Cultural Studies. Taosi

Taosi culture was one type of the heritage as the representative of Taosi remains in Xiangfen, Shanxi province. Taosi culture heritage was located at the Linfen basin in the South of Shanxi province, the key district was in the lower reaches of Fenshui and the Huihe valley. Early Taosi culture developed from the Miaodigou II Culture, and the later culture combined some elements else. The absolute date was from the 2500BC TO 1900BC, which lasted about 600 years. According to its culture features, it could be divided into three periods including five stages. The early,middle and the late periods were lasted about 200 years seperately. The early and the middle periods were similar in the culture features, but the late period could be divided into two local types: the Taosi culture in the south and the Houcun culture in the north. As the development of the Xia nation and the military expansion to the south, the Taosi culture was insteaded by the type of Dongxiafeng which was a part of Erlitou culuture and disappeared at last. Taosi culture pertained to the remains of Yao-Shun. Specifically, the early and Medium term of it belonged to Tangyao culture , and the late period belonged to Yu Shun. Along with different rulers, the center of the Taosi culture's settlement moved from north to south. Taosi culture played a key role in exploring Chinese ancient cultureand the country's origin and history. The studying of the micro-pattern and macro-pattern settlements at Taosi site showed that the society was seriously stratified, the embryonic kings had possibly arisen,the ritual system had been initially formed, and the early state had appeared, since then the civilization had been initially formed.