and Machang. A series of carbon ages were determined on Majiayao site, ranging from 5230 years ago to 4850 years ago. The main types of Majiayao are inherited from Miaodigou type and Shilingxia type in the Yellow River valley, and its painted pottery shapes are mainly pots, bowls and other utensils. However, the decorative art of painted pottery pots, bowls and bowls in Majiayao has been further developed, and more and more internal color patterns have appeared, from simple to complex. In the early days of Majiayao, theme patterns were often decorated in circles at the bottom of pots and bowls. In the late painted pottery basin, the round bottom in the bowl is integrated with the patterns around the abdomen to form a unified and diverse pattern.

As a vase for holding water, it is one of the main shapes of painted pottery in Zoumajiayao. It is a flat-bottomed vase, which is developed from the temple ditch type and the stone ridge gorge type. Because of the need to increase the capacity of water, the bottle has become wider. In order to concentrate the water flow when pouring water, the neck becomes short and straight, from bottle to pot. The abdomen of the early Majiayao painted pottery bottle was cylindrical or oval. Because of its long shape, the abdomen was often decorated with horizontal multi-layered flower bands. The painted pottery bottles and cans in the late Majiayao period have a wide abdomen and obvious turning points in the upper abdomen and lower abdomen, so different patterns are arranged according to the neck, upper abdomen and lower abdomen. The conspicuous upper abdomen is decorated with a theme pattern, the adducted lower abdomen is decorated with a secondary pattern, and the neck is only decorated with an accessory pattern. With the change of the shape of painted pottery vessels, the pattern layout also changes.

Majiayao painted pottery is also influenced by Neolithic culture in the Yangtze River basin. In the Daxi cultural site of Yangjiawan, Yichang City, Hubei Province, a red pottery three-in-one cup with a perforated ring seat was unearthed, which is basically the same as the painted pottery three-in-one cup or the double-in-one cup with a perforated ring seat unearthed in Majiayao, Zhouqu and Wudu in Bailongjiang Valley, Gansu Province. Painted pottery modeling of Daxi culture is characterized by circle foot. In Majiayao painted pottery, there are a small number of round-legged beans and round-legged pots. These painted pottery shapes have not been found in the Yellow River basin before, and their origin should be traced back to Daxi culture. Painted pottery of Daxi culture is mainly composed of two continuous spiral patterns, and early painted pottery of Majiayao type also has similar spiral patterns. In Majiayao period, spiral pattern became one of the main patterns of painted pottery. Some fill their stomachs with large spiral patterns, like a large turbine that keeps spinning. Some are decorated on the belly of the bottle in the form of a square continuous spiral pattern, just like a whirlpool covered with water. On the upper abdomen of the painted pottery pot, there are two continuous spiral patterns, and the center of the circular spiral is filled with patterns such as cross patterns and net patterns. In painted pottery pots and bowls, different patterns of spiral patterns are decorated, and the spiral pattern composed of four spiral hearts is suitable for round utensils; Some spirals with the center of blood vessel bottom as the rotation center are combined with two continuous spirals on the inner wall of abdomen to form a complex spiral.

The spiral pattern of Majiayao painted pottery mostly adopts the method of point positioning. It can extend the pattern from all directions around the anchor point, thus occupying the space of the pattern most freely, breaking through the rigid box and symmetrical pattern format. This is an ethereal and imaginative pattern positioning method.

The painted pottery of Majiayao type has entered the exquisite artistic realm, and its elegant shape, exquisite patterns, changeable patterns and excellent techniques are unprecedented. Like a river flowing out of a canyon, it has a flying momentum and is full of surging passion.

The Mid-mountain type was found in the ruins of the Mid-mountain area on the west bank of Taohe River in Guanghe County, Gansu Province, hence the name. The intermediate level can be divided into early, middle and late stages. Painted pottery in early Mid-levels is closely related to painted pottery in late Majiayao. Painted pottery unearthed in Lanzhou is particularly exquisite. Lanzhou is located on the western edge of the Loess Plateau, and it is also the place with the deepest loess in the world. Clay is pure and delicate. The Yellow River passes through the city, and the platforms on both sides of the Yellow River and its tributaries are covered with Neolithic sites. The painted pottery of mountain soil in the ruins of the Mid-Levels, such as Huazhaizi in Lanzhou, is a representative work of painted pottery in the early Mid-Levels. Gourd-shaped reticulated painted pottery pot is a typical ware of painted pottery in early Mid-levels. The waist-tied gourd-shaped reticulated pot goes straight down the ampulla like a side-by-side screen.

Pots and cans are the main shapes of painted pottery in the mid-Mid-Levels. In order to increase the storage capacity, the vessels are full and almost spherical. The bottom is relatively small, and the diameter of the bottom is generally from l 2 cm to 14 cm, which is similar to the diameter of a human head. Therefore, when handling such pots and pans, they may be placed on the top of the head.

The decorative patterns on the round abdomen of painted pottery pots are mostly continuous patterns, with the widest part of the abdomen as the dividing line, and the main flowers are decorated on the upper abdomen. From different angles, looking up and down can form a perfect picture.

Intermediate painted pottery patterns pursue rich and exquisite artistic styles. Various patterns are often composed of composite patterns of black sawtooth bands and red bands. Among the painted pottery patterns in the Mid-levels, geometric patterns account for the majority, because some concrete patterns before the Mid-levels have evolved into abstract geometric patterns after long-term development. Among them, the number of spiral patterns is the largest, and among the painted pottery patterns in the middle of the Mid-Levels, spiral patterns account for almost half. On both sides of the lower abdomen of painted pottery pots, a pair of left and right symmetrical circles are used as the rotation centers, and the rotation centers are connected into two continuous spirals by curves, and a plurality of groups of spirals are juxtaposed along the upper and lower sides of the spirals, which further enhances the sense of rotation and is magnificent.

In the late Mid-levels painted pottery pots, the spiral center gradually increased, and the spiral center was also decorated with patterns such as net pattern, cross dot and round wheel pattern. Some spin lines connecting the spin centers become pattern bands. The people of Mid-Levels tribe live by the swift river, and the swift river solidifies into the spiral pattern of painted pottery, which is a high generalization of the swift river.

From the late four-circle spiral type of intermediate type to the four-circle spiral type of Machang type, only the spiral connecting four circles is broken, which shows that Machang type is the continuation and development of intermediate type. Four ring patterns have become the representative patterns on the painted pottery pot of Machang style. The most common patterns in the circle are reticulate and plaid, and the patterns filled in the circle are rich in colors, forming a large-scale exhibition of circular patterns.

There are a few limb joints or limb claw patterns in the ring patterns of Machang-style painted pottery pots, which can be interpreted through the disintegration of these feet and gods. The patterns of gods and men on painted pottery began in the Mid-levels and ended in the late Machang type, running through the Mid-levels and Machang types, and developed for five or six hundred years. The tattoo of the man of God was once called frog tattoo, but it was named after the shape of the tattoo of the man of God when it developed to a certain stage. The budding period of the tattoo of God Man is in the early and middle period of Mid-levels. In this period, the tattoos of gods and men were mostly whole bodies, which were close to the real image of people, but they were represented by circles, and no specific five senses were drawn. The pattern of God-man became mature in the middle and late period, and the pattern of God-man became complicated, resulting in a combined pattern of God-man. There is also a variant of the tattoo of the man of God, which only reveals the upper body of the man of God and omits the lower limbs.

In the early and middle period of Machang style, the pattern of God-Man was in a variant period, and various variants appeared, which became the main painted pottery pattern of Machang style. Some of them omitted their heads, some even omitted their bodies, leaving only rotting fingerprints on their limbs and claws; Some are simplified to two limbs and one claw; Some become spiral limb claw lines.

At the end of Machang style, the pattern of God-man entered a period of decline. The number of continuous limb claw lines increases, and finally it is simplified into a triangular broken line, leaving only claws and fingers at the joints. Some become cross-shaped or swastika patterns with claws and fingers at four ends. The limb claw pattern of these variants has become a kind of emblem pattern.

With the development of various economies, there are more and more shapes of painted pottery in Machang, and many novel and unique shapes have appeared. Accordingly, some new patterns have emerged. For example, some Machang-style painted pottery becomes straight, and the patterns are mainly straight lines. For example, the abdominal wall of the tubular painted pottery cup is relatively straight, and there are often dozens to hundreds of vertical lines and horizontal lines on the belly of the rod, forming a zigzag net pattern, and drawing it carefully and neatly.

More than 4000 years ago, horse training began earlier in the upper reaches of the Yellow River. At the same time, the northern grassland culture spread rapidly to the south, and the Machang style, which was dominated by agricultural economy, was impacted by nomadic economy and soon declined. With the development of painted pottery, it became simple and extensive, and Gansu painted pottery gradually turned from prosperity to decline.

Qijia culture, about 4000 years ago, mainly distributed in Gansu, northeastern Qinghai and southern Ningxia, located at the junction of northern grassland culture and agricultural culture in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, so the connotation of Qijia culture is very rich and complex. The pottery-making technology of Qijia culture is influenced by the Longshan culture in the East, which is characterized by exquisite pottery and exquisite modeling, with few painted pottery, but mainly plain pottery.

Taohe River Basin in central Gansu is the center of Qijia culture, and the painted pottery of Qijia culture in this area has its own distinctive characteristics. Among them, the painted pottery unearthed in Qijiaping, where Qijiaping culture was found, is representative. The most distinctive shape of painted pottery is a sand pot with a round bottom of shoulders and ears, and the top is often painted with a red nested triangle pattern, which may imitate the texture pattern of a straw basket. The painted pottery jar with wide ears and high collar for two people is also a characteristic painted pottery shape of Qijia culture, and is decorated with red triangle double lines or steel lines.

Qijia culture has produced a variety of small and medium-sized bronzes, among which there are a large number of bronzes, which means that copper-making technology will replace pottery-making technology, and the mountain of bronzes has now become an important factor in the decline of painted pottery.

Some ancient painted pottery cultures have been discovered in Gansu, such as the vegetable garden culture distributed in Qin Changcheng and the Kaga culture along the Yellow River from Jishishan to Yuzhong. Their painted pottery has its own characteristics, but the decorative pattern of painted pottery is relatively simple.

Siba culture, distributed in the middle and two sections of Hexi Corridor, is an early bronze culture dominated by painted pottery. The carbon dating of Yumen Shaohuogou, Minle Donghuishan and Siba cultural sites is from 3890 to 3580 (corrected by tree rings). The painted pottery of Siba culture is small in shape, with four-ear pots and kettles, which are easy to carry. There are only various types of mono devices, most of which are drinking devices. Painted pottery has animal patterns such as dogs and deer. There are also painted pottery that combines animal modeling with painted patterns, such as a square cup with a sheep's head-shaped handle, an eagle-shaped pot and a three-legged dog cover Fang Ding. These characteristics of painted pottery of Siba culture reveal a strong animal husbandry life in mountainous areas.

Humanoid painted pottery is a unique style of Siba culture. Humorous facial expressions, bulging abdomen and vivid depiction of upturned boots show the naive and playful humor of Siba people.

Among the bronze cultural relics containing painted pottery in Gansu, Xindian culture lasted for a long time and was divided into Shanjiatou, Jujiachuan and Zhangjiazui. Its age is about equivalent to the Western Zhou Dynasty. Hehuang area is the center of Xindian culture. In the pre-Qin period, it was one of the main activity areas of Qiang people.

The painted pottery of Xindian culture is mainly mixed sand pottery. Painted pottery patterns are simple and sparse. Among the painted pottery patterns, the double hook curved pattern composed of wide band patterns is the most common. The emblem pattern can be a variant pattern consisting of a pair of dog patterns. Dog patterns also appear in the form of separate patterns, indicating that dog patterns play an important role in the painted pottery patterns of Xindian culture. The animal patterns of Xindian cultural painted pottery include waterfowl with long neck and short tail, lizard climbing up, deer with big horns and thin waist, etc. The nude pattern of the dog's head is particularly strange, which reflects the worship of the dog god. The shining sun and moon patterns are also painted pottery patterns with distinctive cultural characteristics in the new store. The colorful pottery patterns with distinctive cultural characteristics in these new stores exude the breath of grassland life.

Shajing culture is the latest ancient painted pottery culture in Gansu. A series of carbon dating of Shajing culture is from 3095 to 2630 years ago (corrected by tree rings), which is equivalent to the Western Zhou Dynasty to the mid-Spring and Autumn Period. The main shapes of painted pottery in Shajing culture are round-bottomed pots with sand and single-ear cylindrical pots, which are used for cooking and emulsion in nomadic life. Painted pottery patterns are painted in red, which are characterized by parallel and slender inverted triangular patterns, as well as geometric patterns such as mat patterns, triangular mesh patterns and diamond plaid patterns. These patterns are woven patterns, imitating the patterns of straw weavers. The painted pottery of Shajing culture full of nomadic style ended the painted pottery of Gansu.

Gansu, located in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, is one of the birthplaces of northern agriculture, and painted pottery rises with the development of agricultural settlement life. Gansu is also a region where painted pottery declined very late. It is one of the earliest areas where nomadic people in the north went south, and painted pottery was degraded by nomadic floating life. Gansu painted pottery has a long history and is developing continuously, with a time span of over 5,000 years. It has experienced the development stages of emergence, rise, prosperity and decline, which constitutes a complete history of painted pottery development.

Gansu painted pottery is a wonderful flower of the culture of the Yellow River far away. And it is famous for its variety, rich modeling, gorgeous patterns and exquisite patterns. It has become a dazzling treasure in the treasure house of ancient painted pottery art, and it is also the most important part of China traditional art sequence.