Advanced Search

The story appears on

Page B4

December 7, 2016

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » City specials » Hangzhou

New museums celebrate Hangzhou’s glorious past

By Wu Huixin | December 7, 2016, Wednesday | Print Edition

THE Hangzhou government plans to build 15 new museums and memorial halls across the city and upgrade facilities in existing museums, according to the newly released 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) for the development of the city’s parks and archeological sites. Meanwhile, new green spaces and parks will be constructed to provide citizens with more leisure space in downtown areas. Today, Shanghai Daily takes a look at the highlights from the plan.

Liangzhu National Relic Park

The Liangzhu National Relic Park will cover an area of 9.09 square kilometers. The park will retain the original site and ancient bronze altars built by the Liangzhu people, while also preserving the appearance of the nearby wetlands and watercourses.

The Neolithic Liangzhu Culture is considered one of the oldest civilizations in China, as well as the originator of the country’s jade culture. Experts believe that jade artifacts found at the site symbolize the astronomical and geographic concepts of the Liangzhu people.

The modern-day village of Liangzhu, which derives its name from the ancient culture, has many of its own charms as well. These include a church, a children’s park and a food street packed with restaurants.

Qiantang River Ancient Floodwall Museum

This museum will be built in Jianggan District and cover an area of 4,500 square meters. Multi-media technology will be used to recreate the ancient sea and floodwall project.

In olden times, floodwalls were built between rivers and city walls. Due to the spectacular tidal bores and unique soil texture of the Qiantang River, Hangzhou’s old floodwall was built on a mudflat.

Emperor Qian Liu of the Wuyue Kingdom (AD 907-978) presided over the floodwall’s construction, according to historical records. It is considered the oldest project of its kind ever excavated in the country.

A few years ago, a floodwall built in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties was discovered under Fuxing, Qiutao and Hanghai roads. After the ruins were excavated, the Hangzhou Institute of Archeology ultimately decided to rebury them to protect the floodwall.

Southern Song Dynasty Museum

Local archeologists will continue digging at the Southern Song Imperial City Relic Site on the south slope of Phoenix Hill. Following the excavation work, a museum and a park will be erected on the site.

Hangzhou became the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) following its retreat from the north. To establish sovereignty in southern China, the court erected an imperial palace for the royal family and buildings for imperial administrators.

Based on findings from the excavation, the ancient city covered an area of 10,000 square meters and had some 130 pavilions and other structures.

The museum and relic park are designed to bring the ancient capital back to life and add to Hangzhou’s historic ambience.

China Papermaking Museum

Chinese calligraphy and ink paintings are typically painted on traditional rice paper, which is renowned for its softness and fine texture.

The xuan paper produced in Jing County, Anhui Province, is a well-known variety of Chinese rice paper. But few people are aware that Fuyang County also boasts a centuries-old rice paper tradition that can match the best from Jing County.

Fuyang paper, which first appeared more than 1,900 years ago, has its origins in Sizhou Village. According to historic documents, this paper flourished in the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) after it was selected as the royal paper of the Song emperors.

Sizhou Village is home to the largest and oldest papermaking site ever discovered in China.

During the 20th century, Fuyang still accounted for 25 percent of the country’s papermaking market. Nonetheless, machines replaced traditional papermaking techniques in modern times.

The ancient site will be turned into a museum that aims to conserve traditional papermaking craftsmanship and rejuvenate the papermaking tradition in Fuyang County.

Hangzhou


 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend