The exact age of Hangzhou City is still unknown. People always say Hangzhou City has a long history of about 2000+ years. However, 2200 years ago, east to West Lake, where Hangzhou City is located now, is still under water. So the ancient Hangzhou city should be originated in the hills to the west and south of West Lake.

With the discovery of this crystal cup, which is a precious vessel that symbolizes the owner’s unusually high social status, historians hypothesis that …

Let’s take this Jade Cong of Liangzhu culture as an example. It is square outside and round inside, with a middle hole. Experts have speculated that it may represent our ancestors’ “hemispherical dome” belief. The square means earth, the round circle means heaven. And Cong has both of them; it is a symbol of connection between heaven and earth.

At the time, every time when a good harvest, or memorial day, they held a grand sacrificial ceremony. Liangzhu ancestors would use this Jade Cong to communicate with heaven and earth gods.

The discovery of this red lacquer bowl indicates that at least six or seven thousand years ago, Chinese ancestors had been using lacquer to decorate the surface of apparatus. China is the first country in the world that became aware of lacquer and used it for decoration. And this bowl proves it.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art at New York City has a great collection of Ming and Qing Dynasty Chinese lacquerwares. Go have a look!

This bronze ware perhaps was unearthed around mid 19th century during Daoguang or Jiaqing era of Qing Dynasty at Liangshan, Shouzhang County, Shandong Province. There are six other bronze wares unearthed at the same time. All together, they are known as “Seven Treasures of Liangshan”. As the most precious one of seven, Taibao Ding was owned by several people, such as Li Zong-dai, Ding Lin-Nian, Xu Shi-chang, etc. Xu even wrote a poem “Song for Obtaining the Ding” to celebrate his ownership.

Da Ke Ding Tripod is a famous West Zhou Dynasty bronze ware. Together with Big Meng Ding and Maogong Ding, they are the “Three Bronzeware Treasures in Greater China”.

Da Ke Ding Tripod was unearthed in an underground storage in 1890 with 1200+ other bronze wares, including 7 Small Ke Dings, one set of 6 Ke Bells, etc. Da Ke Ding was first bought by Ke Zhao-Min, then given to Pan Zuyin.