Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City

The South Entrance of Liangzhu Ancient City Heritage Park is located at the intersection of Fengdu Road and National Highway 104 in Yuhang District, Hangzhou. It is the main entrance of the park and the first stop for visitors entering this sacred land of 5,000-year civilization. The entrance building complex adopts the "jade cong" shape, inspired by the cong——the most representative jade artifact of Liangzhu culture. The yellowish-brown exterior walls perfectly blend with the surrounding rice paddies and water networks, reflecting the advanced conservation philosophy of "protecting heritage through parkification." Inside the visitor center are comprehensive service hall, heritage museum shop, rest area, and multimedia guide hall, providing Chinese-English guide maps, audio guide rental (approx. 30 RMB/unit), and barrier-free services.

The Land Gate Ruins are located in the central part of Liangzhu Ancient City Heritage Park, at the convergence of the south city wall and east city wall. They are the only land gate ruins of Liangzhu Ancient City that remain above ground, and also one of the earliest known prehistorical earthen city gate ruins globally. The city gate ruin is a massive loess terrace base about 40 meters wide east-west and 30 meters deep north-south. On the terrace base, clear pillar grooves and mud-and-wood wall traces are preserved. Based on this, archaeologists infer that this was originally a heavy timber city gate building with seven bays in width and three bays in depth. A protective large-span steel structure shed has been built above the ruins. Visitors can walk along the elevated wooden plank road for a circular visit. Every autumn, the rice paddies around the city gate ruins turn a golden yellow, creating an interesting contrast with the loess city gate——one of the most classic photography spots in the heritage park.

The Water Gate Ruins are located in the northern part of Liangzhu Ancient City Heritage Park, north of the Mojiaoshan Palace Area. They are one of the most representative ruins of the "water city" layout of Liangzhu Ancient City. Unlike ancient cities in the Central Plains region which were primarily land-based, Liangzhu Ancient City was a "water city" built on swampy wetland, with crisscrossing waterways and developed water systems inside and outside the city. Therefore, water gates became the main transportation access to the outside world. The existing water gate ruins consist of a river channel gap about 30 meters wide. On both sides of the river channel, neatly rammed loess gate piers are preserved, and pillar hole arrangements are faintly discernible atop the piers, indicating that heavy timber water gate structures once existed here. The Water Gate Ruins are displayed in their original open-air condition without a protective shed.

The South City Wall Ruins are located in the southern part of Liangzhu Ancient City Heritage Park, west of the Land Gate Ruins. They are the best-preserved and most completely displayed section among the four sides of city walls of Liangzhu Ancient City. The city wall ruins run east-west, with a remaining length of about 500 meters, remaining width of about 20-40 meters, and remaining height of about 2-4 meters. The wall body was constructed by layering yellow clay and gravel for ramming, with the rammed layers clearly distinguishable, reflecting the superb civil engineering technology of the Liangzhu people. A protective wooden long shed has been built above the ruins. In the middle section of the south city wall, a "city wall cross-section display window" is also preserved. The south city wall is an excellent window for understanding the construction technology of Liangzhu Ancient City.

Zhongjiagang Ancient River Channel is located in the central part of Liangzhu Ancient City Heritage Park, east of the Mojiaoshan Palace Area. It is the most important north-south ancient river channel inside Liangzhu Ancient City and also one of the ruin sites with the richest unearthed artifacts from Liangzhu Ancient City archaeology to date. The ancient river channel has a total length of about 1,000 meters, with the existing riverbed width of about 15-25 meters. The river channel interior preserves a Liangzhu culture accumulation layer up to 3 meters thick. Archaeologists have conducted multiple large-scale excavations here, unearthing jade semi-finished products, stone yue (battle-axes), stone plows, wooden artifacts, bone artifacts, pottery shards, and some jade raw materials. A fully enclosed steel structure protective exhibition hall has been built above the ancient river channel. Inside the exhibition hall, the temperature and humidity are constant.

The Mojiaoshan Palace Ruins are located at the center-north position of Liangzhu Ancient City Heritage Park. They are the core, highest-grade architectural ruins of Liangzhu Ancient City, and also the largest known palace terrace base from the prehistorical period in Chinese history. The ruins consist of a massive artificial loess high platform, about 630 meters long east-west, 450 meters wide north-south, and 10 meters high in remaining height, with an earthwork volume exceeding one million cubic meters. On the high platform, three groups of large palace foundation sites arranged east-west are preserved. Among these, the "Da Mojiaoshan" palace foundation site covers an area of about 30,000 square meters. It was originally a heavy timber-and-earthen structure palace complex with over ten bays in width and four to five bays in depth——the "Forbidden City" from 5,000 years ago. A massive steel structure protective shed has been built above the ruins.

The Fanshan Royal Tomb is located on the west side of Liangzhu Ancient City Heritage Park, about 200 meters northwest of the Mojiaoshan Palace Area. It is the highest-grade known royal tomb ruin site of Liangzhu culture and one of the most significant archaeological discoveries of Liangzhu Ancient City. The royal tomb is an artificial earthen platform in the shape of an inverted bucket, about 70 meters long, 30 meters wide, and 6 meters high. Eleven large tombs from the late Liangzhu culture period are distributed on the platform top, among which Tomb No. 9 belonged to the principal personage——a king of the ancient Liangzhu Kingdom. In 1986, archaeologists conducted large-scale excavations here, unearthing over 1,200 pieces (sets) of various jade artifacts including jade cong, jade bi, jade yue (battle-axe), and jade crest ornaments.

The Jiangjiashan Aristocratic Cemetery is located in the northwest part of Liangzhu Ancient City Heritage Park, about 300 meters north of the Fanshan Royal Tomb. It is the high-grade aristocratic tomb area inside Liangzhu Ancient City, second only to the Fanshan Royal Tomb. The cemetery ruins consist of an artificial loess terrace, about 100 meters long and 40 meters wide. Fourteen medium-sized tombs from the late Liangzhu culture period are distributed on the terrace top. The tomb owners were mostly aristocrats of the ancient Liangzhu Kingdom——including high-ranking military generals, close relatives of the royal family, and grand sacrificial priests. Over 600 pieces of various funerary objects were unearthed from the tombs, including jade cong, jade bi, jade yue, stone yue, pottery, and lacquerware. A protective shed has been built above the cemetery ruins, with an elevated wooden plank road for visiting inside.

The Meirendi Ruins are located in the southeast part of Liangzhu Ancient City Heritage Park, east of the Zhongjiagang Ancient River Channel. They are representative archaeological ruins of ordinary residential areas inside Liangzhu Ancient City. In sharp contrast to the grand specifications of the Mojiaoshan Palace Area and Fanshan Royal Tomb, the Meirendi Ruins display the appearance of "commoner community" from 5,000 years ago. The ruins area preserves dense column hole groups of stilt-style buildings, hearth pit ruins, garbage dumping pits, and small family cemeteries. Large quantities of carbonized rice grains, pottery shards, stone tools, and bone tools were unearthed, vividly reappearing the daily life scene of Liangzhu ancestors "eating rice and fish soup, building stilt houses for dwelling." The ruins area name "Meirendi" (Beauty's Place) originates from local folklore. An open-style protective shed has been built above the ruins.

The Zhishan Viewing Platform is located at the northernmost end of Liangzhu Ancient City Heritage Park, on the summit of Zhishan Hill, at an altitude of about 65 meters. It is the highest point within the heritage park and also the best location for overlooking the full view of Liangzhu Ancient City. The viewing platform is a steel-structure double-story eight-cornered pavilion. Standing on the bottom-floor circular corridor of the viewing platform, you can take in the complete view of Liangzhu Ancient City. The top-floor multimedia exhibition hall is equipped with a surround projection system. Through a 15-minute 4D animation demonstration, it completely reappears the entire historical process of Liangzhu Ancient City from site selection and city construction, through peak prosperity, to gradual decline. It is the best window for visitors to understand the macroscopic course of Liangzhu civilization. The viewing platform is also equipped with high-power telescopes (charged at approx. 10 RMB per use).