SHA-CH'ING

Pinyin Shaqing, blade-tool culture that existed along the present region of the Great Wall in northwestern China as early as 5000 BC. The Sha-ch'ing remains were first uncovered by the Swedish geologist Johan Gunnar Andersson in 1923 in the village of Sha-ch'ing. The artifacts of the group were mainly brick-red gritty bowls, stone tools, and large tri-legged vessels of grey pottery. Evidence of bronze technology was found in smaller articles, such as bronze knives, buttons, and arrowheads. The members of the culture appear to have lived in large village settlements, which have been found to contain clay huts and well-dug storage pits. The group apparently survived until the time of the Eastern Chou dynasty (770221 BC), coexisting with the more sophisticated cultures of historical China.