Qianshanyang Site

Qianshanyang Site

The Qianshanyang Site is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Qianshanyang Site is located in Baishinong Village at the southern end of the eastern bank of Qianshanyang, 7 kilometers south of Huzhou City. This area is an alluvial plain in the Taihu Lake basin, crisscrossed by numerous rivers and surrounded by many small hills.

Qianshanyang is about 1 kilometer wide from east to west and approximately 3 kilometers long from north to south, forming part of the East Tiaoxi River. The East Tiaoxi originates in the Tianmu Mountains, flows through Deqing, and moves northward to the south of Huzhou’s Ding’an Gate and Yixiqiao, where it joins the West Tiaoxi and flows into Taihu Lake. The confluence of the East and West Tiaoxi often causes reverse water flow; the wave erosion has led to damage at the site, with thousands of pottery shards and stone tools scattered across the riverbanks.

The site has unearthed remnants of primitive silk fabric and silk threads, the earliest discovered silk textiles in China to date. These silk fragments were woven using plain weave, with a warp and weft density of 40 threads per centimeter each. Also found were hemp cloth fragments, hemp ropes, and other textile artifacts, indicating that silk and hemp fabrics, sericulture, and the cultivation of mulberry and ramie were already quite developed in the Taihu Lake basin at that time. The site is one of the earliest cradles of silk and hemp textile production in China. Wooden oars were also excavated, proving the existence of primitive wooden boats or bamboo rafts. Stone and pottery net sinkers, bone fishhooks, and fishnets made of silk or linen threads indicate the use of various fishing tools. The ancestors of Huzhou were already living on a diet of “rice and fish.” Hunting and gathering activities were still practiced to some extent. Over 200 bamboo-woven items were also found, including baskets, bags, mats, and bamboo ropes. Bamboo was widely used for daily life, farming, textile production, and fishing (such as the bamboo “upturning scoop” fishing tool), marking a significant contribution to the history of bamboo weaving in China.

Two residential sites were discovered, with one relatively clear dwelling remnant in the shape of a rectangle, representing the remains of an elevated stilt-house structure, including wooden piles and several layers of large bamboo mats. Stone tools included axes, rectangular adzes, long knives, slant-handled knives, plough-like implements, hoeing tools, and arrowheads; one stone axe was painted with black spiral patterns. Pottery artifacts included tripods with fish-fin-shaped feet, long-necked vessels, spinning whorls, net sinkers, bean pots, ewers, and food containers; bamboo weaving items included baskets, bags, grain hampers, winnowing fans, bamboo mats, and fish scoops; wooden artifacts included oars about 1.8 meters long with short wings, wooden pestles, as well as dugout canoes and wooden troughs made from single tree trunks. Among the lower-layer Neolithic late-period findings were grass-woven and silk-hemp textiles, with silk artifacts including fabric pieces, ribbons, and threads, which were identified as coming from domesticated silkworms. A silk fragment measured 2.4 cm in length and 1 cm in width, woven in plain weave with a warp density of 52 threads and a weft density of 48 threads per centimeter—similar in fineness to today’s 11153 electric-spun fabric. This is the earliest physical example of textile material found in China to date. Hemp textiles included hemp cloth fragments and ropes. The plain-woven hemp cloth was found to be as fine as modern fine hemp cloth. In addition, bone tools, jade artifacts, rice, sesame, melons, fava beans, peanuts, peaches, and water chestnuts were also unearthed. On July 28, 1961, the Wujiang County People's Committee declared the Qianshanyang Site a county-level cultural relics protection unit.

Balidian Town: Located in the eastern suburbs of Huzhou City, Balidian Town is closely connected to the urban area. It borders Taihu Lake to the north and China’s capital of children’s clothing, Zhili, to the east. It is 150 kilometers from Shanghai, with the golden waterway of the Chang-Hu-Shen Canal running through the town, and National Highway 318 and Huzhou-Zhili Avenue traversing the entire area, ensuring convenient transportation and a superior geographical location. The town covers an area of 90 square kilometers, governs 35 administrative villages, and has a population of 55,000. In 2003, the town achieved a GDP of 1.93 billion yuan and a combined industrial and agricultural output value of 7.38 billion yuan. Economic development and social progress have been remarkable, with the total economic volume ranking among the top five in the city for three consecutive years, earning recognition at the provincial level... More details about Balidian Town ++

Further Reading:

· Fifth Batch of Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

· Sixth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units