良渚古城

Why this place

Liangzhu is a 5,000-year-old walled settlement near Hangzhou, with an advanced water-management system of dams and canals, rice agriculture and a jade-working culture of extraordinary refinement. Its discovery pushed back the accepted date for Chinese state-level society, and it is a UNESCO site.

What to see

• The reconstructed city site and its earthen walls
• The Liangzhu Museum, designed by David Chipperfield, with the jade cong and bi
• The water-control system, which is the earliest large-scale hydraulic engineering found in China
• The jade workshops and the burial sites with their grave goods

What to eat

• Hangzhou cooking once you are back in the city — Dongpo pork and Longjing shrimp
• The local rice and freshwater fish of the Yangtze delta

How to plan

Half a day from Hangzhou.

Best time

March–May and October–November