Jade objects from the Liangzhu culture through October 20, 2019 at the Palace Museum in Beijing, China

Jade objects from the Liangzhu culture through October 20, 2019 at the Palace Museum in Beijing, China.
The Liangzhu culture (3400–2250 BCE) was the last Neolithic jade culture in the Yangtze River Delta of China. The culture was highly stratified, as jade, silk, ivory and lacquer artifacts were found exclusively in elite burials, while pottery was more commonly found in the burial plots of poorer individuals. This division of class indicates that the Liangzhu period was an early state, symbolized by the clear distinction drawn between social classes in funeral structures. The Liangzhu culture was extremely influential and its sphere of influence reached as far north as Shanxi and as far south as Guangdong. The archaeological site of Liangshu was just inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site on July 6, 2019. The exhibit displays 300 artifacts from museums across China including the Liangzhu king's yucong, a large jade cylinder with a hole in the middle, weighing 6.5 kilograms, decorated with deity and mythical creature motifs typical of agricultural civilizations and his yuyue, a scepter-like ax symbolizing the king's supreme military power and used to summon armies.


Image: A Jade YuYue unearthed at Liangahu in 1986 courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor LukeLOU.

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