List of Neolithic cultures of China

This is a list of Neolithic cultures of China that have been unearthed by archaeologists. They are sorted in chronological order from earliest to latest and are followed by a schematic visualization of these cultures.
It would seem that the definition of Neolithic in China is undergoing changes. The discovery in 2012 of pottery about 20,000 years BC indicates that this measure alone can no longer be used to define the period. It will fall to the more difficult task of determining when cereal domestication started.

List

Dates	English name	Chinese name	Modern-day name and location
18000–7000	Xianren Cave culture		Wannian County, Shangrao, Jiangxi
8500–7700	Nanzhuangtou culture		Yellow River region in southern Hebei
7500–6100	Pengtoushan culture		central Yangtze region in northwestern Hunan
7000–5000	Peiligang culture		Yi-Luo river basin valley in Henan
6500–5500	Houli culture		Shandong
6200–5400	Xinglongwa culture		Inner Mongolia-Liaoning border
6000–5000	Kuahuqiao culture		Zhejiang
6000–5500	Cishan culture		southern Hebei
5800–5400	Dadiwan culture		Gansu and western Shaanxi
5500–4800	Xinle culture		lower Liao River on the Liaodong Peninsula
5500–3500	Gaomiao culture		Yangtze River, Hunan
5400–4500	Zhaobaogou culture		Luan River valley in Inner Mongolia and northern Hebei
5300–4100	Beixin culture		Shandong
5000–4500	Hemudu culture		Yuyao and Zhoushan, Zhejiang
5000–3000	Daxi culture		Three Gorges region
5000–3000	Majiabang culture		Lake Tai area and north of Hangzhou Bay
5000–3000	Yangshao culture		Henan, Shaanxi, and Shanxi
4800–4300	Tangjiagang culture		Hunan, Liyang Plain of the Lishui River
4700–2900	Hongshan culture		Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, and Hebei
4100–2600	Dawenkou culture		Shandong, Anhui, Henan, and Jiangsu
3800–3300	Songze culture		Lake Tai area
3400–2250	Liangzhu culture		Yangtze River Delta
3100–2700	Majiayao culture		upper Yellow River region in Gansu and Qinghai
3100–2700	Qujialing culture		middle Yangtze region in Hubei and Hunan
3000–2000	Longshan culture		central and lower Yellow River
2800–2000	Baodun culture		Chengdu Plain
2500–2000	Shijiahe culture		middle Yangtze region in Hubei
1900–1500	Yueshi culture		lower Yellow River region in Shandong
1600–1400	Erligang culture		North [China Plain]

Schematic outline

These cultures existed during the period from 8500 to 1500 BC. Neolithic cultures remain unmarked and Bronze Age cultures are marked with *. There are many differences in opinion on the dating for these cultures, so the dates chosen here are tentative:
For this schematic outline of its neolithic cultures China has been divided into the following nine parts:

Northeast China: Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning.
Northwest China : Gansu, Qinghai and western part of Shaanxi.
North-central China : Shanxi, Hebei, western part of Henan and eastern part of Shaanxi.
Eastern China : Shandong, Anhui, northern part of Jiangsu and eastern part Henan.
East-south-eastern China : Zhejiang and biggest part of Jiangsu.
South-central China : Hubei and northern part of Hunan.
Sichuan and upper Yangtze.
Southeast China: Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Guangxi, southern part of Hunan, lower Red River in the northern part of Vietnam and the island of Taiwan.
Southwest China: Yunnan and Guizhou.