The flame of the Hangzhou Asian Games was lit in the park of the Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City on June 15.

"Eternal Flame", which is the torch of the Games, was designed by blending the traditional culture and modern arts, and the designer said proudly that the design was inspired by the Liangzhu culture.

And the design of the medals was also inspired by the rich and splendid Liangzhu culture.

Why the elements of the ancient Liangzhu culture play such an important role in the Hangzhou Games?

The reason is simple: the Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City in Hangzhou is an example of the early urban civilization of mankind, and the relics unearthed are testament to the 5,000-year-old Chinese civilization.

In 2019, the Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

And the Games will, via different platforms and mediums, showcase the Chinese culture to the world, and open a journey for all to experience the nature and culture of China, traversing from the ancient times to the contemporary.

Exquisite jade wares, such as jade cong (square-shaped jade), jade yue (axe-shaped jade) and jade bi (disk-shaped jade) were unearthed from the archaeological ruins site of the ancient Liangzhu City, and the designer of the torch of the Hangzhou Games also borrowed elements of ancient jade wares.

The torch was designed to be square-shaped at the top and round-shaped at the bottom, with the burner nozzle shaped like the earliest script Cong from the oracle bones.

The torch head is designed to be square-shaped, and the design was inspired by the shape of jade Cong, and the torch body is decorated with delicate and exquisite dermatoglyphic fingerprint patterns.

The torch base is embossed with eight water veins representing the eight major river systems in Zhejiang. The dermatoglyphic pattern ends with Chinese knot tassels to demonstrate the unity of athletes involved in the Asian Games, with good wishes to build a community with shared future for mankind.

The medal for the Hangzhou Asian Games is named “Shan Shui”. The design concept was also inspired by the Liangzhu culture as well the Jiangnan culture in Hangzhou.
The front side of the medal is characterized by the 3 sides of the landscape of misty hills, representing the geographical landscape of Hangzhou.

It seamlessly integrates the squared-shaped jade Cong and the round-shaped medal, embodying the square-round harmony in the Chinese culture.

The back side is shaped like a square seal, implying that the athletes will have beautiful memories of the Hangzhou Asian Games.

The unearthed relics stand as proof that the Liangzhu culture was much earlier than the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, and had far-reaching significant influence on the ensuing dynasties.

For example, jade wares unearthed from the archaeological site of the Liangzhu City were exactly in the shapes of ceremonial and sacrificial wares of the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties.

The perfect integration of the Liangzhu culture with the grand Asian Games is to show that among all ancient civilizations The Hanghou Asian Games to showcase Chinese culture to the worldacross the world, the Chinese civilization is the only one that has lasted non-interrupted for more than 5,000 years, and is still robust and developing.