Liangzhu Ancient City Ruins, dating back approximately 5300 to 4300 years, is located in the Yuhang District of Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, China. It is situated in the plain in front of the eastern end of Tianmu Mountain in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the Taihu Lake region. It is an important representative of early regional civilizations in China. As the center of power and belief in the Liangzhu culture, the Liangzhu Ancient City Ruins, along with a series of related sites such as the large-scale city site built between approximately 3300-2300 BC, the complex peripheral water conservancy system, and the hierarchical cemetery (including altars), as well as unearthed artifacts mainly consisting of jade objects symbolizing belief and system, reveal the existence of a regional early state in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the Taihu Lake region during the late Neolithic period, which was economically supported by rice agriculture, showed clear social stratification, and had a unified belief.
Its early time, high achievements, and rich content demonstrate the outstanding contribution of the Yangtze River basin to the ‘multiplicity in unity’ characteristics of the origin stage of Chinese civilization. It fills the gap of Neolithic urban archaeological sites in the East Asian region in the ‘World Heritage List’ and provides a unique testimony to China’s 5000-year history of civilization. Therefore, it is hailed as ‘the famous place that proves the 5000-year history of Chinese civilization.’ On July 6, 2019, the Liangzhu Ancient City Ruins were officially recognized as a ‘World Cultural Heritage.’The Liangzhu Ancient City Ruins Park is located in Pingle Town, Yuhang District, Hangzhou City, with an area of about 14.33 square kilometers, including the city site area, Yaoshan site, and peripheral water conservancy system site within the scope of the World Cultural Heritage Liangzhu Ancient City Ruins. The city site area of the Liangzhu Ancient City Ruins Park is the core part of the park, consisting of the palace area, inner city, and outer city, forming a centripetal triple layout structure with ancient river channels running through it.
The total area of the city site is 631 hectares, with a total volume of artificial earth and stone of about 7.17 million cubic meters. The palace area, located in the center of the city site, has a relatively high and open terrain, with an area of about 39 hectares, and is the main place for the higher rulers of the Liangzhu period to live and operate. The inner city is enclosed by city walls, with a slightly rounded rectangular plane, about 1910 meters long from north to south, about 1770 meters wide from east to west, with an area of 280 hectares (including the palace area). Centered on the palace area, the inner city has cemeteries, residential sites (including manual workshops), platform sites, and ancient river channel sites. The outer city is located outside the inner city, composed of 17 intermittently distributed platform sites forming a semi-closed outer enclosure, including residential workshops and tomb burial remains, with an area of about 351 hectares. The platform sites of the outer city and the river network passing through form a waterside living landscape of the water town. Yaoshan site, located about 5 kilometers northeast of the city site on the top of a hill, is a compound site of an altar and high-grade tombs, belonging to the early Liangzhu culture.
The tombs in Yaoshan Cemetery are all vertical pit earthen tombs and are buried in two rows, south and north. A total of 754 pieces (sets) of burial objects were unearthed, of which a total of 678 pieces (sets) of jade wares were unearthed. The peripheral water conservancy system is an urban water resource management project uniformly planned at the beginning of the construction of Liangzhu Ancient City.
It is composed of 11 artificial dams such as valley high dams, plain low dams and long dams in front of mountains, natural mountains and spillways, with a total earthwork volume of 2.88 million cubic meters. It is an earlier large-scale water conservancy project site discovered so far in China and also one of the earlier low dam systems discovered in the world at present. Opening hours: Open all year round from 09:00 to 17:00. Admission ends at 16:00. Preferential policies: Children: Children under 6 years old (inclusive) under adult supervision are free. For juveniles between 6 years old (exclusive) and 18 years old (exclusive) under adult supervision, it is 30 yuan/person. Students: Full-time undergraduate and below students with their valid student certificates are 30 yuan/person. Elderly: Elderly people aged 60 years old (inclusive) to 70 years old (exclusive) (holding the senior citizen preferential certificate issued by the local government or aging institution) are 30 yuan/person. Elderly people aged 70 years old and above (holding the senior citizen preferential certificate issued by the local government or aging institution) are free. Military personnel: Veterans of wars; active servicemen; relatives of martyrs; relatives of soldiers who died on duty; relatives of soldiers who died of illness can enter for free with their valid certificates. Disabled people: Disabled people can enter for free with their valid certificates. Retired cadres in Zhejiang Province: Retired cadres in Zhejiang Province can enter for free with their valid certificates. Teachers: Teachers with teaching experience of 30 years (inclusive) or more in this province can enter for free with their valid certificates. Holders of honorary certificates for unpaid blood donation: Holders of honorary certificates for unpaid blood donation in Zhejiang Province can enter for free with their valid certificates. Citizens of Hangzhou: Citizens of Hangzhou can enter for free with their valid certificates. Supplementary note: Preferential groups need to obtain tickets and enter the park after the staff核实 valid identity documents at the manual window. The above information is for reference only. The specific information is subject to the disclosure of the scenic spot.
