The ancient Tanshishan culture marks the beginning of over 5,000-year civilization in Fujian. Since the ethnic Minyue people were the earliest inhabitants in this area, Fujian is called Min for short.

Tanshishan culture, dated back to four to five thousand years ago, is the origin of civilization in Fujian. The culture is best represented by the Tanshishan cultural relics in Minhou, Fuzhou. This important Neolithic site is the birthplace of Fujian’s ancient civilization and the Pre-Qin Min tribe. The history of civilization in Fujian was previously assumed to be about 3,000 years, but the findings at this site pushed it forward by a huge step toward even more remote ages.

The Tanshishan culture site, characterized by distinct marine culture, is viewed as one of the starting points of China’s marine civilization. As a regional culture of Fujian, the Tanshishan culture is very important for studying pre-historic cross-Straits cultural communication, the origin of ancient Fujian and Taiwan cultures, and the origin of Austronesian language family.

The Tanshishan cultural relics