As early as the Old Stone Age 50,000 years ago, the ancients made their appearance in the west part of Zhejiang province and are called the Jiandenese by the archaeologists now. The Jiandenese are the earliest human beings found in Zhejiang province.
   
Then, human activity trace has been found of the Xiaoshan Kuahuqiao Relic, the Yuyao Hemudu Relic and the Jiaxing South Lake Majiabin Relic, the three earliest cultures of the neolithic age about 7,000-8,000 years ago, followed by the Jiaxing Songze Relic (about 6,000 years ago) and the Hangzhou Liangzhu Relic (about 5,000 years ago). The cultural relics of the neolithic age spread all over the Zhjiang province from plains to mountains, mainland to islands, which proves that human activities were very active in neolithic Zhejiang.. The ancients had been living and working in this area and finally changed the area and created their own culture. Therefore, Zhejiang is one of the origins of the splendid Chinese Culture.
   
Among the above-mentioned cultural relics, the Yuyao Hemudu Relic and the Hangzhou Liangzhu Relic are very important to the whole Chinese history. The excavations of these two relics broke the old notion about the origin of the Chinese Civilization and proved the Yangtze River Valley is also the important birthplace of the Chinese Civilization. 
   Kuahuqiao Relic

Up to now, the Yuyao Hemudu Relic, which was excavated in 1973, is the earliest and largest culture relic in the downstream area of Yangtze River. About 5,000 excavations from this site show us a picture of the daily activities of the ancestors 7000 years ago. They had created the Rice-planting Culture when agricultural economy prevailed.

There are various aboriginal artworks among the excavations of the Yuyao Hemudu Relic. On the pottery wares are varied patterns of birds, fish, dogs, lizards and five-leaf rice, either through carving or modeling. By employing materials like bones, ivories and argils, the ancients created different patterns including double-headed birds and two phoenixes around a red ring, etc. The simple composition of pictures and the flowing lines are unparalleled and most remarkable. In particular, the bone whistles unearthed can be blown even now. What is more admirable is that the ancient people there had realized the concept of beauty, because among the excavations, there are a lot of ornaments (like semi-circular pendants, beads and tubes) made of jade and precious stones which are perfectly balanced in shape and bear delicate processing skills. Besides, people in Hemudu had learned to dress themselves with necklaces and ornaments made of animal teeth or fish backbones. 
   
The Hemudu Culture is the eve of the human civilization, and later the Liangzhu Culture, the dawn, reveals the wisdom of the ancients.   
  The wooden arrowhead unearthed from the Kuahuqiao Relic 
   
The Liangzhu Culture is a general designation to the culture which includes the central town of Liangzhu and the nearby areas. It is an important ancient culture in the Taihu Lake basin in the neolithic age. A series of important discoveries to the Liangzhu Culture in 1936 provides us with unexpected profiles as to productivity, creativity and social structure of the ancients who lived 4,000-5,000 years ago. Among the excavated relics, a huge triangular stone plough reveals that agriculture had already changed from the slash-and-burn cultivation into the manpower-plowing period. The pottery wares had been of more delicate quality. Most of them simply shine with the polished surface whereas a few exceptional ones are painted with colored flowers or chased with delicate patterns. What's more, there are also different kinds of jade products, like Bi (a round flat piece of jade with a hole in it), Huang (a jade pendant of semi-circular shape), Zhui (a hanging ornament), Zhu (bead) and Cong (rectangular jade with round holes), among which Cong is the most outstanding representative of the Liangzhu jade ornaments. Cong can be divided into two kinds: single segment and multi-segments. The shape of Cong is symmetrical, which brings a feeling of stability and stillness. There are bas-relieves on its four corners. One typical pattern found on most Liangzhu jade ornaments is the god with a beast face, which is generally regarded as the symbol of the Liangzhu Culture.
 Bone Whistles