A 10-day exploration of Wuhan in Hubei province

Day 8

Panlongcheng National Archaeological Site Park

The Panlongcheng site is located in Huangpi district, Wuhan city, Hubei province. It is a city site dating back to the early Shang Dynasty of China (c.16th century-11th century BC). It has the largest scale, clearest layout, and richest archaeological discoveries of any site in the Yangtze River valley. It was a regional center of the early Bronze civilization along the Yangtze River and laid the foundations for Wuhan city. It was named one of China's 100 major archaeological discoveries of the 20th century.

The site covers 3.95 square kilometers, and the key protection area is 1.39 sq km. Its ruins include central palaces, building bases, aristocratic tombs and handicraft workshops. More than 3,000 exquisite cultural relics have been unearthed, such as a large jade dagger-axe (ge), a large bronze tripod cauldron (ding), a large bronze battle-axe (yue), and a set of turquoise ornaments inlaid with gold flakes. These are all of high historical, scientific and artistic value.