The mysteries of Hongshan culture have laid dormant for more than 5,000 years at the Niuheliang archaeological site in Chaoyang City,  Liaoning province. Since its discovery in 1981 and first excavation in 1983, generations of archaeologists have been working on this large-scale ritual center for Hongshan society, dating back around 5,000 to 5,800 years.

Sacrificial public buildings such as a goddess temple, a three-tiered round altar and rubble mound tombs have been found in Niuheliang, together with stone tools, pottery, and most notably, exquisite jade ware — depicting dragons, birds and figures.

The late Neolithic Hongshan culture once thrived in southeastern Inner Mongolia autonomous region, western Liaoning and northern Hebei provinces, and is among the most important prehistoric cultures in Northeast China. Niuheliang forms the largest site complex of Hongshan culture.

As intensive archaeological efforts take place at the Niuheliang site hidden in hilly forests — mainly seeking to reveal more about its social structure and sacrificial ritual system — a recent document co-released by the general offices of the National Cultural Heritage Administration, the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs will hopefully facilitate future study of this expansive site.

The notice on strengthening the planning and land use for the protection of large-scale archaeological sites published in December aims to balance the preservation and utilization of cultural heritage with agricultural production and rural development. Niuheliang is among the 36 key large-scale archaeological sites listed in the notice that are in urgent need of land use and require high-level support.

According to Jia Xiaobing, a researcher with the Institute of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Niuheliang is a site complex mostly located in forested areas, where ecological conservation requirements impose many restrictions on land use. The notice provides a basic guarantee and considerable flexibility in negotiating land use for excavation and research.