List honoring China's top 10 archaeological discoveries of 2025 released

9. The site which yields capital city of the Yue State from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-256 BC) and the Kuaiji prefecture from the Han (206 BC-AD 220) and Six Dynasties (222-589) periods in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province

The site has revealed the core area of the Yue capital for the first time, including city walls, palace platforms, horse pits, and high status sacrificial remains. Overlying this are well preserved official complex buildings, a large cache of over 1,200 administrative documents on wooden slips, and official workshops for armor, coin casting, and mirror making dating to the Han and Six Dynasties. This site provides crucial material for understanding the urban layout and ritual system of the Yue state, as well as local administrative systems, documenting 2,500 years of continuous urban development.