Longshan Culture generally refers to the cultural remains in middle and lower reaches of Yellow River in the late Neolithic Age when both bronzes and stones were used. Longshan Culture dates back to 4350~3950 years ago and derived its name from the place of discovery - Chengziya Ruins, Longshan Town, Zhangqiu, Shandong Province.

The agriculture and animal husbandry in north China in that period had made great progress as compared with the Yangshao Culture. Production tools saw speedy growth in terms of both quantity and variety. The fast-wheel potting technique appearing in Dawenkou Culture was widely applied, which greatly increased the productivity.

More and better potteries were unearthed in Longshan Culture. Especially worth mentioning are the eggshell-thin black potteries, which appear very glossy as if they were painted. As the potteries marked the peak time in China's potting history, Longshan Culture is also known reasonably as Black Pottery Culture. Black potteries were once daily vessels of the people but finally phased out due to fragility.

Today, they are appreciated as artistic works. Also unearthed were large quantities of stone wares, bone wares, and clam shells etc. Bronze smelting technologies were invented at that time. And there were technical progress in architecture. The rectangular soil-platform buildings, found in Longshan Culture site, were constructed by ramming. They show that the rammed earth constructions popular in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties had come into existence in this period. It also reveals that people had developed a habit to use bones to take auspices and that witchery was prevalent at that time.

In respect of the social form, it had entered the patriarchic society when private-owned properties appeared and a society with class ranks came into being. The cultural origins of Xia, Shang, and Zhou can be closely associated with Longshan Culture.