Chinese civilisation is traditionally said to have originated in central China, by the Yellow River, when the first Xia Dynasty ruled the region around 4,000 years ago. But a separate, complex society may have originated around 2,400 years earlier in the north-east of the country and gradually spread south, a study has suggested. Until now the Hongshan culture had not been credited as being the source of Chinese civilisation because it was understood to have been a small, remote and self-contained culture miles away from the river. Chinese culture and civilisation is traditionally said to have originated by the Yellow River (pictured) when the first Xia Dynasty ruled the region, but new research suggests a complex civilisation not only originated around 2,400 years earlier, it may have been rooted across Inner Mongolia instead
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Studies have found Hongshan culture predates Xia Dynasty by 2,400 years
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Chinese culture is said to have originated in reaches of the Yellow River
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While Hongshan was believed to be a remote culture in north of the country
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But researchers found evidence Hongshan spread wider than first thought
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They also found evidence of rapid desertification in areas where they lived
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This could have forced them to migrate south, meaning they could have played a formative role in the development of Chinese civilisation
This would have made it an ideal environment for the @placeholder people to live.