🇨🇳 China · Hydraulic works
Karez of Turpan
Han dynasty 142 BCE to Qing · Han, Uyghur, Hui oasis communities
2000-year karez underground qanat network (5,000 km, 1,100 lines) feeding Turpan Depression vineyards from Tian Shan snowmelt.
🇨🇳 China · Submerged site
Baiheliang – White Crane Ridge Hydrological Inscriptions
Tang to Modern (763 – 1963 CE recordings; dam 2003) · Tang / Song / Yuan / Ming / Qing Chinese
1.6 km Yangtze ridge with 1,200-year water-level inscriptions from 763 CE — drowned by Three Gorges Dam and preserved inside world's deepest underwater museum.
🇨🇳 China · Rock art
Zuojiang Huashan East Cliff — Fusui Mingjiang Rock Paintings
Bronze Age to Iron Age (Luoyue) · Luoyue (proto-Zhuang) Dian-related
Fusui east cliff of UNESCO Huashan 170-m hematite painting with 1100 frog-shamans and bronze drums, 500 BCE–200 CE.
🇨🇳 China · Ancient village
Tianluoshan
Hemudu culture 6500–5000 BCE (Early → Middle → Late Hemudu) · Hemudu (Lower Yangzi Neolithic, Austroasiatic? → later Wu-Yue)
Hemudu culture waterlogged village (c.6500–5000 BCE, 7000–5800 cal BP) in Yuyao, Zhejiang — 3 ha Neolithic settlement between two hills 7 km northeast of Hemudu, excavated 2004–07 by Zhejiang…
🇨🇳 China · Rock art
Yinshan East Panel — Daqingshan Wolf Mountain Petroglyphs
Bronze Age to Iron Age · Andronovo-influenced Ordos, Xiongnu
Daqingshan east Yinshan with 1500 petroglyphs, Andronovo chariot and Ordos deer-stone stags, Shang–Xiongnu.
🇨🇳 China · Hydraulic works
Grand Canal – Beijing-Hangzhou Section (Jing-Hang Yunhe)
Spring & Autumn to Sui to Qing continuous operation · Wu State, Sui, Yuan engineers plus successive dynasties
1,797 km artificial river (5th c. BCE–609 CE)—world's longest canal, feeding capitals for 1,400 years.
🇨🇳 China · Rock art
Dahekou III East Baiyin Rock Art
Late Neolithic to Bronze · Majiayao, Qijia, Siba (Gansu corridor Neolithic–Bronze)
2025 east-bank Yellow River deer paintings opposite Dahekou west bank pecked panels.
🇨🇳 China · Rock art
Huaishan Rock Petroglyphs — Zhongwei
Bronze Age to Mongol (Xixia 1038–1227 peak) · Northern nomads (Proto-Mongolic, Xiongnu, Xianbei, Xixia Tangut, Mongol)
Helan southernmost Huaishan 800 ibex and shaman faces on Yellow River Tengger bend, Bronze–Xixia patina.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Longyou Grottoes
Warring States to Han (contested) · Yue–Wu contested; possibly Chu or Han
Mystery siltstone quarry silos 30×40 m 10–35 m deep with cavetto walls, 1992 flooded rediscovery.
🇨🇳 China · Rock art
Dahekou II — Yellow River East Bank Baiyin Petroglyphs
Neolithic to Bronze Age · Majiayao, Qijia, Xindian
Baiyin east bank Yellow River 3000–4000 yr deer and ibex paintings/petroglyphs, 2025-discovered.
🇨🇳 China · Hydraulic works
Dujiangyan North Channel — Waijiang Fish-Mouth North Spill
Warring States (Qin to Han) · Qin Sichuan, Bashu
Min River Fish-Mouth levee splitting Waijiang north flood vs Neijiang south irrigation with Lidui cut, 256 BCE Li Bing.
🇨🇳 China · Hydraulic works
Lingqu Canal North Section — Xing'an Qincheng Cut and Pound Lock
Qin (Warring States unification) · Qin Central, Bashu, Baiyue
Xing'an Xiang north 70% vs Lingqu south 30% divide with Huazui spillway and 36 pound locks, 219 BCE Shi Lu Qin.
🇨🇳 China · Ancient village
Shangshan
Shangshan culture 9000–7000 BCE → Kuahuqiao (8500–7700) → Hemudu · Shangshan (Lower Yangzi earliest Neolithic, Pre-Yangshao)
Type-site for Shangshan culture (c.11000–9000 BP, 9000–7000 BCE) at Huangzhai near Pujiang, Zhejiang — earliest Neolithic in the Lower Yangzi (currently oldest pottery in Zhejiang), excavated 2001–06…
🇨🇳 China · Ancient city
Chengtoushan
Daxi (5500–3300) → Qujialing → Shijiahe 5500–2300 BCE · Daxi → Qujialing → Shijiahe (Middle Yangzi walled cities)
Earliest walled rice city in China (c.5500–3000 BCE) at Chengtoushan plateau on the Liyang Plain near Li County — 8 ha fortified town with 3 m rammed-earth wall 800 m diameter and outer moat,…
🇨🇳 China · Rock art
Helan Mountains South Gorge — Helankou South Rock Art Park II
Bronze Age to Medieval · Xiongnu, Xianbei, Dangxiang Tangut, Mongol
Helankou south branch with 312 panels, Western Xia sun masks and tiger-bharal frieze, 1000 BCE–1200 CE.
🇨🇳 China · Rock-cut
Yungang Grottoes — Western Caves Extension (Caves 26–40)
Northern Dynasties (Northern Wei late) · Tuoba Wei (Xianbei) Buddhist with Han artisan school
UNESCO Yungang western 15-cave zone 494–525 with central-pillar and collapsed colossus.
🇨🇳 China · Ancient village
Xinglongwa
Xinglongwa culture 6200–5400 BCE → Zhaobaogou → Hongshan · Xinglongwa (Liao River Neolithic, Proto-Mongolic?)
Type-site for Xinglongwa culture (c.6200–5400 BCE, 8200–7400 BP) on the Aohan hills near Chifeng, Inner Mongolia — earliest Neolithic on the Mongolian plateau, 120 pit-house village with central…
🇨🇳 China · Hydraulic works
Dujiangyan Irrigation System
Warring States, Qin to Qing continuous · Qin state engineers under Li Bing (later successive dynasties maintenance)
256 BCE Qin weir still irrigating 5,300 km²—world's oldest dam-less hydraulic system.
🇨🇳 China · Rock art
Zuojiang Huashan North Ningming Rock Art
Warring States to Western Han · Luoyue / Zhuang ancestors
North Mingjiang tributary cliffs with 210 frog-men and scaffold postholes.
🇨🇳 China · Ancient city
Taosi
Late Longshan Taosi phase 2300–1900 BCE → Erlitou transition · Longshan (Taosi culture) → Early Xia? (Yao/Shun legend)
Late Longshan (Taosi phase) walled regional capital (c.2300–1900 BCE) at Tao Temple basin near Linfen, Shanxi — 280 ha enclosure (largest Longshan city in Yellow River basin) with rammed-earth outer…
🇨🇳 China · Rock art
Helan Mountains Suyukou South Rock Art
Early Bronze to Yuan · Qiang, Xiongnu, Xianbei, Mongol (Helan corridor pastoralists)
South Suyukou gully 4 km south of Helankou with 600 shamanic mask petroglyphs.
🇨🇳 China · Hydraulic works
Turpan Karez Extension (Flaming Mountains North Piedmont)
Imperial Chinese (Ming-Qing) on Han antecedent · Turpan Uyghur / Han frontier
Eastern extension (30 m asl, 42°57′04″N 89°11′22″E Turpan municipal 42.9512,89.1895; Flaming Mountains 100 km E-W 42.98,89.20 500-850 m) of Turpan-Hami Silk Road karez water system UNESCO 1442 Silk…
🇨🇳 China · Ancient village
Qujialing
Qujialing 3400–2600 BCE → Shijiahe 2600–2300 → Longshan · Qujialing culture (Middle Yangzi Chalcolithic) → Shijiahe
Type-site for Qujialing culture (c.3400–2600 BCE) on the Qujialing–Shijiahe plateau north of Chang Lake in Jianghan Plain — 263 ha palisaded terrace (eastern plateau 160 m height) excavated 1955–57…
🇨🇳 China · Rock art
Zuojiang Huashan West Chongzuo Rock Art
Bronze Age to Han · Luoyue / Lạc Việt (ancient Zhuang ancestors), Dian periphery
West bank cliff opposite main Hua Mountain with bronze-drum anthropomorph sequence.