Five thousand years ago, on the plain south of Lake Tai, a society built a city without metal tools. Liangzhu, now in the suburbs of Hangzhou, was a centre of a culture that carved jade into ritual objects, tubes called cong and discs called bi, and that grew rice in irrigated fields, and that built a complex water system of dams, dikes and canals, on a scale that no one expected from a Neolithic culture. UNESCO listed the Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City in 2019, and the entry covers the city walls, the palace area, the waterworks and the burial grounds of the elite.
The high dams at the mouth of the valley, to the north-west of the city, are the focus of this part of the listing. The dams held back the water from the hills, controlling floods, and the artificial lakes made a transport network and a reservoir. They were made of layers of clay and straw-wrapped earth, and they have since become low grassy ridges in the bamboo woods. You will not see towers or temples here, only low earth banks and the shape of a landscape, which is the point. The evidence is in the soil and the display halls of the museum, with its jade treasures.
The hills north-west of Hangzhou are a pleasant place, wooded with bamboo, tea bushes and small reservoirs, and the roads here are often narrow and winding, with villages of white houses. Moganshan, a summer hill resort loved by Shanghai residents a century ago, is not far, and its road climbs in tight hairpins through bamboo. As elsewhere in China, foreign riders face licence and registration hurdles, so most go by car or train. Spring brings green tea harvest, and autumn is clear. In summer, rain and humidity are heavy.
Deqing, about seventeen kilometres away, is a town of nearly ninety thousand, with fuel, supermarkets and restaurants, and Hangzhou has everything else, including the West Lake and its tea houses. Try the Dragon Well tea from the hills, and dishes of river fish and bamboo shoots. The museum at Liangzhu is worth time before you visit the ruins, as it gives the context. Bring water and good walking shoes, as the site covers a large area and most exploring is done on foot or by electric cart.