Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City

The Liangzhu Ancient City Ruins Park, dating back approximately 5300 to 4300 years ago, is located in Yuhang District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, China. It is situated in the river network plain at the eastern end of Tianmu Mountain in the lower Yangtze River basin around Lake Taihu, and is an important representative of early regional civilizations in China. As the center of power and belief for the Liangzhu culture, the park reveals the existence of a regional early state in the late Chinese Neolithic period in the lower Yangtze River basin around Lake Taihu. This state was supported by rice cultivation, showed clear social stratification, and had a unified belief system. This is evidenced by a series of related ruins, including a large-scale city site built between approximately 3300-2300 BC, a complex peripheral water conservancy system, and stratified cemeteries (including altars), as well as unearthed artifacts primarily consisting of jade objects with symbolic religious and institutional significance. Its early date, high achievements, and rich content demonstrate the outstanding contribution of the Yangtze River basin to the “diverse yet integrated” characteristic of the origin stage of Chinese civilization. It fills a gap in the “World Heritage List” for Neolithic urban archaeological sites in East Asia, providing unique testimony to China’s 5000 years of civilization, and is thus hailed as “the sacred place that proves China’s 5000 years of civilization.” On July 6, 2019, it was officially designated a “World Cultural Heritage Site.” The scenic area is located in Pingyao Town, Yuhang District, Hangzhou, covering an area of approximately 14.33 square kilometers. It includes the city site area, Yaoshan site, and peripheral water conservancy system ruins within the World Cultural Heritage Liangzhu Ancient City Ruins. The city site area is the core part of the park, composed of a palace area, inner city, and outer city, forming a concentric triple layout structure, with ancient rivers running through it. The total area of the city site is 631 hectares, with a total earthwork volume of approximately 7.17 million cubic meters. The palace area is located in the center of the city site, with a relatively high terrain, covering an area of approximately 39 hectares, and was the main living and activity area for the highest rulers during the Liangzhu period. The inner city is enclosed by walls, with a slightly rounded rectangular plan, approximately 1910 meters long from north to south and 1770 meters wide from east to west, covering an area of 280 hectares (including the palace area). Centered on the palace area, the inner city contains ruins such as cemeteries, residential areas (including handicraft workshops), platforms, and ancient rivers. The outer city is located outside the inner city, consisting of 17 intermittently distributed platforms forming a semi-closed outer wall outline, including residential workshops and burial remains, covering an area of approximately 351 hectares. The outer city platforms and the river network running through them form a waterside landscape where people lived by the water. The Yaoshan site is located on a hilltop approximately 5 kilometers northeast of the city site. It is a complex site of an altar and high-grade tombs, belonging to the early Liangzhu culture. The tombs in the Yaoshan cemetery are all vertical pit tombs, buried in two rows, south and north. A total of 754 pieces (sets) of burial objects were unearthed, including 678 pieces (sets) of jade. The peripheral water conservancy system was an urban water resource management project uniformly planned at the beginning of the construction of Liangzhu Ancient City. It consists of 11 artificial dams, natural mountains, and spillways, including valley high dams, plain low dams, and mountain front long dikes, with a total earthwork volume of 2.88 million cubic meters. It is one of the earliest large-scale water conservancy project sites discovered in China to date, and also one of the earliest low-dam systems discovered in the world.