Five thousand years ago, on a plain south of Lake Tai, a society built a city with walls, canals, palaces and an advanced water-control system, and then it vanished. Liangzhu, in Zhejiang province not far from Hangzhou, came to light only in the 1930s, and the full extent of its remains was revealed in the early twenty-first century. UNESCO added the Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City to its list in 2019, recognising an early regional state in the lower Yangtze valley.
The area of the high dam at the mouth of the valley is one of the key features. Archaeologists found a system of dams, dikes and reservoirs in the hills to the north-west of the city, built around 3000 BC to control floods and store water, and it is among the oldest large-scale hydraulic works known in the world. The earth and straw construction, the scale and the organisation show a sophisticated society with a labour force and planning to match.
The Liangzhu people are best known for their jade. They carved cong, square tubes with circular holes, and bi, flat discs, often with intricate patterns of a masked face, and these objects were buried with the elite. Skilled workers produced them from hard stone with simple tools, and the designs hint at a shared belief system.
The setting is gentle: low green hills, bamboo groves, tea fields and reservoirs, with the city of Hangzhou and its famous West Lake not far to the east. In spring, mist and blossom give the landscape a soft look, and in autumn the air is clear and cool. Summers are hot, humid and often wet.
Honestly, riding here is complicated for foreign visitors. China restricts foreign-registered motorcycles, and most people explore the area by train, bus or taxi from Hangzhou, which is easy and quick. The roads around are good, but local licensing rules apply. Deqing, a town of nearly ninety thousand people about fifteen kilometres away, offers fuel, food and hotels. The museum at Liangzhu is well worth the time, with displays of jade, pottery and models of the city, and there is a park around the main excavation site.