Talk:List of Neolithic cultures of China

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Contents 1 Why only China? 2 Schematic outline - how does it work? 3 Does anybody know the Liming culture(黎明文化) in tonghua通化, Jilin吉林 province? 4 Use B.C.E. not B.C.

[edit] Why only China?

This is a marvelous list, but why is it the only one of it's kind? List of Neolithic cultures of Europe, List of Neolithic cultures of Africa, List of Neolithic cultures of the world? Xaxafrad 22:15, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Schematic outline - how does it work?

Ok, I don't understand how the schematic outline works in terms of geographical locations. For example, Dadiwan and Peiligang are side-by-side, and also with the same colour. Does that mean both cultures occupied both Northwest China and the middle Yellow River region? How about the cultures that are listed under these two cultures, like Laoguantai and Cishan, does that mean they occupied both of those regions, too? Somebody please explain. Thanks. Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 06:49, 5 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Does anybody know the Liming culture(黎明文化) in tonghua通化, Jilin吉林 province?

It is better to include the Liming culture黎明文化, which has been found at 1995 in Jilin province

[edit] Use B.C.E. not B.C.

In archeology, even in the West, it is now customary to use "Before current era (B.C.E.)" rather than "Before Christ (BC)". The table should be changed to use the present as a reference point. See for instance the recent study from Kuahuqiao:

Y. Zong, Z. Chen, J. B. Innes, C. Chen, Z. Wang & H. Wang (2007). Fire and flood management of coastal swamp enabled first rice paddy cultivation in east China. Nature 449: 459-462. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v449/n7161/full/449405a.html

Coverage in the popular press uses the same convention, see "Chinese 'were growing rice 8,000 years ago'" http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article3007152.ece

Using the Christian calendar for pre-Christian civilization is particularly confusing. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Liontooth (talk • contribs) 04:36, 30 September 2007 (UTC)

Agreed. Hong Qi Gong (Talk - Contribs) 08:24, 30 September 2007 (UTC)

Liontooth is mistaken. It remains, by a long way, more common to use BC. Coverage in the popular press, excluding the Israeli press, almost always uses BC. You'll find a few exceptions both ways using google, but very few. I see no reason to risk reducing the possible audience of this page by adopting a less common abbreviation.

However, I accept that it might be better to date the various cultures by reference to the present, by replacing the heading "Dated" with "Years ago". This may even be less confusing than using BC, and I would not object if such an amendment were made. Foula 14:19, 30 September 2007 (UTC)