As early as in 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 is the earliest human beings found in Zhejiang province.
    Then, the Xiaoshan Kuahuqiao Relic, the Yuyao Hemudu Relic and the Jiaxing South Lake Majiabin Relic are the three earliest cultures of the neolithic age about 7,000-8,000 years ago. And later, the human activity trace is followed by the Jiaxing Songze Relic (about 6,000years ago) and the Hangzhou Liangzhu Relic (about 5,000 years ago). The culture relics of the neolithic age spread all over the Zhjiang province from plains to mountains, mainland to islands. These evidences prove that the human activities were very active in Zhejiang province in the neolithic age. The ancients had been living and working in this area and finally changed the area and created their own culture. So Zhejiang is one of the origin places of the excellent Chinese Culture.
    Among the above-mentioned culture relics, the Yuyao Hemudu Relic and the Hangzhou Liangzhu Relic are very important to the whole Chinese history. After the excavations to these two relics, the results break the old understandings about the origin of the Chinese Civilization and proved the Yangtze River drainage area is also the important birth place of the Chinese Civilization. 
     Kuahuqiao Relic

Up to now, the Yuyao Hemudu Relic, which was excavated in 1973, is the earliest, 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 ancients 7000 years ago. They had created the Rice-planting Culture when agriculture economy is the dominant aspect of the society.
    There are various aboriginal artworks among the excavations of the Yuyao Hemudu Relic. On the pottery wares, there are lots of patterns of bird, fish, dog, lizard and five-leaf rice. These artworks adopt different skills including carving and modeling, different materials including bones, ivories and argils, and different patterns including double-headed birds and two phoenixes around a red run, etc. The simple composition of pictures and the flowing lines are unparalleled and most remarkable. In particular, the bone whistles unearthed can be played music on 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 Hemudue 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 dawn, the Liangzhu Culture 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 provide 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 triangle 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, among which Cong is the most outstanding representative of the Liangzhu jade ornaments. Cong can be divided in two kinds: single segment and multi-segments. The shape of Cong is symmetrical and feels stable and still. There are bass-relieves on its four corners. One typical pattern found on the most Liangzhu jade ornaments is the god-man with beast face, which is almost regarded as the symbol of the Liangzhu Culture.
 Bone Whistles