Some Attempts at the Liangzhu Site (良渚)

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All the residents had visited the Han Yangling Museum before. Among them, the answers “a little proud” and “very proud” made up about half of the total, while the answers “a little disappointed” and “very disappointed” were lower.

The most important issue is not whether locals are disappointed or proud of the site.

Rather, they should first know the site well, and then they can give proper answers reflecting their own thoughts. Like the Yin Xu site, knowledge of the site can also help them to be proud of it.

Summarizing Section 3.3.2, the small-scale field research at the Han Yangling site showed several key issues for local residents in terms of the site conservation project. In addition to the similar issues of lack understanding that were found at the Yin Xu site, one big problem was that the site conservation brought limited social, cultural, and economic benefits to local residents. Meanwhile, local residents’ participation in the site conservation and utilization was limited. The in-depth connections between site conservation and local residents had not been established.

In summary of Section 3.3, while the implementation of the national archaeological site conservation project in Han Yangling site was closely related to locals, the participation of locals was not comprehensively considered. Educational activities have been insufficient and experiential activities have been irregular. Moreover, no local organizations participate in site conservation and utilization. Finally, the diverse participation of local residents in site conservation seems unachievable at present.

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ancient city. Liangzhu Culture (良渚文化), which was named from Liangzhu site, is an important archaeological culture near the Taihu Lake Basin (太湖流域), downstream from the Yangtze River, which is dated to 3300-2000 BC. Studies of the Liangzhu site include the origins of paddy agriculture, jade-making techniques, etc.

The Liangzhu site is located in Yuhang District (余杭区), Hangzhou City (杭州市) and Deqing County (德清県), Huzhou City (湖州市) in Zhejiang Province (浙江省). The main part of the site is located at Liangzhu Street (良渚街道, 原良渚鎮) and Pingyao Town (瓶 窯鎮) in Yuhang District. The ancient Liangzhu city (良渚古城), which is considered the core of the site, is located at Daguanshan (大観山村) and Changming (長命村) villages in the town of Pingyao. The size of the conservation area is 42 km² (Fig. 3.15).

Figure 3.15 Map of Liangzhu National Archaeological Park Route (Source: Photo by the author)

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3.4.1. The Conservation Process at the Liangzhu Site

The Liangzhu site also has a long history of discovery, excavation, research, and conservation. In recent years, there have been attempts to have the site nominated to be on the World Heritage List. The constant challenges in the conservation process make the Liangzhu site very representative.

The Liangzhu site was found by Xingeng SHI (施昕庚) in 1936. Excavation was then carried out three times in 1936 and 1937; and some black potteries, stone tools and jades were found. Since then, archaeology in the area of the Yangtze River was started. After the creation of the People’s Republic of China, the conservation of the archaeological site recommenced. The Liangzhu site was registered as a Zhejiang provincial archaeological site in 1961.

Since the implementation of national conservation projects, its conservation process can be divided into two main phases which are described below.

3.4.1.1. Re-excavation and the Museum Establishment Period

In the 1980s, a full-scale excavation of the Liangzhu site was begun by the Zhejiang Provincial Archaeological Research Institute (浙 江省文 物考古研究 所) which was established in 1979. Many tombs with jade such as Fanshan (反山) and Yaoshan (瑶山) were discovered, which promoted research at Liangzhu. In the 1990s, the remains of a palace of more than 300 thousand square meters, named Mojiaoshan (莫角山), and the remains of a dam of more than five thousand meters, called Tangshan (塘山), were found.

With these abundant discoveries, a theme museum, Liangzhu Culture Museum (良渚文化 博物館), was established in 1994.

Since 1987, conservation and management of the Liangzhu site has been carried out by Liangzhu Site Administration (良渚遺址管理所). The principal works were daily patrol, and monitoring, as well as protection law enforcement and publicity. With law

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enforcement, most conservation work runs smoothly.

3.4.1.2. World Heritage Nomination and Establishment of a National Archaeological Site Park

The World Heritage Nomination was synchronized with the establishment of National Archaeological Site Park at the Liangzhu site. The Liangzhu site had been nominated on the World Heritage Tentative List three times: in 1994, 2006 and 2012. It was selected for the first batch of National Archaeological Site Parks in 2010.

In this period, there have been many significant discoveries. In 2006-2007, the ancient Liangzhu city, 1700 meters long, 1900 meters wide and 3 square kilometers in total, was found, which encouraged people to get to know the society of Liangzhu and since that time the Liangzhu workstation (良 渚 工 作 站) which is run by Zhejiang Provincial Archaeological Research Institute was set up on a long-term basis. In 2009-2011, the main archaeological work was a survey of the outlying part of the ancient city of Liangzhu, as well as an analysis carried out of its structure. For the recent World Heritage Declaration, archaeologists transferred their research from the outside to the inner part of Liangzhu’s ancient city where they will apply for World Heritage status, trying to realize the waterway system, which demonstrates the construction technology of Liangzhu society. Currently, the survey and excavation continue to provide support to the aforementioned two events.

To support the World Heritage Nomination, the management of Liangzhu site transferred to the Liangzhu Site District Management Committee in 2001. Liangzhu and Pingyao towns with a 242 km² proportion are under its jurisdiction. The Liangzhu Committee (良管委) serves the essential functions of local government which are outside the regular organization system of Chinese cultural relics conservation and management.

Iits primary functions are cultural relic management, planning, and construction, academic research, and industrial development. Compared with public organizations, Liangzhu

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Committee has more functions and greater power. Thus, the conservation work is more efficient, which is mainly apparent in the implementation of laws and cooperation with other departments. Furthermore, the conservation of the Liangzhu site has an assistant from Liangzhu Site Cultural Relics Administrative Law Enforcement (良渚遺址執法大 隊), in Hangzhou City Garden and Cultural Heritage Bureau Guarantee (杭州市園林文物 局). In addition, each village in the site area has mass protective organizations for the purposes of protecting the site. Those amateur protectors assist the cultural relics department. The whole society therefore works together and protection goes smoothly at the Liangzhu site.

Meanwhile, many conservation regulations and plans have been finished, such as Regulations on Liangzhu Site Protection and Management in Hangzhou City (2013) and Master Plan for Hangzhou Liangzhu Site Conservation (2013). Based on these plans, conservation projects have already started, including the relocation of the villages and factories inside ancient Liangzhu city. The Liangzhu Committee authorizes this project, but Meilizhou Enterprise Co. Ltd (美麗洲公司)⁷ operates it in practice. About 600 local residents in 3.5 square kilometers and 76 companies in 5.9 square kilometers were moved to two areas called “residential (農居点)”. In addition, all the farming lands were also rented by Meilizhou Enterprise Co. Ltd for 50 years. Each year, a relocated person receives a price for 400 kilograms rice/mu.

Moreover, displays at the Liangzhu site are gradually improving. The northern, southern, and western city walls are all visible to the public (Figs. 3.16 and 3.17). A new project called “The Synthesis of Creative Liangzhu (創意良渚綜合体)” will showcase the

7 The establishment of Meilizhou Enterprise Co. Ltd is to promote Liangzhu Culture and jade culture.

It has three subsidiary corporations for three projects: Hangzhou Liangzhu Jade Culture Creative Industry (杭州良渚玉文化創意産業公司) is for the design, research, and subject of jade; Hangzhou Meilizhou Management Company (杭州美麗洲実業物業管理公司) is for the management of Meilizhou Garden and the National Archaeological Site Park after it is finished; and Hangzhou Creative Liangzhu Art Company (杭州創意良渚芸術品公司) is responsible for the display of Liangzhu site.

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Liangzhu site with photos, videos, and other modern facilities. The Liangzhu Museum (良 渚博物苑) was upgraded from the previous one and opened in 2005. It publicizes Liangzhu Culture and Liangzhu site with promotions such as a free tickets policy which encourage people to visit and holds lectures and exhibitions for the public (Figs. 3.18 and 3.19). Around the museum, a Meilizhou Garden (美麗洲公園) was established, which became a leisure area for citizens. Most of these activities are organized and run by Meilizhou Enterprise Co. Ltd

Figure 3.16 Display of Northern Wall Figure 3.17 Panel of Northern Wall at the Liangzhu Site at the Liangzhu Site

Figure 3.18 Sandy Panoramic Model Figure 2.19 Courtyard of the Liangzhu and Imaginative Painting of the Liangzhu Site Museum

(Source: Photos by the author)

Summarizing Section 3.4.1, the continuous excavations of the Liangzhu site encourage its conservation, display and utilization, especially the World Heritage Nomination and the National Archaeological Site Park Establishment. Throughout this process, all the local

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residents and surrounding citizens have been involved in the conservation effort in four ways. First, land acquisition and home relocation have been conducted widely and rapidly in ancient Liangzhu city; but there are uncertainties about the attitudes of locals and how they are affected by these events. Second, many policies and plans have been enacted gradually over the last 30 years to protect the site, and limitations have been placed on the activities of local residents and factories although there have been some recent attempts to turn this situation around. Third, while archaeological site conservation, in particular, designation as a World Heritage Site and the establishment of the National Archaeological Site Park, brings many economic opportunities, these mainly benefit companies, an do not directly benefit local residents. Lastly, conservation of the Liangzhu site has changed the surrounding environment and improved cultural infrastructures, which offers lots of chances for local residents and citizens to enjoy the achievement of the site’s conservation.

To fully understand the relationship between Liangzhu site conservation and local residents, there is a need for more basic data about local residents.

3.4.2. Survey and Analysis at the Liangzhu Site

To gather the actual opinions of local residents regarding the conservation of archaeological sites, I conducted surveys at the Liangzhu site for two weeks in September, 2014.

3.4.2.1. Approaches and Respondents

Due to lack of permission from the Liangzhu Committee, the questionnaire survey could not be used in Daguanshan and Changming villages. However, I interviewed some key people connected with Liangzhu site conservation. I interviewed two administrators, five managers, and one archaeologist, to gain an understanding of the position of local residents.

Each of them spent around two hours in the interview. To ensure anonymity, all

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interviewees use pseudonyms. Moreover, I referenced some news and reports that were related to residents’ attitudes about the sites.

3.4.2.2. Analysis of Interview

The interview for administrators, managers and archaeologists regarding issues related to local residents were divided into four main topics.

(1) Understanding of the Liangzhu Site

Besides introducing archaeology to the campus held at the Yin Xu and Han Yangling sites to advertise the archaeological sites, a new approach of publishing textbooks has begun at the Liangzhu site in recent years. In 2014, the Liangzhu Committee started compiling and publishing Liangzhu Culture textbooks for elementary and middle school students in Yuhang District. Now Liangzhu Culture for fourth-year students (『良渚文化四 年級』) and Liangzhu Culture for seventh-year students (『良渚文化七年級』) are being used by students in Yuhang District as textbooks (Fig. 3.20).

Figure 3.20 Textbooks for Primary and Junior High School Students: Liangzhu Culture Fourth and Seventh Grades (Source: Photos by the author)

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The textbooks are also coursebooks for the final examination. To teach the textbooks to the students properly, the Liangzhu Committee also has a plan to train history teachers, and this training project has been ongoing since 2014. Publishing the textbook is one effective way to help young people learn more about their hometown. It is also useful as a way of letting their parents and other family members know the site. However, publishing textbooks is still not widespread throughout the country.

In addition, an open lecture is accessible at the Liangzhu site. The lectures held by Liangzhu Museum on World Heritage Day in 2014 attracted 240 participants which was three times the projected numbers. Most participants are wage earners between 30-40 years old who live in Hangzhou.

(2) Relocation and Expropriation

When interviewing the managers at the Liangzhu site, they referred to the experience of relocation and expropriation from other sites in describing their own site. They take multiple steps to ensure that these processes go smoothly. First, they ensure the process of resettlement goes smoothly. The area which will receive the relocation is prepared for resettlement. The construction of necessary infrastructure and the convenience of the relocated area have already been considered. Second, they take care of the majority of local residents’ emotions at the prospect of relocation and expropriation. Until 2014, only around ten houses in the protective area refused to relocate, which required more negotiation. Apart from that, there are rare voices of dissatisfaction from locals. Third, all the farming lands have been rented for 50 years. Each year, a relocated person receives the price for 400 kilograms rice/mu, and the price may increase as economic development increases.

(3) Benefits Accompanying Liangzhu Site Conservation

For the direct benefits of local residents, Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau (浙

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江省文物局) suggested adding “Cultural Relic Protection Compensation (文物保護補償 金)” in the third revision of Law of the People’s Republic of China on Protection of Cultural Relics (2002). Unfortunately, many difficulties stand in the way of realizing this compensation, primarily because of the standards for selecting the sites and sourcing funds.

Only the Liangzhu site has been implemented. Yuhang District allocates five million yuan per year to local residents for losses caused by the protection of the site. The budget comes from the county-level government instead of the provincial or national government.

The government guides employment as well. Some factories had to be constructed on the periphery of the protective area to provide jobs for unemployed people during site conservation. Business models which are more appropriate for the protective area are recommended, such as planting rice, vegetables, tea, bamboo shoots and flowers, as well as breeding shrimp and turtles.

(4) Participation in Liangzhu Utilization

From the evidence of the interview with the managers, local residents are given priority in the utilization of the Liangzhu site. However, whether the number of jobs and the working conditions will meet the requirements of local residents is still unknown.

Summarizing Section 3.4.2, field research with several managers at the Liangzhu site indirectly showed several key ideas of the local residents in relation to the site conservation project. Understanding of the site is promoted. The emotions of locals in the face of relocation and their economic benefits in site protection are fully considered.

However, these efforts are still not enough for sustainable and normative site conservation.

In summary of Section 3.4, during the implementation of the national archaeological site conservation project at the Liangzhu site which is closely connected to local residents, it is still insufficient even though some new attempts have already been conducted to improve issues in local residents’ daily lives and enhance the participation of local residents in site conservation and utilization. There is still much to do to build recognition of local culture.

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3.5. Issues of Local Residents in Chinese Large-scale Archaeological Site