China's Liangzhu, window to one of world's oldest civilizations

Using remote sensing, geographic information, and artificial intelligence technologies, archaeologists have figured out that the ancient civilization boasted a water conservancy network with more than 30 dams for water control and drainage.

Chen said that in the late period of the Liangzhu culture, people extended the city walls and built a well-structured city layout.

Colin Renfrew, academician of the Royal Academy of Sciences of the U.K. and professor of Cambridge University, believed that the Neolithic Age in China is "far underestimated."

"Liangzhu almost brings the origin of China's national society to the same height as the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia and India. They almost existed in the same period," said Renfrew when he joined the study of Liangzhu's application for world heritage listing.

Among the most important cultural symbols of Liangzhu, unearthed jadeware is a signature element of the Liangzhu culture, which has inspired a mascot design for the 19th Asian Games held in Hangzhou last year.

One of the games' three mascots is called "Congcong," which got its name and design from "Yucong," or "Jade Cong," a ritual jade article with a quadrilateral exterior and a circular inside. The Asian Games flame was first lit at the site of the ancient city of Liangzhu in Zhejiang before being carried elsewhere, which further exemplified the significance of Liangzhu.

Only months after the Liangzhu Ruins were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, the area of the Liangzhu ancient city site in Hangzhou was fully covered by the 5G network so that visitors could enjoy faster mobile internet surfing in all venues and tourist routes in the ruins park.