The State Council Information Office held a press conference on Monday on a comprehensive investigation project into the origin and early development of Chinese civilization. The project was launched in 2001, with evidence showing that the civilization is 5,000 thousand years old. CGTN's Natasha Hussein has more details.

Archaeological research under the project has found that massive ancient sites like Liang Zhu and the big tombs in Hong Shan, with fine jade relics about 5,300 to 4,000 years old, indicate that a large number of people formed an organized society to build cities, with class differentiation. They cultivated rice and used tools such as stone spades and sickles for harvesting. These tools that were unearthed show that agriculture was in its initial stages. This evidence points to the beginning of Chinese civilization.

GUAN QIANG DEPUTY DIRECTOR, STATE ADMINISTRATION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE "From 5,300 years ago, various regions of China began to embrace civilization and around 3,800 years ago, a more mature civilization developed in the Central Plain area and began to exert cultural influence over surrounding areas. In general, the formative and early periods of Chinese civilization mark an integral process of diverse entities."

Officials explain that the project investigating the start of Chinese civilization has been using a multidisciplinary approach, as well as modern science and technology to find information, search sites and excavations.

WU YUANBIN DIRECTOR, SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY DEPT. CHINESE MINISTRY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY "We have been using modern science and technology like remote sensors, spatial geographic information system, and mobile laboratories during the process of exploration, and Carbon-14 dating can carry out more accurate archaeological dating tests, which can help to continuously upgrade the accuracy of research findings."

As the next step, there will be more work to carry out systematic excavations and effective conservations at archaeological sites. There will also be more exploration technologies and relics used to unearth the secrets into the origin of Chinese civilization.