The nomenclature of Neolithic cultures in north China, based mainly on the names of sites at which pottery has been found, is often a little confusing. The so-called "Yangshao Culture" includes what is broadly agreed to be two separate cultures, the Yangshao Culture of the Central Plains, and the "Gansu Yangshao Culture" based in Gansu and Qinghai. It should be mentioned that the distance separating the main excavation sites of these two cultures is almost as great as that between the Yellow River and the Yangtse River valleys.

The artifacts of these Neolithic cultures, of which painted red pottery is the most visible, were created by a hunting, herding, and agricultural people who lived in pit dwellings with peaked reed roofs, made basketry, stone tools, and woven cloth, cultivated millet, and domesticated dogs, pigs, cattle, and sheep. In their later phases, they made ornaments of jade and had a developed numbering system as well as the rudiments of written language.

The Yangshao culture of the Central Plains is based around a cluster of sites in Henan, Shanxi, and Shaanxi, at the confluence of the Wei and Yellow Rivers where the borders of these three provinces come together, an area traditionally considered the cradle of Chinese civilisation. Of these sites, the most notable are Yangshao village in northern Henan and Banpo in neighboring Shaanxi in the suburbs of modern Xian, whose earliest pottery date from just after 5000BC. Later sites are Dahecun, also in Henan, and Miaodigou lying west of Yangshao village and active from the early fourth millennium.

Pottery appears to have been of major importance to these peoples, as six kilns were excavated in the center of Banpo village alone. They constitute the earliest kilns in China, consisting of underground tunnels topped with a cylinder; the fuel in the "Firebox" is separate from the pottery to be fired, and a chimney at the other end draws the heat into an "updraught", which enables a temperature of over 1000’C to be achieved. The majority of excavated pieces consist of relatively coarse utilitarian vessels in grey or reddish terracotta, often with some cord or textile-impressed pattern, whose manufacture continues pretty much unchanged into the Bronze Age. Formed by coiling and finished with a paddle batting on the outside against an "anvil" on the inside, the painted pottery has a fine, well-levigated body of loess clay. This is painted with red haematite-based and black manganese-based pigments and fired to between 800 and 1000’C. Occasionally, a white slip is applied to the pot before painting so as to enhance the colors of the design.

The bowls and pots of Banpo have geometric designs reminiscent of basketry patterns. One group is painted with geometricised fish motifs, and an even rarer group has an anthropomorphic head with fish biting at the ears and triangles jutting from the crown and the neck, also interpreted as the bodies of fish. These motifs may have had shamanistic implications. The vessels at Miaodigou have characteristic patterns of curvilinear, enclosed geometric forms dotted by black circular elements, reminiscent of the late work Of Joan Miro. Dahecun is noted for the shapes of their pots, which include tripods, high-shouldered bowls, and double flasks.

The making of painted pottery declined in this area during the first centuries of the third millennium BC, replaced by grey and black pottery under the apparent influence of the Longshan culture to its east in Shandong province.

The Gansu Yangshao culture (described in some sources as the Majiayao culture), is generally divided into three phases by many authorities: the earlier Majiayao phase, the middle Banshan phase, and the late Machang phase. However, the implied chronology of these sites is by no means proven by present archaeological evidence, although the coarser work at Machang does seem indicative of late decline in the Yangshao idiom as we draw towards the dynastic period of the Bronze Age.

Vessels found in burials at the Banshan site are typical of the huge quantity of painted pottery discovered throughout Gansu and Qinghai. The vast majority consists of large and small urns of almost spherical form, with flat bases, short necks, and ring handles each side of the shoulder. They are most commonly painted with large circles over their top half, these circles being filled with cross-hatching, chequers, swastikas, parallel lines, squares, or squiggles. One famous zoomorphic pattern, sometimes termed the "frog" motif, has been interpreted as representing a "hermaphrodite" that forms part of a fertility cult. A cowrie-like motif has also been interpreted under this scenario as representing female genitalia. Unfortunately, all this remains conjectural where prehistoric cultures with no written records are concerned. All one can say is that, as with most early societies, decorative motifs are almost always associated with mystical and shamanistic practices.

Other geometric treatments such as triangles and spirals are also common. Rarer forms include squat urns, tall straight-sided bottles, amphora, bowls, asymmetric "bird form" urns, and pedestal cups. Variant shapes generally have modified patterns to accommodate their altered spatial fields. Lizard, bird, and "matchstick men" motifs are rarer and much sought-after.

These painted potteries form an important part of Chinese ceramic history, and are some of the most important artifacts of Neolithic culture in the Yellow River basin.