1. Various of Liangzhu Cultural Village
2. Various of journalists, international visitors heading to vehicles
3. Driver
4. Bird on lake
5. Journalists, international visitors walking along paddy rice field
6. Maria Belgica Catalina Nvo Acaba, visitor from Equatorial Guinea, taking photo of paddy rice field
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Maria Belgica Catalina Nvo Acaba, visitor from Equatorial Guinea:
“It’s beautiful scenery to get beautiful wedding photos here. I love it. Any bride would like it.”
8. Various of journalists, international visitors examining burial site
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Dahir Abdullahi Mohamed, reporter, Somalia National News Agency:
“I’m very interested in how they distributed rice. The rice area is a good one. I’m very interested.”
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Innocent Phinan Odoh, reporter, Nigeria’s Leadership Newspaper:
(Reporter: “What is it?”)
“It’s a monument. I think it represents something special about this place. It represents the ancient civilization of the Chinese people. How did they live their lives, the kind of governments they had, the kind of family they had, the kind of farm implements they had. Also of course, you see the hierarchy of governance structure that they had.”
11. Various of exhibits at Liangzhu Museum
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Tsahirou Abdoua, journalist, Niger News Agency:
“It reflected the reality in the past. How people lived in China in the past. And I’ve seen now how people are living. I’ve seen the comparison from the past to the present. I [noticed] the difference is very, very clear. I’m very impressed with that place. I enjoy very, very much your country, your city.”
13. Journalists, international visitors posing for photo
14. Various of exhibits
Storyline
Journalists covering the Hangzhou Asian Games joined a group of international visitors on a trip to learn about the 5,000-year-old Liangzhu heritage site in the northwestern outskirts of the host city, where the ceremonial torch for the Games was lit.
The Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City, which existed for more than 1,000 years beginning from around 3200 BC, was an early regional state based on rice farming and a complex social division. It was also a center of political and religious influence.
Liangzhu, which means “isle of beauty,” is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with a rich cultural history dating back over 5,300 years. The ancient city is considered an important representation of early urban civilization.
Walking through a green field of paddy rice, Maria Belgica Catalina Nvo Acaba from Equatorial Guinea was amazed by the verdant scenery.
“It’s beautiful scenery to get beautiful wedding photos here. I love it. Any bride would like it,” she said.
After seeing the burial sites and rice culture, Dahir Abdullahi Mohamed, a reporter with the Somalia National News Agency, was curious to learn more about ancient Chinese agriculture.
“I’m very interested in how they distributed rice. The rice area is a good one. I’m very interested,” said the reporter.
With a souvenir of the “Divine Bird” motif from the Liangzhu Culture in hand, Innocent Phinan Odoh, a Nigerian reporter from Leadership Newspaper said he was impressed by early Chinese civilization.
“It’s a monument. I think it represents something special about this place. It represents the ancient civilization of the Chinese people. How did they live their lives, the kind of governments they had, the kind of family they had, the kind of farm implements they had. Also of course, you see the hierarchy of governance structure that they had,” said Odoh.
The group also visited the Liangzhu Museum, which houses a collection of archaeological findings from Liangzhu culture, ranging from exquisite jade artifacts to pottery and jade.
“It reflected the reality in the past. How people lived in China in the past. And I’ve seen now how people are living. I’ve seen the comparison from the past to the present. I [noticed] the difference is very, very clear. I’m very impressed with that place,” said Tsahirou Abdoua, a journalist with the Niger News Agency.
