During the Neolithic period, human groups in China established sedentary, agricultural villages and began making pottery. By the end of the Neolithic period, some groups were living highly stratified societies ruled by powerful leaders. The Neolithic ended with the introduction of bronze vessels for use in rituals around 200BC. The area covered by what is now modern China was made up of distinct regions each with its own separate identity. Based on the similarities in such things as pottery, houses, style of burials, archaeologists have identified many different cultures.

Many Neolithic cultures flourished during the years 5000-3000 BC. YangShao culture of the central plains of Shannxi Henan was well known for painted pottery. They were often decorated in black paint with complex design. After the YangShao Culture came, the LongShan culture which flourished in lower Huang He. They produced extremely delicate eggshell-thin pottery. The Majiayao, Banshan and Machang cultures developed in upper Huang He and produced various types of pottery. In Dawenkou culture of Shandong and North Jiangsu, pottery was more sophisticated. Vessels more frequently had appendages such as spouts legs and ring-bases. Their cemeteries were usually made of elaborately constructed chambers filled with objects of jade, ivory, turquoise and black/white-ware. The Hong Shan culture in Liaoning, Northern Hebei produced painted pottery and large amounts of jade carving. In the lower region of River Changjiang, Liangzhu culture also produced jade carving. This culture is well known for its great variety of jade carving as well as superb carving techniques. The most important of these carvings are the ceremonial disks (bi), broad-bladed axes (yue) and the ritual tubes (cong).