Beijing, May 28 (IANS): The Chinese civilisation, considered to be the oldest in the world dating back from antiquity to contemporary times, was born 5,800 years ago and matured 3,800 years ago, Chinese scholars announced on Monday after 15 years of state-funded work.

The findings were announced at a State Council press conference in which the Deputy Director of State Administration for Cultural Heritage, Guan Qiang, explained that the first signs of civilisation emerged in areas around the Yellow, Yangtze and Western Liao rivers, Efe news reported.

Other parts of China developed equally advanced cultures 5,300 years ago, and some 3,800 years ago, a more mature civilisation emerged in the central plains and began to culturally influence surrounding regions, explained the expert.

The findings are the result of a programme, which began in 2001 and ended in 2016, launched by the Ministry of Science and Technology.

The research was led by experts from the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Peking University with leading archaeologists.

So far, it had been widely considered that the Chinese civilisation had more than 5,000 years of history although there were various theories regarding its origin.