Editing Chinese characters (section)

=== Neolithic precursors ===
{{Main|Neolithic symbols in China}}
Collections of graphs and pictures have been discovered at the sites of several [[Neolithic]] settlements throughout the [[Yellow River]] valley, including {{tlit|zh|[[Jiahu]]|italics=no}} ({{cx|6500&nbsp;BCE}}), {{tlit|zh|[[Dadiwan]]|italics=no}} and {{tlit|zh|[[Damaidi]]|italics=no}} (6th millennium&nbsp;BCE), and {{tlit|zh|[[Banpo]]|italics=no}} (5th millennium&nbsp;BCE). Symbols at each site were inscribed or drawn onto artefacts, appearing one at a time and without indicating any greater context. Qiu concludes, "We simply possess no basis for saying that they were already being used to record language."{{sfn|Qiu|2000|p=31}} A historical connection with the symbols used by the late Neolithic [[Dawenkou culture|{{tlit|zh|Dawenkou|italics=no}} culture]] ({{cx|4300|2600&nbsp;BCE}}) in Shandong has been deemed possible by palaeographers, with Qiu concluding that they "cannot be definitively treated as primitive writing, nevertheless they are symbols which resemble most the ancient pictographic script discovered thus far in China...&nbsp;They undoubtedly can be viewed as the forerunners of primitive writing."{{sfn|Qiu|2000|p=39}}