ABSTRACT
The Liangzhu Culture represents one of the classic examples in which the archaeological research of a highly developed regional culture can contribute to our understanding of the origins of Chinese civilisations. The Liangzhu site at Liangzhu Town, Hangzhou, was first found and excavated by Shi Xingeng in 1936. The accumulation of rich archaeological material in the past 80 years has enabled to have a relatively complete understanding of many aspects of Liangzhu society. The Liangzhu Culture is representative of Neolithic China not only because of its highly developed material culture but also because of the level of landscape transformation. The collective identity or ideology within Liangzhu society was consolidated by the central enforcement and the limited use of distinctive Liangzhu jade. The first and foremost point to make in returning to the Liangzhu case is that the Liangzhu is a rice-based economy.
