The Liangzhu culture was the last Neolithic jade culture in China’s Yangtze River Delta. In Chinese, the name is written like this: 良渚文化. The Liangzhu culture existed from roughly 3400 BC to 2250 BC.
The Liangzhu culture cultivated rice and used irrigation. They also relayed on aquaculture. The houses were typically built on stilts on the shoreline or over rivers. The Liangzhu society is believed to have been highly stratified, because exclusive materials such as silk, jade and ivory has only been encountered in graves for the elite.
The Liangzhu culture produced big and finely worked ritual jades, often with the taotie motif. The taotie motif consists of a frontal zoomorphic mask with a pair of eye. It typically lacks a lower jaw area. Jade pendants engraved with fish, turtles and small birds are have also been encountered in Liangzhu sites. In addition to this, the Liangzhu culture is famous for its cong cylinders with the largest found one weighing 3.5 kilograms.
Religion is believed to have been important for the Liangzhu culture and an elaborate altar has been found at Yaoshan in Zhejiang. The altar consists of stone piles and rock walls and has three levels paved with cobblestones. The highest level is a platform constructed out of pisé de terre.