During the Yin & Shang Dynasty, Bronze Culture appeared in northern China, and at the same time, Impressed Pottery Culture made its appearance in Zhejiang. It is a magnificent creation, as well as an adaptation to the local resources through the hard struggling against the natural world around the ancient Yue tribe. About Shang & Zhou Dynasty, the earliest professional impressed pottery kilns appeared in Shangyu, Zhejiang. The Xiaoshan Maowanli impressed pottery kiln relic excavated in 1956 is a well-protected typical site about the Spring & Autumn or Warring States Period. Among the excavations, there are lots of pottery fragments and deserted inferior wares with rice chinese figure and pane patterns decorated on the surface. Both the outside and the inside are painted a thin layer of cyan ceramic glaze. These excavations are hard and dense in modeling, easy to absorb the moisture, thick-bottomed, delicate and thin in body figures, plain-colored in surface and with helix veins inside. These clues show the pottery-making level then is greatly developed.  
  

Impressed Pottery Culture geometrical patterns on the fragments of the pottery ware

In the Spring & Autumn and Warring States Period, Zhejiang belonged to two different States: the majority belonged to Yue State and a small part belonged to Wu State. Huiji was the capital of the Yue state then, and during the rule of the King Goujian, the state was very powerful compared to other states of China. The bronze and iron tools were applied in farming, the vintage and textile industry were emerging and the metal smelting industry and ceramics were highly developed. The appearance of the original porcelains with cyan ceramic glazes marks the start of the processing of the Chinese celadon. The bronze culture represented by the well-known Longquan bronze double-aged swords is the concentrative reflection of the social economy and culture at that time. 
    As one of the Five Overlords of Spring and Autumn Period, the Bronze Culture of Yue Kingdom reached its peak then. The excavated bronze wares are large in quantity and with distinctive local flavors. They have a great positive impact on the surrounding areas, even on abroad. There are such delicate works like bronze calyx with turtle patterns (excavated in Changxing County), bronze plate with dragon patterns (in Wenling County) and the most famous Copper House With Instrument Players Inside and Longquan Swords. 
  Bronze Culture

In 1982, a late Spring & Autumn period tomb was excavated in Mt. Lion of Shaoxing Potang. There are altogether 17 bronze wares. Their number of different shapes, their delicate craftwork and their beautiful veins make them the masterpieces of the burial furnishings in Zhejiang Province. Among these bronze wares, the Copper House With Instrument Players Inside stands out with refined craftsmanship and pleasant colors. It provides precious material for the study on the Chinese arts of performance because the model displays six genuflecting performers playing with great concentration and calmness.  
    During the period, Wuge (daggers made in Wu State) and Yuejian (swords made in Yue) were top weapons pursued by all the kings of the China. About 490 B.C., the metal smelting industry was highly developed in Yue State. The Yuewang Swords (swords of the king of Yue) were the most famous handcraft products then. The ancients in Zhejiang already grasped the techniques of steel making and heat treatment foundry. The flexible and sharp Longquan Swords (a kind if double-edged swords made in Longquan county) have enjoyed high praises along the Chinese history. From the excavations of Zhejiang and the provinces nearby, the bronze Yuejian was not only the weapon of the rulers when they were alive, but also the precious belongings to be buried alongside their dead bodies. And the tale of the sword-making couple, Gan Jiang & Mo Xie, has come down till today.