Haochuan Site

Haochuan Site

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

The Haochuan Ancient Cultural Site is located in Haochuan Village, Sanren She Ethnic Township, 12 kilometers west of Suichang County.

In the summer of 1997, archaeological excavations were carried out on a small hill known as Lingtougang in the eastern part of Haochuan Village. The excavation covered an area of 4,000 square meters, uncovering 80 tombs and yielding a total of 1,062 artifacts including stone tools, jade artifacts, pottery, and lacquerware. According to expert identification, these belong to the late period of the Liangzhu Culture, dating back about 4,000 years. This was the first discovery of its kind in southwestern Zhejiang and was recognized as one of China’s major archaeological discoveries in 1997.

The Haochuan Culture is closely linked to surrounding cultures such as the Liangzhu Culture, Huating Site, Tanshishan Culture, Fanchengdui Culture, Shanbei Culture, Shixia Culture, Jiantounong Culture, and Maqiao Culture, as well as the Shang-Zhou culture of the Songyinxi River basin, yet it also possesses distinct and rich characteristics of its own. Its cultural features are novel and unique, with a rich diversity of content and clear multicultural elements. As a result, many archaeologists have named it the “Haochuan Culture.” The discovery of the Haochuan Cultural Site has filled a gap in the Neolithic archaeological record of the border region where southwestern Zhejiang meets Fujian and Jiangxi provinces.

Related Introduction: The site is situated deep in the mountains at the southern foot of the Xianxia Range, featuring high and steep terrain, dense forests, abundant rainfall, and rich flora and fauna, but with limited arable land. It is approximately 12 kilometers from the county seat of Miaogao Town. The area has a low-mountain valley and hilly landscape. The Zhongxi Stream, originating about 8 kilometers west of Haochuan, joins the Songyinxi River via the Jingxi Stream in Haochuan, and belongs to the Ou River system.

Between March and April 1997, while constructing a water channel in Haochuan Village by diverting water from Wuchu Reservoir, efforts were made to convert a tea garden on Lingtougang into paddy fields. A bulldozer used in the construction unearthed cultural relics. Nearly two months of rescue excavations uncovered 80 tombs. The burial site was large in scale with a significant number of tombs, mostly medium to large-sized, with only 8 being small. Grave goods varied greatly depending on tomb rank—larger tombs contained a full variety of items in greater quantities and finer craftsmanship, while smaller tombs had fewer and less diverse grave goods.

The grave goods were primarily pottery, along with a small number of jade artifacts, stone tools, and lacquerware. Pottery was mostly gray-bodied earthenware, with a certain proportion of gray-bodied black-coated pottery, along with a small amount of sandy pottery and stamped pottery. The basic combination of funerary pottery included tripods (three-legged plates), gui vessels, bowls, dou vessels, jars, cups, and others. Fine sandy gray-bodied earthenware was the most predominant pottery type of the Haochuan Culture, and gray-bodied black-coated pottery was also present in notable quantities, which is a distinctive feature of Haochuan pottery.

The pottery dou (tripod) vessels of the Haochuan Culture were particularly well-developed, with their quantity exceeding the total of all other types of pottery. The circular and triangular perforations on the handles of the dou vessels are the most distinctive design features of Haochuan pottery. Some dou vessels also featured cinnabar-red painted decorations on their rim overhangs and ring feet, possibly indicating that these items were appreciated from the side and may have served as special ritual pottery.

Another notable feature of the pottery was the abundance of vessels for holding liquids, each with its own developmental lineage. Different forms such as cups and others served various purposes.

The stone tools of the Haochuan Culture were mainly arrowheads, followed by stone adzes, with fewer stone axes and only one stone knife. Jade artifacts were identified as mostly soft jade from the tremolite-actinolite series. Sub-oval and handle-shaped lacquerware are another set of items that distinctly characterize the Haochuan Culture.

Transportation

From Shanghai to Suichang: Take the Shanghai-Hangzhou Expressway to Hangzhou, then transfer to the Hang-Jin-Qu Expressway, and after reaching Longyou, switch to the Longli Expressway and exit at “Suichang.” From Hangzhou to Suichang: Take the Hang-Qian Expressway to Longyou, then transfer to the Longli Expressway and exit at “Suichang.” From Wenzhou to Suichang: Take the Jinliwen Expressway to Lishui, then transfer to the Longli Expressway and exit at “Suichang.”

Address: Haochuan Village, Sanren She Ethnic Township, Suichang County, Zhejiang Province

Type: Historical Site

Further Reading:

· Zhejiang Province’s Second Batch of Provincial Archaeological Site Parks

· Fifth Batch of Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

· Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units