Liangzhu Park

Liangzhu Park, Hangzhou: A 5,000-Year Dialogue with Civilization In Yuhang District in the northwestern suburbs of Hangzhou, there is a heritage park surrounded by reed marshes and rice paddies. Here lies the sleeping evidence of 5,000 years of Chinese civilization: the Liangzhu Ancient City Ruins. Added to the World Heritage List in 2019, Liangzhu Park, with its unique archaeological value and ecological landscape, has become a "golden key" to understanding the origin of Chinese civilization. Entering the park from the south entrance, the first thing that catches your eye is the restored section of the ancient city wall. The cross-section of the city wall, which is layered with grass-wrapped mud, fully preserves the construction wisdom of the late Neolithic period. Archaeologists have discovered that these city walls, up to 60m thick, required 12 million cubic meters of earthwork, equivalent to the construction of the Great Pyramid of Khufu in ancient Egypt. Walking along the wooden boardwalk, every inch of land under your feet may contain traces of the lives of the ancestors. Mojiaoshan Terrace is the core area of the park. This artificial earth platform, covering an area of about 300,000 square meters and about 10m high, was once the power center of the ancient Liangzhu Kingdom. Standing in front of the restored palace site, visitors can imagine the scene of the "king" holding sacrificial ceremonies here 5,000 years ago. The jade cong and jade bi ritual objects unearthed in 2017 are now on display in the Ruins Museum, confirming the record in the Book of Rites that "the sky is worshiped with a blue bi, and the earth is worshiped with a yellow cong." In the Fanshan Royal Cemetery Ruins area in the east of the park, the "Cong King" was unearthed in the 1980s, shocking the archaeological community. This jade cong, weighing 6.5 kg, has an inner circle and an outer square shape, which coincides with the "round sky and square earth" view of the universe. The fine carvings of 5 lines per millimeter show an amazing micro-carving technique. Experts speculate that the Liangzhu society, which mastered such superb jade-making technology, had a clear social division of labor and class differentiation. In order to protect the underground ruins, the park adopts a "surface marking" display method. Through different heights of vegetation and changes in paving materials, visitors can clearly identify the "triple structure" of the outer city, inner city, and palace city. The alternating displays of rapeseed flower seas in spring and golden rice waves in autumn not only restore the landscape of prehistoric wetland rice farming civilization, but also constitute an ecological picture of changing seasons. The most touching thing about Liangzhu Park is that it breaks the limitations of traditional ruins that "can only be viewed from a distance." Visitors can experience jade drilling and pottery making, or "participate" in the construction of the ancient city through AR technology in the digital exhibition hall. This immersive experience allows the silent rammed earth layer to tell the story of civilization. When the setting sun gilds the ancient city walls and egrets skim the silhouette of the reed marshes, the 5,000-year time dimension collapses here. Liangzhu Park not only preserves the genetic code of civilization, but also continues to answer the eternal question of "who we are and where we come from." This land has witnessed not only the earliest national form in East Asia, but also the common cultural memory of mankind.