Outstanding contributors to the preservation and understanding of Hongshan culture

Elizabeth Childs-Johnson

From an outsider's perspective, Elizabeth Childs-Johnson, a Sinologist from the United States specializing in Chinese art and archaeology, has long been committed to promoting the global significance of Hongshan culture.

Now 77, she recalled first visiting Hongshan sites decades ago, where she met Chinese archaeologists at sites in Chaoyang, Liaoning province. Those encounters forged a lasting bond.

"I think Hongshan is really a miraculous culture. There's really no other similar culture in the Neolithic period that can be easily compared with the complexity of Hongshan," she said.

For decades, she has focused on Hongshan's jade artifacts to explore their cultural value, summarizing five primary gifts of Hongshan culture. Through these, she demonstrated the artistic creation, spiritual beliefs and civilizational connotations of Hongshan culture.

"Hongshan really has comparability not only with Mesoamerica, but other mound-building cultures that built huge mounds dedicated to their religious leaders. In fact, Hongshan can be recognized as one of the major mound-building cultures throughout the world," she said.