Small plain offers big rewards
But its significance stems from archaeological perspective. It's home to many prehistoric settlement sites, yielding one of the earliest cities, one of the earliest rice paddy fields and clues for the origins of rice-based agriculture in China.
Since the 1980s, archaeologists have discovered 392 prehistoric cultural sites on this land, with a continuous time sequence from 500,000 to 4,000 years ago. The density and chronological continuity of these prehistoric sites are unparalleled in the history of Chinese archaeology, says Zhou Hua, deputy director of the archaeological research and cultural relics protection centre of Lixian county, Hunan, where the major part of Liyang Plain is located.
The large number of sites poses a big challenge to their protection, prompting professionals to employ different strategies to protect and bring them back to life.
A remarkable one is the Bashidang site in Lixian, a settlement site from 10,000 to 8,000 years ago. Covering 516,670 square feet, it is a relatively small-sized site on the plain. Because it boasts significant academic value, people highlight its protection and integrate it carefully with local people's daily life.
In the 1990s, the site yielded 9,800 seeds and husks, a great number at the time, signifying an origin of rice-based agriculture. It also yielded pottery vessels from the transitional period between Paleolithic and Neolithic periods, shedding light on the important time in academic studies.
Now, the site has been built into a park, with most of its area backfilled with rice being planted by local farmers, continuing its role as farmland from thousands of years ago.
'Such plantings do not harm the site since the crops don't take deep roots. Therefore, we can see people have planted crops on this land for such a long time without destroying it. With limited funds, this is the best way we can balance protection and local people's life,' says Zhou, who adds that many other sites of a similar scale on the plain are protected in this way.
According to Cao Yi, deputy director of Lixian's culture, tourism, radio, television and sports bureau, they have taken measures that can benefit local people as well. For example, they built roads and bridges in the site to facilitate the transportation, so that the site area has a better environment and farmers can farm more conveniently.
About 12 miles from Bashidang lies the Chengtoushan site which covers about 2 million square feet and has been protected and developed through a different approach.
'If the protection of Bashidang is to combine it with villagers' life, our work to protect and promote Chengtoushan lies mainly in building its brand in local cultural tourism so as to drive other local industries,' says Cao.
Dating back 6,500 to 3,800 years, Chengtoushan was one of the earliest cities ever discovered in China, which yielded an ancient paddy field from 6,500 years ago.
'Besides the paddy field, we also found carbonised rice and irrigation facilities, showing a mature agricultural system. Therefore, we infer that ancient people living in Chengtoushan led a relatively stable farming life, different from the earlier lifestyle of hunting and gathering,' says Zhou.
A Chengtoushan national archaeological site park has been built at the cost of 600 million yuan (£62.9 million), keeping the original layout, covering 109.06 acres, with a museum showcasing highlighted cultural artifacts from the site.
Zhou says based on features of the site, they have designed many activities for tourists. For example, they offer people a chance to try their hand at archaeological excavation in the neighbouring areas of the site.
People can also plant rice in spring and autumn and catch fish.
They can learn how to make pottery vessels which ancient people also worked on, and row a boat on the river surrounding the settlement.
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