Rubbings of the taotie beast featured on ancient bronzeware from the Shang (c. 16th century-11th century BC) and Zhou (c. 11th century-256 BC) dynasties. [Photo provided to China Daily]

"They were probably taken there by travelers during long journeys, the end of which was often the beginning of another," says Fang. In a sense, they were not unlike the jadeware craftsmen of Lingjiatan, who, seeing the twilight of their culture 5 millennia ago, chose to leave their homeland. They arrived in what would become the ancient city of Liangzhu via the area's ready waterways, bringing with them knowledge of their treasured art. Embedded in that knowledge was the distant memory of Hongshan, the frozen land that was home to a splendid jade culture.

In 1978, a Neolithic site dated to between 2300 BC and 1900 BC was discovered in Taosi village, North China's Shanxi province. There, from the Yellow River Basin, archaeologists unearthed jade cong.

"At one point, that region was seen as the sole origin of Chinese civilization," says Zhou. "Liangzhu, with the city it had built, the society it had developed, the jadeware it had produced, and the belief system it had conceived, proves that conclusion wrong," says Zhou.

"Moreover, it has demonstrated how one regional culture or civilization could draw inspiration from farther afield, while having its own influence ripple outward until it met with another, thousands of kilometers away or hundreds of years down the river of history.

"All those encounters between cultures, and the accumulation of memories of what had taken place on this land — if there's one word to sum it up, it's 'China'."