Yesterday afternoon, the special team for the protection and application for the World Heritage of Shangshan Cultural Relics in Zhejiang Province held its first regular meeting in Pujiang, where Pujiang, Yiwu, Yongkang, Xianju, Longyou and Shengzhou were located.
This means that the high-profile work of applying for the World Heritage on the mountain for ten thousand years has officially started.
The “Shangshan World Heritage Application” first appeared in the newspapers
The application for the World Heritage is the dream of the mountain people.
As early as May 11, 2019, our newspaper published a report in a prominent position, “Mountain Culture Enters Washington, USA, and Chinese and Foreign Experts Expect” Mountain Cultural Heritage Application “. This is the first report of “applying for the World Heritage on the mountain”.
In the article, Jiang Leping, a senior researcher of the Archaeological Research Institute of Zhejiang Province, revealed that Gary Crawford, a plant archaeologist, an academician of the Canadian Academy of Sciences, and a professor of the University of Toronto, believed after visiting the West Yongkang Lake Site that the Qiantang River Early Neolithic Cultural Site Group has the potential value of applying for a world material cultural heritage.
Huxi Site is one of the 21 early Neolithic sites discovered in our province. It is located in the southeast of Huxi Village, Jiangnan Street, Yongkang City. Xixin Road passes through the center of the site destructively. Therefore, the site is divided into two parts: the south part and the north part. The north part is centered on the Dita Mountain (the east part has been damaged due to the road building). The south part is now located in an orchard. Yongkang River runs through the northeast of the site from west to east. The total area of the site is about 10 square meters.
A large number of rice spikelets and a small amount of carbonized rice were found at the site of the site, which is the first time since the discovery of the Shangshan Culture that rich rice remains were washed (floated) from the site soil. Huxi Site is the best preserved plant site among the Shangshan Cultural Sites. It is the most ideal site of the early Neolithic Age to study the origin of rice farming, the life style of early Neolithic ancestors, and the corresponding relationship between agricultural origin and environment.
This newspaper continues to pay attention to the application for the World Heritage of the Ten Thousand Year Mountain.
On July 6, 2019, the site of Liangzhu Ancient City, which demonstrated the 5000 year history of Chinese civilization, was successfully included in the World Heritage List, setting an important symbol of Chinese civilization in the world.
On the same day, the news of the successful application for the World Heritage of Liangzhu Ancient City site blew up the circle of friends. While Jinhua was “happy to go all the way”, many people were asking, “Today belongs to Liangzhu moment. Next, will we go up the mountain for ten thousand years?”
On the day when the site of Liangzhu Ancient City was successfully applied for the World Heritage, the reporter interviewed Jiang Leping. While he saluted and cheered for the 83 years of perseverance and perseverance of the four generations of Liangzhu archaeologists, who finally ushered in this happy moment, he was also full of expectations for “applying for the World Heritage on the mountain”: “Liangzhu pointed out the direction of our efforts and led us to move forward.”
On July 26, 2019, our newspaper published a report in a prominent place, “How far is Liangzhu’s successful application for the World Heritage up the mountain?”, calling for “applying for the World Heritage up the mountain”: applying for the World Heritage is a dialogue with our ancestors, a transmission and relay of wisdom. Every step of effort and effort is gratifying and expectant.
In the article, the reporter also cited the successful cases of binding application for World Heritage with his own interview experience.
On August 4, 2010, our newspaper published the article “The Lost Link between Yongkang Fangyan and the” World Heritage “, which caused a lot of repercussions in the society. According to the reporter, Fangyan is one of the first nine Danxia landform scenic spots “applying for the World Heritage”, and the only Danxia landform scenic spot “applying for the World Heritage” in Zhejiang Province. Later, in order to ensure success, Jianglang Mountain was added. The two scenic spots are the typical representatives of Danxia landform “applying for the World Heritage” in Zhejiang. However, at the last meeting held in Beijing before the Spring Festival in 2009, the experts selected six “bundled” lists of natural heritage from the nine Danxia landform scenic spots originally declared. Fang Yan and Taining, Fujian Province, both belonged to the “early youth” and were regretfully defeated.
Fang Yan missed the “World Heritage”, while the temporarily added Jianglang Mountain was “bundled” with six Danxia scenic spots in China, including Taining in Fujian, Langshan in Hunan, Danxia Mountain in Guangdong, Longhu Mountain in Jiangxi (including Guifeng), Chishui in Guizhou, and successfully included in the World Heritage List at the 34th World Heritage Conference held in Brasilia in August 2010, Therefore, Jianglang Mountain has become the first world natural heritage site in Zhejiang Province.
“It took 83 years for Liangzhu to apply for the World Heritage, but the archaeology on the mountain started. We need to continue our work and stick to it for a long time with the joint efforts of all sectors of society.” Jiang Leping said that new discoveries have been made in the Shangshan cultural sites. Just over a month before the special session, on April 5, Houchen Village, Punan Street, Pujiang County confirmed a damaged Houchen site, which is the second Shangshan cultural site in Pujiang County. So far, the number of Shangshan cultural sites has increased to 21.
“One foot down, ten thousand years”
Yesterday, experts and guests gathered in Pujiang to call for Shangshan Culture.
In the morning, we arranged to visit the Shangshan Archaeological Site Park. It rained all the time. The participants did not lose interest in the rain at all. Holding umbrellas, they listened carefully to the explanations and nodded frequently. Meanwhile, Yang Jianwu, director of the Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics, and others also unveiled the newly established Shangshan Site Management Center in Pujiang County.
The Shangshan Archaeological Site Park is named for the Shangshan Site, which is located in Shangshan Village, Huangzhai Town, Pujiang County, upstream of Puyang River, a tributary of Qiantang River. The Shangshan Site was found in 2000, about 10000-8500 years ago. Pottery such as big mouthed pots, flat bottomed plates, and two ear jars were unearthed. A large number of rice husks, leaves, and stems were mixed in the pottery matrix, which traces the history of rice cultivation in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River back to 9000-11000 years ago, providing very valuable data for the research on the origin of rice farming in the world.
Shangshan Site has discovered the earliest known agricultural remains of rice farming in the world, with a complete evidence chain of rice harvesting, processing and eating. At the same time, the discovery of the wooden building remains of the site also proved that the mountain climbers at that time had entered a relatively stable stage of agricultural settlement. On November 5, 2006, the early Neolithic culture represented by the Shangshan Site was officially named “Shangshan Culture” at the “Fourth China Environmental Archaeology Conference and Shangshan Site Academic Seminar” held in Pujiang County.
In November 2020, Pujiang County grandly held a series of activities such as the 20th anniversary academic seminar of the discovery of Shangshan Site, established the “Shangshan Cultural Research Center”, “Shangshan Cultural Sites Alliance”, “China Ten Thousand Year Archaeological Sites Alliance”, “China Rice Research Institute Shangshan Rice Research Base”, and released the Pujiang Declaration of the “Shangshan Cultural” Sites Alliance and the results notification, The “three definitions” are further clarified: Shangshan is the origin of world rice farming; Mountain culture is the source of Chinese farming village culture; The painted pottery of Shangshan culture is the earliest painted pottery found in the world so far.
In the north area of Shangshan Archaeological Relics Park, Yan Wenming, a famous archaeologist, a member of the expert group of the State Administration of Cultural Relics and a professor of Peking University, wrote the inscription of “the first village in ancient China”, which attracted special attention.
On the same day, Jiang Leping led us in the rain to “open our eyes”. On the wet grass, one foot deep and one foot shallow, Jiang Leping said jokingly, “If you step on it, it will last ten thousand years.”.
It’s not just a talk. He has made new discoveries here.
Just under his feet, several white lines formed two rectangles, covering an area of forty or fifty square meters. Jiang Leping led the archaeological team to find the construction trenches under this land. These trenches may be the foundation for the mountain people to build houses for thousands of years. In addition, many column holes were found. Column holes are relics of decayed columns. At that time, people dug holes to bury columns, covered them with thatch, and built houses.
These relics, not deep, are in the soil layer of dozens of centimeters below. After raining for days, if you step on it, you will step on the land ten thousand years ago. Jiang Leping thought of an international friend who had come from afar to ask him, “Can you step on the land that went up the mountain 10000 years ago?”? This foot, as if through.
“The place where I stand may have been an ancient residential area in the past.” Of course, the style and size of the houses built by the ancients still need to be verified. The current discovery is only based on archaeological investigation and exploration, and has not yet reached the stage of deep excavation.
Compared with the southern area of the Shangshan Site, which has a large excavation area, the northern area is also covered with a mysterious veil, and there are too many question marks, which need further archaeological excavation. Jiang Leping hopes that in the near future, more mysteries of the mountain culture can be revealed in the northern area of the mountain site, and each time the mystery is uncovered, it adds a heavy weight to the “mountain heritage application”.
Sing a song and play a chess game together
Yesterday, the leaders and experts at the meeting all placed great expectations on the protection of the mountain cultural sites and the application for World Heritage.
At the meeting, Jiang Leping briefly introduced the historical value of Shangshan culture. He believed that the Shangshan culture was qualified to become the origin symbol of the world rice culture. Compared with the early Neolithic cave sites that also revealed some rice information in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the Shangshan culture has three distinct characteristics. First, a new farming behavior system has been initially formed for rice farming in the mountains, including cultivation, harvesting, threshing and eating; Second, getting out of the cave and occupying and settling in the wilderness of the Neolithic activity center marked the real beginning of an era; Third, rice farming in the mountains is a cultural phenomenon that has not been interrupted and has made steady progress. It spreads with the development of mountain culture. A business economic behavior has a real relationship with the survival and reproduction of a group. This remains information and its cultural significance transcend the era and historical attributes of early cave dwelling sites.
“The protection and application for the World Heritage of Shangshan Cultural Relics involve many counties (cities, districts), and we hope that the joint protection and application for the World Heritage will work with one heart and one mind to promote this work in an orderly and powerful manner, form a closely knit community of protection and application for the World Heritage like pomegranate seeds, and accelerate the promotion of the protection and application for the World Heritage of Shangshan Cultural Relics to achieve quick and early results.” Chu Ziyu, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Director of the Department of Culture and Tourism of Zhejiang Province, said that the special class regular meeting is a solid communication and coordination mechanism for the protection and application for the World Heritage. All departments, cities and counties should gather wisdom and strength under the leadership of the special class, “sing a song together, play a chess game together”, communicate with each other, cooperate closely, complement each other, and focus on the difficulties that restrict the protection of Shangshan cultural sites and the application for the World Heritage.
Dai Chong, the head of Pujiang County, took the lead in addressing the conference: “There is a sentence that can be summed up in a special way: ‘Who knows, every grain of Chinese food will go up the mountain’. Grain means rice; mountain means the source; pot means painted pottery. Since last year, the mountain sites have been listed in China’s’ One Hundred Archaeological Discoveries in One Hundred Years’, the National Great Site Protection and Utilization ‘Fourteenth Five Year Plan’ and the ‘Archaeological China’ project, and the second batch of dazzling pearls in the province’s large gardens. As the earliest development of the ‘Mountain Culture’ As the originator of the origin, naming place and alliance, Pujiang is deeply aware of its great responsibility and glorious mission. We will always adhere to the concept of “going up the mountain”, work together with other members of the Alliance to forge ahead with one heart and make every effort to polish the “golden card” of “going up the mountain for thousands of years”. “
It is reported that since the discovery of the Shangshan Site on the Pujiang River in 2000, a total of 21 early Neolithic sites have been found in Zhejiang Province, which is the largest and most concentrated early Neolithic site group in China and even in East Asia. Among them, Jinhua accounts for 2/3, up to 13 sites, including: Shangshan Site of Pujiang, Houchen Site, Yongkang Miaoshan Site, Taipo Mountain Site, Youshan Site, Changtian Site, Huxi Site, Great Wall Li Site, Wuyi Dagong Mountain Site, Wucheng District Mountain Xiazhou Site, Qingyang Mountain Site, Yiwu Qiaotou Site, Dongyang Laoying Mountain Site. The 21 sites are located in the upper reaches of Qiantang River and concentrated in Jinqu Basin, except Xianjuxiatang Site and Linhaishishantou Site.
On behalf of the joint application for World Heritage of Shangshan Cultural Relics, they are Shangshan Site in Pujiang County, Xiaohuangshan Site in Shengzhou City, Qiaotou Site in Yiwu City, Huxi Site in Yongkang City, Hehuashan Site in Longyou County and Xiatang Site in Xianju County.
From April 20 to 22 last year, the reporter and Jiang Leping followed Chen Tongbin, an expert in applying for the World Heritage and the chief planner of China Architectural Design and Research Institute Co., Ltd., for nearly 1000 kilometers in three days, and clocked 17 mountain cultural sites in the province. Chen Tongbin said, “The significance of the mountain culture to human civilization is world wide. I’m glad to have such a potential world heritage. Its intrinsic value is not only Chinese, but also global and human.” Chen Tongbin believes that applying for the World Heritage is like learning from the West and going through difficulties. It is not easy. The application for the World Heritage of the Shangshan Cultural Relics Group, like all the projects applying for the World Heritage, is a difficult and long-term thing that requires joint efforts, perseverance and joint efforts of all parties.
Long journey! “Climbing up the mountain to apply for the World Heritage”, start climbing up the mountain, and look forward to it