Chahai Site

Chahai Site

The Chahai Site is a national key cultural relics protection unit.

Chahai Site Museum Scenic Area

The Chahai Site Museum is located in Shala Town, Fumeng County. It is a national key cultural relics protection unit, established in 1992, and consists of four exhibition rooms and a panoramic painting hall. The Chahai Site covers a total area of 30,000 square meters and is an early Neolithic human settlement site, dating back 7,600 years. With tree-ring calibration, it exceeds 8,000 years, marking the transition of humans from a nomadic to a settled lifestyle and the beginning of village formation, hence known as the “First Village of China.” Between 1987 and 1994, within an area of 8,000 square meters, over a thousand artifacts including jade ware, stone tools, and pottery were unearthed, along with 55 semi-subterranean house foundations, 12 burial sites, and numerous storage pits and ash pits. Among them, jade artifacts such as the jade dagger are the earliest known genuine jade products in the world, hailed as the “World’s First Jade”; the dragon-patterned pottery fragments push back the history of the Chinese nation’s dragon totem worship by 3,000 years, earning the title “The First Dragon of China.” The renowned Chinese archaeologist Su Bingqi thus praised Fuxin as the “Hometown of Jade Dragons, Birthplace of Civilization.”

The Chahai Site is located in Fuxin Mongolian Autonomous County, northeastern Liaoning Province, China, approximately 25 kilometers from downtown Fuxin. It is currently the earliest Neolithic cultural site discovered in the northeastern region.

The Chahai Site covers an area of about 10,000 square meters. Since its discovery in 1982, seven archaeological excavations have been conducted, covering an area of 7,600 square meters. The site has revealed more than 30 semi-subterranean house foundations and five burial sites. The houses are arranged in rows running north-south or east-west, built on foundations carved from weathered rock, with the largest ones reaching up to 90 square meters. The site has also yielded a large number of pottery, stone, and jade artifacts, among which the relief dragon-patterned and toad-patterned pottery fragments are the most precious.

The Chahai Site dates back 7,000–8,000 years and is an important settlement site of the Xinglongwa Culture. The jade artifacts, house foundations, pottery, and dragon patterns found here reflect the progressive nature of social production relations at the time, providing important physical evidence for the study of the origins of Chinese civilization. (National Cultural Heritage Administration)

Shala Town: Shala Town is located 15 kilometers southeast of the county seat of Fuxin Mongolian Autonomous County. It borders Xinqiu District and Xihe District in the west, connects to Guanshan Breeding Farm and Daba Town in the east, and adjoins ZhaoShugou and Zhalanyingzi in the north. The town covers a land area of 224,000 mu, including 63,000 mu of arable land. There are 11 administrative villages, 84 residential groups, 5,008 households, and a total population of 18,000, of which 42% are ethnic Mongolians. The area is rich in water resources, with the Raoyang River flowing through it. There is one medium-sized reservoir, four ponds (Yiyingzi, Houtaogai, Chahai, and Shende), 20 square ponds, and a... Detailed information about Shala Town++

Further Reading:

· Fourth Batch of Cultural Relics Protection Units in Liaoning Province

· Fourth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units