Leadership Insights | Illustrated Lectures: Exploring the Origins of Chinese Civilization

The Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City, as a shining gem of world civilizations, provide compelling evidence that of Chinese civilization started about 5,000 years ago. In the long human history, Chinese civilization has created one cultural peak after another with unique innovation and uninterrupted inheritance. 

Liangzhu, which means “beautiful island in the water,” represents one of the Neolithic archaeological cultures in China, which can date back to 5,300-4,300 years ago. The Liangzhu ruins are the largest capital site and the earliest national society in East Asia during the same period, and it is also known as the first city in China. The Liangzhu culture is regarded as important evidence of the diverse origins of Chinese civilization. Thus, it has an irreplaceable position and value in the development of Chinese civilization and even world civilizations.

The Liangzhu culture primarily featured developed ploughing and rice farming, specialized handicrafts represented by exquisite jade wares, pottery and lacquerwares, carved symbols in the style of writing, large-scale artificial construction projects and a strict social hierarchical structure. The discovery of primitive characters in the archeological site indicates that the ancestors of Liangzhu began to use written language more than 5,000 years ago, which dates the history of Chinese writing back to more than 1,000 years earlier than previously thought. A large number of exquisite jade artifacts have been unearthed in the Liangzhu ruins, and jade culture has become the most iconic synonym of Liangzhu culture.

Since the discovery and confirmation of the ancient city of Liangzhu in 2007, after more than 10 years of uninterrupted archaeological survey, exploration and excavation, Chinese archaeologists have formed a basic understanding of the structural layout of the ancient city of Liangzhu and its evolution. In 2008, the Liangzhu Museum was completed, becoming a window for the public to learn about the Liangzhu ruins. In 2019, the Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City was inscribed on the World Heritage List. Since then, China’s Liangzhu culture has spread across the world and made a loud voice by appearing in a series of international exhibition tours.