Going up the mountain for thousands of years is the source of rice in the world. Recently, the special class for the protection and application of Shangshan cultural site in Zhejiang Province held its first regular meeting in Pujiang County, Zhejiang Province, and took the first step in the formal application of Shangshan cultural site. Cheng Yuechong, Vice Governor of Zhejiang Provincial People’s Government, called the meeting and delivered a speech. Chen Guangsheng, Deputy Secretary General of the Provincial People’s Government, Ge Xuebin, Vice Minister of Propaganda Department of the Provincial Party Committee and Director of the Provincial Film Bureau, attended the meeting. Chu Ziyu, Director of the Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism and Party Secretary, attended the meeting. Yang Jianwu, member of the party group and director of the Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau, attended the meeting.
At the meeting, the Zhejiang Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics reported on the protection and application of Shangshan cultural sites; Pujiang County, Shengzhou City, Yiwu City, Yongkang City, Longyou County and Xianju County reported on the protection and application of Shangshan cultural sites within their respective jurisdictions; The signing ceremony of the joint application cities was held in each application city.
Why should we protect and apply for the World Heritage?
“Going up the mountain is the origin of rice farming in the world; Mountain culture is the source of farming village culture in China. The painted pottery of Shangshan culture is the earliest painted pottery in the world discovered so far. ” At the symposium on the 20th anniversary of the discovery of Shangshan site held in 2020, experts and scholars made clear the “three definitions”, which also showed the important position and significance of Shangshan culture.
It is reported that Shangshan Site is located in Shangshan Village, Huangzhai Town, Pujiang County, upstream of puyang river, a tributary of Qiantang River. It was discovered in 2000, about 10,000-8,500 years ago. Pots such as large pots, flat pans, and ear jars were unearthed at this site. A large number of rice husks, rice leaves and rice stalks were mixed in these pottery materials, which traced the history of rice cultivation in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River back to 9,000-11,000 years. The earliest known remains of rice farming in the world have been found at the Shangshan Cultural Site in Pujiang, which has a complete evidence chain of rice harvesting, processing and eating.
Since the discovery of Shangshan site in 2000, Zhejiang Province has made overall planning and precise layout. After more than 20 years of efforts, the research, protection and publicity of Shangshan culture have been constantly innovated and carried forward into the future, which has continuously expanded the influence and popularity of Shangshan culture.
In 2006, the early Neolithic culture represented by Shangshan site was named “Shangshan culture”. Up to now, 20 sites of “Shangshan Culture” have been discovered in 11 counties and cities in four cities including Jinhua, Quzhou, Shaoxing and Taizhou in Zhejiang Province.
In 2007, the protection and utilization project of Shangshan Site initiated by Pujiang County Party Committee and County Government was included in the “First Demonstration Project of Cultural Relics Protection and Utilization in Zhejiang Province”.
Chen Tongbin, an authoritative expert on the application for the World Heritage, believes that it is of great significance to apply for the World Heritage on the mountain, which can witness the “origin of rice” in the “origin of agriculture”, a great contribution of China to human civilization, and another major cultural heritage that can directly enhance the cultural self-confidence of the Chinese nation after Liangzhu.
How to protect and apply for the World Heritage?.In 2021, at the Ninth Plenary Session of the 14th Zhejiang Provincial Committee, it was clearly put forward that “promoting the application of Shangshan culture” was included in the Implementation Plan of Zhejiang High-quality Development and Construction Demonstration Zone for Common Prosperity. Subsequently, Shangshan Archaeological Site was successively selected as one of the “Top 100 Archaeological Discoveries in a Hundred Years” in China, listed in the “14th Five-Year Plan” for the protection and utilization of national great sites and the “Archaeological China” major project, and Pujiang Shangshan Archaeological Site Park was announced as the second batch of dazzling pearls in the province.
How to take this “uphill road” well?
At the meeting, Cheng Yuechong emphasized that the special class for the protection and application of cultural sites in Shangshan, Zhejiang Province should establish the work objectives, determine the organization methods, standardize the technical texts, and solidly promote the administrative work of protection and application. We should continue to dig deep into the cultural value of Shangshan, strictly do a good job in site protection, promote key protection and exhibition projects, and consolidate the connotation and foundation of the site. It is necessary to plan and think about the activation and utilization of sites, build a harmonious relationship between cultural sites and their locations, give full play to the economic and social benefits of cultural sites, and improve the quality of life of the people in combination with site protection.
How to ensure the efficient and smooth operation of special classes? “The protection and application of Shangshan cultural sites involves many counties (cities, districts). It is hoped that the joint protection and application cities will work together with one heart and one mind, walk in the same direction, and promote this work in an orderly and powerful way, forming a close-knit protection and application community like pomegranate seeds, and accelerating the protection and application of Shangshan cultural sites.” Yan Ziyu said.
Yang Jianwu introduced the protection of Shangshan cultural sites and the preliminary work of applying for the World Heritage, and made arrangements for the next step. It was clear that the protection and application for the World Heritage were divided into two steps: the first step was to include Shangshan cultural sites in the China World Cultural Heritage Preparatory List before 2025. The second step is to strive for “Shangshan Cultural Heritage Group” to be successfully listed in the World Heritage List by 2035, and to build Shangshan Cultural Heritage Group into another major cultural heritage that can directly enhance the cultural self-confidence of the Chinese nation after the site of Liangzhu Ancient City.
In the next step, the sites of Shangshan cultural sites will take the application for heritage as the general goal, adhere to the concept of “going up the mountain”, further strengthen archaeological research, refine the heritage value, strengthen site protection and publicity and display, do a good job in the application for the protection of Shangshan cultural sites, and polish the “golden business card” of “going up the mountain for thousands of years”.