Regeneration of Liangzhu culture: multimedia exhibition, simulated restoration, innovative cultural products, nearby area integration, virtual reality and augmented reality

Abstract

Since Liangzhu culture was recognised as the earliest monarchical period in the history of China, its vitality has been acknowledged both by the public and archaeologists in China and worldwide. Several contributions to current regeneration practices, including exhibitions, innovative cultural products, and integrations with nearby areas, remain in the preliminary stages due to the relative youth of the Liangzhu archaeological sites and museum, while their adoption of VR and AR technologies is also limited in practice. Referencing relevant cases in the literature and an interview with a manager involved with the archaeological work on Liangzhu culture, this article provides recommendations for exhibitions that emphasise the adoption of digital and multimedia displays and simulated restorations. Meanwhile, innovative cultural products require improvements related to design and development that match customer preferences. To integrate Liangzhu culture with nearby tourist attractions, comprehensive studies are needed on the spiritual connections that local communities develop with their original living spaces and the forms of their participation in heritage conservation practices. This article also presents several technical improvements for VR and AR, such as new methods for constructing digital models and the choice of presentation medium. Potential usages for AR technology with simulated restorations, interactive activities, innovative cultural products, and new public spaces nearby have also been suggested. Supported by the detailed discussion of restoration practices in these recommendations, this article provides an integrative regeneration plan for all “large” and “earthen” Neolithic archaeological cultures that resemble Liangzhu culture.

Introduction

First excavated in 1936, the Liangzhu civilisation is the earliest discovered mature monarchical civilisation in Chinese history. The core characteristics of the Liangzhu culture, including the principle of a planned central capital, hydraulic dams, water transportation, mature agriculture, rice ploughing, a jade industry, and long-duration architectural constructions, define its unique influence in the political, economic, agricultural, and cultural developments in China in the following 5300 years. Therefore, the excavation, preservation, management, and exhibition of Liangzhu archaeological sites need to be cautiously considered and practised. The regeneration of Liangzhu culture is urgently required to make this ancient civilisation more tangible and connected to the lives of the contemporary public and to contribute to the economic and cultural developments in China.

In July 2019, Liangzhu Ancient City Remains Park was established within the previous capital city of Liangzhu culture. Nearly all the Liangzhu archaeological sites have been included in this park with proper facilities for exhibitions and tourism. At the same time, most of the excavated cultural relics were stored in archaeological laboratories and the Liangzhu Museum, which was finalised in June 2018 in a location several kilometres southeast of the park. Benefitting from relatively recent construction, these archaeological sites and museum can adopt several advanced philosophies to restore Liangzhu culture, including various multimedia exhibition modes and the integration of Liangzhu culture with innovative cultural products and public spaces of nearby areas. Neighbouring areas have already displayed spillover benefits from the visitor concentration at the exquisitely maintained archaeological sites and museum. However, as the author has observed, the practices of new exhibition modes to display Liangzhu culture are still in the preliminary phase due to the youth of the park and the museum. When compared with similar practices in other archaeological sites and museums, the exhibition modes in the Liangzhu Cultural Area still have room for improvement. Therefore, this article aims to provide recommendations for improving current exhibitions at the Liangzhu archaeological sites and Liangzhu Museum by introducing several innovative methods and technologies, such as simulated restoration, virtual reality, and augmented reality. This article also identifies available approaches to integrate Liangzhu culture with the development of innovative cultural products and the construction of nearby areas. From observations of the unique characteristics of Liangzhu culture, this article aims to explore a comprehensive regeneration mode that can articulate how to poetically and innovatively revive similar archaeological cultures and establish their contribution to modern China’s economic and cultural developments.

Literature review

To identify the urgent problems needed in the regeneration of Liangzhu culture, this article reviews several literature pieces outlining the existing vital aspects of the current exhibitions of Liangzhu culture remains and several examples of the economic and cultural regeneration of Liangzhu culture.

Integrating Liangzhu culture with the economic and cultural life of modern-day Chinese people is essential to the regeneration of Liangzhu culture, a practice which should be based on the authentic and efficient preservation of archaeological remains. Two personal case studies (Zhini, 2013; Wofeilaifeiquwo, 2013) introduce the inspiration for the architectural shape and spatial arrangement of the Liangzhu Museum, which is the core of the exhibition managing the excavated remains of the Liangzhu culture. Another two case studies (Light_leung, 2019; Castlehami, 2019) introduce an architectural estate called Liangzhu Cultural Village built by Vanke and inspired by the urban spatial planning of Liangzhu culture. The distribution of residential houses into different communities and landscapes reflects the geographic environment and the rural distribution of the Liangzhu culture. Praising this unique example, which positively represents the integration of archaeologically excavated cultures and architectural estate construction, Zhi and Ling (2019) regard Liangzhu Cultural Village as an implementation of the Garden City Theory. They aver the educational value of its design principles, which include the distribution of communities, integration of natural and artificial landscapes with residential buildings, and an accommodation density that benefits the sustainable development of urbanisation.

Liangzhu Ancient City Remains Park is another critical component of the exhibition and management of archaeological remains. The planning of the archaeological sites, visitation routes, spatial nodes, and landscapes have been thoroughly discussed in the literature. Based on this park’s practicability, Lei (2020) further appeals to more archaeological parks in Zhejiang, including Liangzhu Ancient City Remains Park, to reflect the local and historical narratives and cultures of Zhejiang Province. Focusing on the core characteristics of Liangzhu archaeological sites, which are both “large” and “earthen”, several articles (Zhu and Quan, 2007; Ran et al., 2013; Shen et al., 2019; Fu et al., 2020; Jin and Qian, 2018) discuss the detailed preservation, management, and exhibition methods for “earthen archaeological sites” and “large archaeological sites”. These scholars argue that the construction of archaeological parks is a standard method to balance (or integrate) the needs for preservation by managers and exhibition to visitors, along with the “park” attribute that brings ecological diversity and leisure spaces into the assets of local tourism.

The current exhibitions of Liangzhu archaeological sites depend on numerous methods, including advanced or innovative technologies such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), restored and physical simulations, and ecological signposting. Weng (2019) illustrates several AR projects adopted in the Liangzhu Museum to provide tourists with an immersive, interactive, and tridimensional visiting experience. For the exhibitions in Liangzhu archaeological sites, Wang (2019) introduces the 3D-printed restored simulations of the people and buildings in Liangzhu culture, and the Management Committee of Hangzhou Liangzhu Remains Management District (2019) introduces both restored, physical simulations and ecological signposting. To restore or signpost the original scenes of ordinary life or shapes of the Liangzhu people, which were inferred from archaeological artefacts, human models were designed to their actual scales and according to their individual characteristics. Aiming to directly and effectively visualise a vivid social or spatial environment to the visitors, curators thus maximised the creativity and interest of the exhibition. Introduced in other articles, archaeological sites that are similar to the Liangzhu archaeological sites, including Sanxingdui, Yinxu, Dingdingmen, and the ones in Xi’an and Nara, have also adopted innovative exhibition methods and technologies worth imitating (Hsueh, 2017; Liao and Gao, 2010; Kang et al., 2011; Xiao, 2018; Lu, 2018). These articles explain these methods and technologies specifically, including both conventional and innovative multimedia approaches. It can be inferred that current heritage curators intentionally choose audio, video, light effects, and immersive interactive technologies (meaning VR and AR) to meet the current trend of extending archaeological sites from pure exhibition and education to recreation in multimedia experiences.

For the innovative cultural products that are essential for integrating Liangzhu culture with the daily lives of current Chinese people, Zhuang (2020) points out several disadvantages in their current marketing and commercial situation by comparing these products with those proven to be successful by the Forbidden Palace in Beijing. A similar archaeological entity, Sanxingdui culture, is also a useful exemplar. Several articles (Ou et al., 2016; Du et al., 2016; Wang et al., 2019) analyse their current marketing situation from different perspectives and identify a number of existing disadvantages, such as an ambiguity of marketing targets, a lack of research into product types and customer favourites, disharmony in the integration of archaeological cultures and product functions, and a lack of sales channels.

Guo et al.’s article (2014) focuses on the current lack of inspiration from the Liangzhu culture in the construction of nearby rural counties. They point out that public areas, building shapes, and spatial arrangement should carry the inner spirit and spatial characteristics of the Liangzhu culture. There are other examples of sites (Fu et al., 2020; Jin and Qian, 2018) that integrate archaeological cultures with nearby areas, emphasising the importance of the psychological connection between villagers and the rural spatial environment before relocation. Before redesigning the spatial environment of nearby rural areas, in-depth interviews must be conducted to analyse these psychological and emotional connections and ensure they are resumed in the relocation site to an extent. Furthermore, the articles recommend assigning the villagers to participate in the management of the archaeological sites and tourist servicing facilities in rural areas.

According to the literature introducing the critical factors of Liangzhu culture and the literature discussing current weaknesses, this article focuses on urgent unresolved topics that emphasise current academic concerns. These include problems in exhibition with multimedia technologies and restored simulations, innovative cultural products, integration of nearby areas with Liangzhu culture, and the availability specifically of virtual reality and augmented reality.

Methodology

This article seeks potential improvements to the existing methods and technologies applied to the exhibitions of Liangzhu archaeological findings and considers newly invented methods and technologies for use in current exhibitions. Moreover, the article also discusses the current integrations between Liangzhu culture and China’s economic and cultural activities, how to improve them, and what new methods can be applied to further the integration. Currently, the VR and AR technologies applied in the Liangzhu Museum and Liangzhu archaeological sites only narrate a restricted number of topics (see the interview attached in the “Data Availability” section). Restored simulation sculptures are installed as a pioneering method seldom applied elsewhere. Among the several forms of integration between Liangzhu culture and the lives of current Chinese people, the combination of Liangzhu culture with nearby areas and innovative cultural products are the key issues requiring improvement that have been frequently pointed out in the literature. This article mainly depends on combining the author’s observations and conclusions with the information from these online works, aided by a questionnaire interview (attached in the “Data Availability” section) with a manager of Nanjing Museum working on the current archaeological practices used in excavating Liangzhu culture.

Literature reading

There are several literature references in English, locatable through the UCL online library, while others are in simplified or traditional Chinese, locatable through either the China National Knowledge Infrastructure database or Wanfang Data. The English articles are mainly related to different implementations of VR or AR technologies in global archaeological exhibitions, while the Chinese articles also include multimedia exhibition methods, restored simulations, innovative cultural products, and nearby constructions of public space. These articles probably involve all contemporary regeneration-related topics—mainly exhibitions and integrations with cultural and economic developments—which the archaeological site managers need to consider. These relatively medium-tech topics have been thoroughly adopted in Chinese archaeological regeneration practices during the last two decades in accordance with China’s economic development and the atmosphere of flexible industrial design associated with the burgeoning light and heavy industries. Thus, discussions related to these topics are both mature and continuously advancing, meriting reference, regardless of their actual practices of implementation ideologies and various effects.

1. The first group of studies is about the exhibition strategies of large and earthen archaeological sites with similar characteristics to Liangzhu archaeological sites. These methods include multimedia exhibitions (excluding VR and AR) and simulated restorations, currently the trending strategies globally for these types of archaeological sites.

2. The second group of studies is about innovative cultural products, which articulate the shortages of the current innovative cultural product markets for Sanxingdui culture, a Neolithic culture similar to Liangzhu culture. Hence, corresponding improvements and additions of product types, product marketing strategies, and product-culture integration principles have been developed.

3. The third group of studies is about the methods applied in other archaeological projects to integrate nearby communities with archaeological sites and cultures. These methods include using spirit-space relations to integrate the aesthetic and symbolic icons of archaeological cultures with the design and construction of residential and public areas. Nearby residents who are interested in and knowledgeable of archaeological sites and cultures may also be employed in relevant jobs that require corresponding knowledge.

4. The fourth group of studies discusses the virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies applied in several archaeological projects, especially including issues within the exhibition. These articles, which clarify the theoretical bases, design principles, software and hardware details, and user manuals of VR and AR technologies in their archaeological projects, are the most direct references for the Liangzhu Museum and archaeological sites to determine the suitability of adopting similar technologies.

Questionnaire interview

For the questionnaire interview (attached under “Data Availability”), nine questions were used to invite the interviewee to answer with a paragraph or two per question. This open and qualitative questionnaire aims to gather direct, authoritative, and comprehensive information about the current usage of VR, AR, and simulated restorations in the Liangzhu Museum and archaeological sites and their planned improvements. The questionnaire is designed to be answered without face-to-face interaction with the interviewer to avoid pushing the interviewee to issue quick answers that may result in neglected information and unpleasant experiences.

As a disadvantage, the use of a single interview may increase the difficulty for the author to collect, process, and analyse the data since code frames or categories are required to process collected data against a sufficiently pretested closed questionnaire (Bourque and Fielder, 2011). Meanwhile, the tedium of typing out answers and the lack of prompts may cause displeasure in the interviewee (Bourque and Fielder, 2011). To prevent the weaknesses mentioned above from occurring, the author designed the questionnaire with a minimal question amount (under 10), and the interviewee is advised to answer in 1 or 2 paragraphs for each question. The statements are designed accurately in advance to prevent potential misunderstanding, with necessary supplementary remarks provided afterwards. Since the questionnaire interview was only conducted with a single manager in a museum vitally concerned with Liangzhu culture, the workload of collecting, processing, and analysing the collected data is light, and the authoritativeness and authenticity of the answers are assured.

Exhibition methods based on site characteristics: earthen and large archaeological sites

Liangzhu archaeological sites have two characteristics, as they are both large and earthen, which defines the appropriate methods for designing their exhibition and conservation methods. The “large” attribute accords to its large scale, a massive quantity of systematic historical and cultural information, various types of cultural remains, and various forms of presentation (Zhu and Quan, 2007). The “earthen” attribute comes from the main building material, earth, for the built environment of the sites, including city walls, platforms, and other Neolithic infrastructure. It is consequently necessary to distinguish the exhibition strategies for different archaeological findings, especially between large open spaces and architectural remains. The large open spaces, mainly of earthen quality, usually require an exhibition design that leaves a visual impression of the totality on the visitors; the architectural remains, however, are relatively small scale and need a curatorial emphasis on their original details. Focusing on these two archaeological types, multimedia exhibitions and simulated restorations are the two widely practised exhibition methods worth consideration.

Multimedia exhibitions

Multimedia exhibitions are popular worldwide, especially with the popularisation of personal computers, which can usually provide interactive and immersive experiences. There is a developing trend among museums and archaeological sites to focus not only on traditional exhibition goals but also on places where tourists can be entertained by innovative exhibition methods. Interactive and immersive experiences help fulfil visitor expectations of emotional and psychic connections to cultural relics and archaeological sites, which may also help them learn archaeological knowledge (Hsueh, 2017). Therefore, multimedia exhibitions have naturally become the standard direction for improving current museums and other exhibition sites.

There are many examples of multimedia exhibitions from other archaeological cultures in China, East Asia, and globally, which are sufficient to guide the exhibitions of Liangzhu culture. For example, Xi’an City has utilised several multimedia exhibition strategies for its earthen archaeological sites to overcome their inherent weaknesses in visual identification. Most of the earthen archaeological sites in Xi’an are flat, earthen platforms that are difficult to visualise from a ground perspective (Hsueh, 2017; Xiao, 2018) and are also challenging for curators who seek to provide a direct scale comparison and immersive feeling, even if the site is photographed from aerial drones (Hsueh, 2017). Therefore, managers proposed several innovative digital and multimedia methods to maximise tourist impressions of these archaeological sites, including vapour curtains and waterfalls that serve as the backdrop for video projections that show historical scenes of the archaeological sites. An alternate strategy used a massive installation of performance lights on Li Mountain, which acts as a splendid lighting background for the night-time performances in the archaeological sites (Hsueh, 2017). These exhibition strategies are valuable references for Liangzhu curators since archaeological remains are either outdoor excavation sites which have refilled areas that are briefly canopied or altar and wall remains whose profiles can only be recognised by comparison with those of the bare hills. Installing digital lights on hills and excavation fields may outline their profiles and create performance backgrounds at night. The water channels in the Liangzhu archaeological sites also spare enough water and space to generate projections on vapour screens and waterfalls (see Fig. 1).

Fig. 1 [Images not available. See PDF.]

Possible spaces and presentation forms for projections on vapour screens and waterfalls: (upper left) the water body with statues of boating people in Liangzhu archaeological sites (photographed by the author on 23 February 2023); (Upper right and lower) Using diffused vapour curtains created by the spouted waterfalls to create backscreens for projecting public cultural advertising videos (photographed by the author in Quanhu Park in Guiyang, China, on 25 August 2019; produced by the author).

Simulated restorations

In company with the concept of the multimedia exhibition is the concept of simulated restoration, which is a large category ranging from a same-scale tridimensional architectural model to a digital projection of animated public scenes onto a physical backscreen. Suitable for different archaeological remains, simulated restorations can also be practised in different forms with creative visual effects that heritage managers wish to proffer to visitors. Architectural remains are one of the most suitable mediums for practising this method. In the current Liangzhu archaeological sites, the restorations of the architectural remains are mainly expressed in three ways: first, the foundation of the building is signalled with gravel and surrounding bushes; second, the excavated foundation adds a new layer (with similar material to the foundation) and the locations of original columns and walls are drawn with white lines; and third, the complete conjectured building is imitatively constructed (see Fig. 2). The first two maintain low vertical visibility of the remains, while the last one shows insufficient seriousness since not all of the architectural details have been articulated.

Fig. 2 [Images not available. See PDF.]

Different simulated restoration strategies for the architectural remains in Liangzhu archaeological sites: signalling the column locations with white lines; signalling the periphery and occupying an area of the building with bushes and gravels; restoring the complete appearance of the building (photographed by the author on 23 February 2023).

Two general ideas widely adopted in architectural restorations can be drawn as examples to avoid the above weaknesses. The first idea for simulating architectural restorations is to briefly outline their profiles. For example, Danfeng Gate, the front gate of the Daming Palace (part of the Imperial City in Xi’an), is restored with a simulated architectural profile outlined from its original appearance to directly express to tourists its original scale and structure while reducing the details of its partial colours. The whole building is constructed with earth-brown concrete, which integrates the building with the overall colour tones of its nearby archaeological site and expresses its earthen characteristic as an archaeological remain (Hsueh, 2017) (see Fig. 3). Moreover, parts of the Imperial City Walls are restored abstractly in simplified geometric shapes without battlements and are also constructed of earth-brown concrete for the same reason as Danfeng Gate (Hsueh, 2017). These simulated restoration methods for architecture may also be learned and adopted by Liangzhu archaeological sites, as their inner-city walls are all earthen remains that can be partly rebuilt to abstractly suggest their original sizes and structures. For the palaces on Mojiao Mountain, without existing accurate inferences on their shapes and structures, architectural profiles can be built that neglect their exact colours and details and only express their rough vertical sizes and possible structures as inferred from their excavated foundations. Several metal frames symbolising the residential buildings in Liangzhu archaeological sites have proven their efficiency in signalling the spatial scales accommodating the living and working scenes of the Liangzhu people. However, a more suitable reference may be the Zichen Hall in Daming Palace, whose size and profile are more vividly portrayed by several simple metal frames outlining its roof, beams, and columns. The purpose of this minimalism is to inform visitors that the current knowledge about its original detailed colours and architectural parts is insufficient, and any decisive restoration of these unknown details would be irresponsible (see Fig. 4).

Fig. 3 [Images not available. See PDF.]

Northern Façade of the restored Danfeng Gate (photographed by the author on 11 July 2017).

Fig. 4 [Images not available. See PDF.]

Metal frame outlining the simplified profile of the residential building in Liangzhu culture (photographed by the author on 23 February 2023).

The second idea of simulated architectural restorations is to emphasise their original column structures. Considering that the most articulated remains of the buildings in the Liangzhu area are column locations instead of earthen façades and thatched rooftops which are only conjectured, another type of simulated building restoration can feature the locations of columns. Usually, this restoration is suitably implemented in restoring traditional East Asian architecture due to its emphasis on integral wooden column-beam structures rather than the relatively insignificant nonload-bearing walls that serve only as spatial partitions. Although there is still no affirmative identification that Liangzhu column buildings were the precedents of the classical column-beam architectural structures in China and East Asia, it is still practical and beneficial to implement an emphasis on columns as part of architectural restorations in Liangzhu.

Methods for restoring the column structures include marking the column location with a plinth, a cylindrical bush, or a half-length column. The plinth is a typical element of a column in East Asian architecture and has also been proven to exist in the architectural columns of the Liangzhu culture. Mature utilisations can be found in the Imperial Palaces in Xi’an in China (Daming Palace) and Nara in Japan (Heijo Palace) (Hsueh, 2017; Kang et al., 2011; Du, 2006), such as the high platform of Hanyuan Hall on which several plinths are placed to represent the original columns (see Fig. 5). Using cylindrical bushes to replace the plinths is also creative and efficient. An architectural restoration in Heijo Palace in Nara planted lobular boxwoods on the raised platform of the excavated architectural foundation, corresponding to the columns’ original locations. This vegetation can be easily uprooted due to its shallow roots, which are less likely to compress the earth and damage any backfilled underground cultural relics, the original architectural foundations, and their surrounding earthen environment (Lu, 2018; Huang, 2020). Additionally, they can be trimmed into a cylindrical shape to imitate the column. Finally, using half-length columns and walls is more visually intuitive for visitors to imagine the interior spatial arrangements of buildings if the walls’ locations can be identified in archaeological excavation work (see Fig. 6).

Fig. 5 [Images not available. See PDF.]

Simulatively restored plinths of Hanyuan Hall in Xi’an Daming Palace (on the lower part of this photo) (photographed by the author on 11 July 2017).

Fig. 6 [Images not available. See PDF.]

Three typical restoration strategies for columned buildings in East Asia: using plinths to show the column locations; planting shallow-root bushes to portray the columns; using half-height walls and columns to illustrate the spatial arrangement of the building (produced by the author).

Considering the possible intervention brought by these installations and vegetation, a bare earthen platform can be added at the location of the remaining or refilled excavation site, buffering the restored infrastructure and the underground cultural relics or architectural foundation which needs careful isolation. Importantly, these types of simulated restorations can be organically integrated to express the gradual completion of Liangzhu architectural structures, from signalling their bare overground locations and occupying areas with bare earthen platforms to partly presenting their column-wall structures with indoor views to showing their completed architectural forms with detailed appearances.

In addition to the necessity for architectural restorations, in the Liangzhu archaeological sites, there are also many excavation fields which have large occupied areas that require certain visually identifiable materials for interpretation. This work can also be regarded as a part of the restoration of historical terrain and city planning. When considering the expansiveness of Liangzhu archaeological sites, some low-maintenance and economically friendly materials can be adopted for such restoration. Vegetation is one such material for signalling the peripheries or the actual locations of bodies of water or just for simulatively restoring original plant growth (Lu, 2018), which can be applied to the inner-city water channels and the bodies of water close to the excavated dams at Liangzhu. As seen in Xi’an Daming Palace, newly planted lotus and wild rice shoots authentically revive the atmosphere of Taiye Pool, which has been proven to have once held these exact plants. When Daming Palace was originally constructed, these plants were near the shore, as inferred from archaeological excavation and historical records (Lu, 2018). However, signalling these bodies of water in Liangzhu archaeological sites with typical horticultural flowering vegetation is not suitable since it may produce an unnecessary inconvenience with heavy costs in resources and labour, considering the massive area involved. Additionally, these plants cannot express the complex historical importance of the bodies of water (Lu, 2018). Therefore, as an alternative to the areas where water has already been added to beautify the park and restore original water channels, rice can be widely planted to signal the original bodies of water and channels where reflooding is impossible (such as the area surrounding the peninsula with the Chizhongsi Granary). Rice is affordable for large-scale planting and can authentically restore historical vegetation conditions.

Signalling the original water areas with coloured materials can be considered if the areas are designed to be walkable for tourists. In the Xi’an Daming Palace, the Shaoyang Courtyard water channel, which occupies a substantial area, is covered with yellow aggregates to signal its size and two artificial islands with historically recorded vegetation are designed to emerge in the channel where archaeological and historical inference is lacking (Lu, 2018) (see Fig. 7). This method can be applied to the extensive bodies of water near the excavated dams at Liangzhu, using reversible, shallow-root vegetation for coloured material, accompanied by the method used with inner-city water channels of planting vegetation near the shore to signal their peripheries while still preserving the water for a simulated restoration of its original use for transportation and for aesthetic and eco-friendly purposes.

Fig. 7 [Images not available. See PDF.]

The plan of Shaoyang Courtyard water channel remains in the Daming Palace: the long and narrow area in shallow yellow with two artificial islands (Baidu Map, 2019).

Innovative cultural products

Using the cultural characteristics extracted from cultural relics to contribute to the current and future lives of contemporary people is the main aim of innovative cultural products. Meanwhile, the cultural values of these relics can also be positively recognised by society through exquisitely designed innovative cultural products (Qin et al., 2019). Through visits to the souvenir shops in Liangzhu Museum and near the Fanshan Tomb Remains at the Liangzhu archaeological sites, several existing risks in the current developments of innovative cultural products for Liangzhu were identified. A series of critiques and analyses focusing on the cultural products of the Sanxingdui archaeological site can serve as a benchmark for the corresponding industries of Liangzhu culture, as Sanxingdui culture is characterised by similar functions for prominent cultural relics (jades and green bronze wares). These artefacts show the social manners and hierarchies of their cultures and their common characteristics as large, earthen archaeological sites.

Improving the development and design modes of innovative cultural products

Since most of the current innovative cultural products for Liangzhu have been exhibited in museum shops and archaeological site markets, the author observed three main design motifs: directly imposing the iconic image of Liangzhu culture onto the surface of the product (notebooks, cups); literally restoring the shape or image of the cultural relic for a new function (jade-cong-shaped pen containers, tea sets, jade-bi-shaped necklets); referring to the iconic image or character of Liangzhu culture to create a cartoon protagonist (cartoon fans and dolls which are abstracted from the deities and people of Liangzhu culture, complete with cartoon stories about their characters) (see Fig. 8). The disadvantages of Sanxingdui culture’s innovative cultural products (Ou et al., 2016) have been noticeably and thoroughly overcome by the counterparts in Liangzhu culture: the product types are limited while ranging widely enough to prevent severe repetition, and the overemphasis on the ideological values of symbolic images has been avoided (a deity is just a worshipped idol and should be appreciated only as such). However, since the novelty and sustainability of innovative cultural products are the two essential factors appreciated by customers and these two factors are mostly expressed by intangible cultural characteristics that need to be academically researched and systematically extracted from cultural remains (Qin et al., 2019), the risk of losing new directions for innovation still exists. The religious connotations and cultural patterns of Liangzhu culture have already been comprehensively described, and innovative cultural product industries have exploited most of the new functions that these cultural relics can perform (containers for jade cong, decorations for jade bi, and other products with shapes literally abstracted from symbolic images). Therefore, new strategies should be considered to explore possible new directions.

Fig. 8 [Images not available. See PDF.]

Three typical design principles for innovative cultural products of Liangzhu culture: directly imposing the iconic image onto the surface of the product (notebook); literally restoring the shape or image of the cultural relic for a new function (tea set); referring to the iconic image or people’s character for creating cartoon protagonist (fan) (photographed and produced by the author).

To avoid irregular interpretations of the cultural meanings of these relics, Wang et al. (2019) suggest a pivotal strategy to summarise and classify the cultural connotations and meanings of cultural relics. For a common theme that a group of cultural relics symbolises, their different branching cultural characterisations should be distinguished, emphasised, and integrated into different cultural products. In contrast, a single cultural characterisation should be summarised and classified with similar cultural characterisations extracted from other cultural relics to form a common theme (Wang et al., 2019). Specifically, this strategy may be embodied by combining all the discovered deities into a summary as one “Liangzhu religious anthology”, which is accompanied by related comic book series and toys; it may also be embodied by a series of jade-bi-shaped necklets or a series of jade-cong-shaped cups in different colours, materials, and patterns symbolising different natural elements. By subdividing the cultural theme into different characterisations and summarising cultural characterisations into a cultural theme, the cultural products can be systematised, providing convenience for producers who want to extract cultural elements, design products and plan marketing.

To invent different cultural products that require different methods of technological creation and funding, several modes for designing procedures and marketing methods can be considered. Wang et al. (2019) suggest introducing different design and development modes for cultural products. Individually designing and developing a product can most likely provoke the innovative extraction of cultural characteristics, which are suitable for comic books and toys. The product designers have the space to abstract and reshape any characteristics in Liangzhu culture according to their personal interests, minimising the costs of “wrong” interpretation. Authorising enterprises such as publishing presses to design and develop new products is another method for innovation. Sufficient funding and industrial-design advancements such as tridimensional modelling and printing can assist with invention. Exhibition organisations that are authorised to sell cultural products can help visitors directly link cultural products with the relevant cultural relics exhibited onsite (Wang et al., 2019), and explanations from invited professionals and scholars can also be made available.

Conducting research on customer preferences

The second design idea of the cultural products—reusing the shapes or images of the cultural relics for new functions—is the most skilful and innovative of the three tactics mentioned before. Since this type of design usually requires creative integration between practicality and innovativeness (Ou et al., 2016), several principles were appealed to or have been practised in the design of Liangzhu and Sanxingdui cultural products. These principles include transforming the excavated relics that were for purely aesthetic decorative purposes into various types of containers according to their respective geometric shapes (green bronze wares and jade cong) and imitatively manufacturing the original decorative items with similar material components (bracelets and jade bi). The leading strategy for designing the functions and appearances of the cultural products should be to integrate cultural products into the everyday lives of contemporary people while still reminding them of the uniqueness of that archaeological culture under the second design idea.

While planning the marketing strategy, it should be articulated that the types and styles of cultural products exhibited in the stores need to be refreshed after a specific period of time. Changing seasons in a year, changing social ideologies, and technological circumstances all necessitate such timely adaptation. For example, the fans sold in the Liangzhu souvenir stores seem proper in summer and autumn, while winter sales can be expected to be not as profitable. The frequent evolution of social ideologies in China also requires product developers to meet new customer requirements. A survey conducted several years ago for Sanxingdui cultural products revealed that young customers were favourable to modern styles, including the ones expressing Partysu and Meng Cultures, while the other majority of customers expressed interest in the products’ elegance and passionate cultural expression (Wang et al., 2019). The latter qualities can be regarded as continuous since they are the common qualities that a cultural product should possess; nevertheless, the propriety of Partysu and Meng Cultures on the products is worthy of reconsideration due to the different tastes of Chinese youth in recent years.

Based on the small scales of the cultural relics in the Liangzhu and Sanxingdui cultural sites, the recommendations for marketing Sanxingdui cultural products are also applicable to Liangzhu cultural products. Apart from the previously mentioned possible improvements by Zhuang (2020), the cultural product shopping zones in Liangzhu can consider integrating shopping with viewing cultural relics and entertainment (Ou et al., 2016). An implementation of this idea could involve exhibiting the cultural relics (or their copies, if safety is a concern) in the stores next to the cultural products that they inspired for comparison, and onsite experiential, interactive, and recreational activities that depend on digital gaming and interactive cultural products could also be used.

Before using the above marketing strategies, it is necessary to devote a certain amount of funding, human power, and technology to collecting customer preferences for cultural products to quantitatively analyse market requirements and to tailor design strategies for different customer groups (Wang et al., 2019). Parameters such as seasons, proposed advertising methods, product change plans, age levels, and product functions should be the key references for such a strategy (Du et al., 2016). Meanwhile, the Liangzhu souvenir stores reveal that most expensive products are direct imitations of excavated cultural relics such as jade cong and jade bi. Unlike inexpensive cultural products with various innovative types, this kind of direct literal restoration is probably not attractive to customers due to the lack of delicacy and innovation in the products (Wang et al., 2019), not to mention their high prices. Therefore, it is still urgent to develop new types of expensive cultural products by collecting and referring to the opinions of customer groups.

Integrating nearby areas with the Liangzhu culture

For cultural integration: Liangzhu culture or Zhejiang folk cultures?

The current spatial arrangements of the areas near Liangzhu archaeological sites have been criticised because their integration with Liangzhu culture and the folk cultures of Zhejiang Province is deficient (Guo et al., 2019). Further improvements are required to promote the construction of public spaces and spatial nodes that provoke public memory and recognition of Liangzhu culture by local communities. Meanwhile, infrastructure construction and renovation of residences are necessary to maintain the living and activity requirements of local communities (Guo et al., 2019). However, determined by city planners’ willingness for this construction or renovation, the nearby areas have two directions for culturally inspired construction: the folk cultures of Zhejiang Province or the archaeologically excavated Liangzhu culture. These two branches of culture are difficult to regard as one or similar since the folk cultures of Zhejiang Province were commonly cultivated after the settling of Han people from Zhongyuan after they realised that the lower branches of the Yangtze River were climatically and geographically suitable for cultivating grain (especially rice, which depends heavily on water). After this, a traditional cultural image characterised by riverine towns, elegant and peaceful Han culture, and prosperous commerce was formed, with its high tide in the Song Dynasty, whose capital was located in this area. However, Liangzhu culture is mainly based on archaeological findings that date back to the Neolithic Period when the cultural recognition of mature dynastic society and prosperous commerce did not exist. Although the society started to be monarchical, the lifestyles and social scenes were more primitive than in the later imperial periods due to relatively low productivity. Thus, to integrate the corresponding culture into the construction of nearby areas, the preference for which of these two cultures needs to be clarified by their vast differences in the development of society, economy, and religion.

The locality near Liangzhu has acquiesced to cultural integration with Liangzhu culture, as it is more representative and unique and sits at the core of this cultural construction project. However, the folk cultures of Zhejiang Province were the main cultural characteristics of the original villages before relocation and should also be regarded as an authentic reflection of the historical development of the Liangzhu archaeological sites. According to a previous example of a similar integration project at the Tongwancheng archaeological site (Fu et al., 2020), cultural integration should purposely emphasise the connection between relocated communities and their original living places. Thus, planned as an accompaniment of Liangzhu archaeological sites, the built environment of newly settled communities nearby should respect folk Zhejiang culture by inheriting to an extent the local customs, histories, historical buildings and facilities, historical landscapes, and flora of the original villages (Wu, 2020), while Liangzhu culture also needs to be emphasised afterwards with its cultural characteristics expressed. Meanwhile, setting tourist services in these nearby areas releases the pressure of infrastructural construction in the archaeological park (Fu et al., 2020). For the construction of residential houses, their volumes, shapes, and colours should be organically united to reflect the cultural characteristics of Liangzhu (Fu et al., 2020).

A benchmark example of the integration of Liangzhu culture and the residential environment is the Vanke Liangzhu Culture Village (actually a town) located southeast of the Liangzhu archaeological sites. The developers claimed that it imitated the natural environments and architectural forms of Liangzhu culture in some of its residential blocks, while the other blocks were designed to reflect traditional Zhejiang culture or to imitate Western-style built environments. Although it is certainly not practical to design modern residential buildings within the shape of Liangzhu’s small individual buildings, which only consist of primitive ash-mud walls, columns, and thatched roofs, it is still possible to adopt its architectural language for some public spaces (such as a pavilion) and to construct the surroundings with typical natural elements, such as water channels and mud platform hills, characteristics of Liangzhu culture.

Spirit-space relations in the construction of public spaces

The public spaces of nearby areas should emphasise the combination of physical spatial arrangements with the emotional and spiritual connections of local communities. The original spatial distribution of the villages before the relocations was formed by the public memories and emotions that were cultivated by both daily events and lived environment (Fu et al., 2020). That distribution reflects the lifestyles and production venues of villagers and organically links important public spatial nodes (such as village entrances and old trees) (Fu et al., 2020). Since these daily events and spatial environments are commonly inherited intangibly and orally by villagers through numerous generations (Jin and Qian, 2018), research and interviews need to complement other documentation to articulate how these events and environments lead to public memories and emotions. In this way, relocation can reasonably allow the spatial distribution in the new villages to be reshaped. With the original lifestyles and local characteristics of the villages respected, public cultural events that are based on the icons of Liangzhu culture and reflect its enjoyable scenes of daily life and work can also be held in those new public spaces to increase the humanistic connotations. This approach can fulfil the psychological and cultural requirements of the villagers (Fu et al., 2020). Such integration was not included in the design for Liangzhu culture since half of the built environment surrounding Liangzhu belongs to Yuhang District, which was planned before the development of the archaeological park and without regard for the relocated villages. Stark rural‒urban mixture zones occupy the other half of the surrounding areas with highways and agricultural fields. Emphasis on the preservation of the original villages is also insufficient since the large unused area of agricultural land in the archaeological park seems too stark for both the visitors and the original residents. It is natural that these fields would be left bare for further archaeological excavations, but it is also necessary to install annotations or explanations why these substantial areas of land were left bare, indicating their original identity as parts of the villages, to facilitate the psychological connections between the demolished original villages and the relocated villagers.

Inviting local communities into the management system

Meanwhile, integrating the local communities into the Liangzhu archaeological site management system is also necessary. It is economically and practically beneficial to employ local communities in related jobs due to their familiarity and a strong sense of identity with the site. This preexisting knowledge can efficiently reduce the cost of familiarising and cultivating passion in employees during training (Jin and Qian, 2018). By employing relocated villagers and properly constructing archaeological sites, regeneration can increase villagers’ income, raise their living standards and maintain the harmonious development and cultural prosperity of newly settled areas (Jin and Qian, 2018). Regeneration can also consolidate local communities’ recognition and sense of identity in these areas, promoting their awareness of actively protecting and inheriting Liangzhu culture (Jin and Qian, 2018). If local industries face problems concerning inadequately qualified or relatively unskilled labour, skill training centres or training projects can be established with facilities and funding aids (Jin and Qian, 2018).

Particularly notable is that the residents in the original villages need to be financially and politically assisted in employment and relocation. The proposed usage of their original lands should only be for academic and archaeological works and exhibitions to show respect for their efforts during relocation. If the original lands are reused for purely economic projects such as large-scale estate construction, not only may the authenticity of Liangzhu archaeological sites be sacrificed, but conflicts of interest may also be aroused between the relocated villagers, the local government and the estate developers (Zhao, 2006). An example of improper economisation of heritage sites has occurred in the Qingcheng Mountain site. Inappropriate land planning proposals and benefit distribution permitted unlimited real estate construction, which caused severe conflicts of interest between relocated residents and the local government. The newly generated pollution and noise severely damaged the local environment, which reduced the productivity, security, and protected status of sustainable land usage, while the relocated villagers also expressed complaints about the improper usage of their original lands (Zhao, 2006). This case should serve as a reference for relocation projects at the Liangzhu archaeological sites. According to the author’s observations, the Liangzhu area has purposely limited the construction of relaxation facilities in its park area, as evidenced by the few hotels at the corner of the park and the two sanctuaries for deer and pigeons, which can be regarded as touristic embellishments. Farmers from nearby rural regions are also hired to harvest and clean straw on open fields.

Future possible adoptions of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies

Due to the aim of providing tourists with immersive and interactive experiences about Liangzhu culture, advanced technologies, especially virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), have been introduced and employed suitably in Liangzhu archaeological exhibitions onsite and in the museum. The following paragraphs introduce the potential future improvements and the possibilities of additions to the current adoption of VR and AR technologies in the Liangzhu Museum and archaeological sites from the perspectives of element collection, system construction, different applications corresponding to different conditions and requirements, and detailed skills for integrating with the simulated restorations of the cultural relics and archaeological remains. Meanwhile, a manager of Nanjing Museum informed about the archaeological excavation of Liangzhu culture was invited to complete an open questionnaire about the current adoption of VR and AR technologies and simulated restoration methods in the regeneration practices of Liangzhu culture. Information on further potential improvements and additions has also been given. The article can thus propose suggestions based on the current relative situations of VR, AR, and simulated restorations according to this questionnaire.

VR technology

Offsite VR display for Liangzhu archaeological sites

The original buildings and public scenes still require digitalisation and simulated restorations by VR or AR technologies. To digitally build up the original palaces and residential buildings of the Liangzhu culture and integrate them into the VR system, the example of the Anyang Yinxu archaeological site should be studied (Liang and Zhang, 2008). With tridimensional geometric models of the buildings digitally constructed in related software (VRML software in this case), several related aspects need to be refined. To integrate all the individually constructed buildings into one map, a geographic reference frame needs to be preselected, such as the roads and the inner-city water channel system. Interactive scripts such as opening or closing doors and motions to activate informative narration can be added to increase interest, and choices for freely walking or viewing from several observation points can allow tourists to both observe the virtually simulated world from preset perspectives and explore its details (Liang and Zhang, 2008). This method combining a series of fixed viewpoints near the archaeological remains and the freedom to wander can facilitate virtual tourism by guiding tourists in several aspects. The first relates to the reduced volume of the system files. By rendering the textures and models of the closest remains in detail while maintaining farther remains with simplified textures and models (by texture repetition, shorter depth of field, fewer geometric surfaces, etc.), the real-time file volumes can be reduced, accelerating the processing speed. The choices for different viewing paths take advantage of the extensive area of the archaeological park (approximately 2 km by 2.5 km) as the locations of the archaeological remains are sporadically distributed over this massive area. It can be anticipated that lost time spent walking between guided remains in the VR system will be unacceptable. The combination of fixed viewpoints and free choice of tourist routes can ameliorate this situation.

Onsite VR display for Liangzhu archaeological sites

The forms of the onsite presentation of VR technology also need careful consideration depending on several variables. Among the two common types of VR interfaces, mobile visualisation headsets with gesture sensors and display screens with control consoles are both widely adopted; presenting both options to more tourists improves the VR experience over headset devices that only serve individual experiencers (Barbieri et al., 2017). There are two major types of integration between the display screen and the console: one where the console is independent of the display screen and one where the console is integrated into the display screen. The first type emphasises a certain distance (traditionally a minimum of 1.5 metres for children whose visual focal lengths are the shortest) between the viewers and the display screen, which avoids awkwardly drawing attention to the pixels if viewed closely and allows more tourists to view the screen (Barbieri et al., 2017). Currently, in Liangzhu archaeological sites, the most adopted VR form is in the second type of integration, as the display screens also serve as control panels (see Fig. 9). The visitors can directly touch the screens to give instructions, such as observing photos of the cultural relics and reading their introductions. The weaknesses of this type, evidenced by the author’s experience, are the potential for spatial disorientation, such as dizziness and nausea, and obstructed views when the visitors all crowd in front of the display screens and block the other visitors’ visuals. Moreover, Barbieri, Bruno and Muzzupappa’s relevant research (2017) notes that tourists prefer it when the console panel presents textual information and the display screen presents tridimensional models, which is more immersive and aesthetically pleasing. Therefore, the first model that separates the control panels from the display screens may be more appropriate for onsite VR presentations at Liangzhu archaeological sites.

Fig. 9 [Images not available. See PDF.]

Onsite VR display screen in Liangzhu archaeological sites, also functioning as a control panel (photographed by the author on 23 February 2023).

Using VR to improve excavation, preservation, management, and exhibition

VR technology can also be used to improve the excavation and preservation of archaeological remains. By simulating the spatial, climatic, and infrastructural environment of the excavation sites, VR can be used to assess whether the preservation works are properly practised, improve the preservation accuracy, and choose the preservation methods (Luo and Lan, 2015). Meanwhile, textual data and spatial relations can also be preserved through mapping data to VR and transferred effectively with multimedia methods, which can reduce the potential damage caused by onsite activities (Luo and Lan, 2015). The portable convenience provided by this digitalised method also enables offsite designs for future infrastructural improvements and restoration of Liangzhu archaeological sites. For archaeological remains that have already faded, such as the original residential buildings and palaces on Mojiao Mountain or those that have been reburied, VR can offer an innovative method for presenting them vividly to tourists (Luo and Lan, 2015).

Concerning the vertical overlays of archaeological remains across multiple layers of different periods, Geographical Information System (GIS) can be considered to assist with the development of the VR programmes to virtually simulate distinguishing and systematising the archaeological remains in their different historical periods and geographical locations. Such a programme would depend on the devotion of experts from archaeology, typology, architecture, and other sciences of surveying and mapping (Wu et al., 2015). In addition to the contribution of GIS to the mapping and zoning of Liangzhu archaeological sites and their surrounding areas and the locating of archaeological remains (Liu et al., 2019), GIS can also facilitate collecting, extracting, storing, and sharing the spatial and location information of Liangzhu archaeological sites, which the development of VR and AR projects considerably relies on (Wu et al., 2015).

Offsite VR display for Liangzhu Museum

According to the interviews in this article, future additions to VR projects have been proposed to enrich the exhibition media types. Among these projects, the Liangzhu Museum should be regarded as an essential physical location to be virtually reconstructed and experienced. The specific issues of museum reconstruction in a virtual space can be learned from a similar project of the Chengdu Jinsha Museum that is already well developed. The construction of the virtual Jinsha Museum aims to avail visitors with views of its interior galleries from mobile devices to reduce the onsite tourist density and relieve the pressure on supporting facilities for cultural relic preservation (Hu et al., 2017). Due to the differences between the cultural relics that require detailed tridimensional observation and the exhibition halls that only need a brief overview, the developers decided to invent a hybrid VR exhibition model in which the cultural relics are virtually reconstructed as digital tridimensional models while the exhibition halls are presented as panorama images of particular locations (Hu et al., 2017). To model the cultural relics, the geometric shape is first scanned by equipment with optical-reflection-capture capability, after which a set of captured point coordinates form a “points cloud”—the rough digital shape of the cultural relic. After manually polishing the model surfaces and adding missing parts, the tridimensional model can finally be covered with photograph textures (Bruno et al., 2010; Luo and Lan, 2015). The panoramic image taken from a location onsite needs to be tailored and calibrated onto a spherical model and then rendered for presentation on the display screen of a mobile phone or personal computer (Hu et al., 2017) from which tourists can view every perspective of the exhibition hall from one point. A tool called the “Pyramid Tiles Model”, which imitates the multiple layers of a pyramid, has been adopted to adjust the panoramic images into suitable scales for the display screens of different media (Hu et al., 2017). Cultural relics are outlined for selection in the panoramic interfaces of virtual exhibition halls. Once selected, their virtual tridimensional models rendered by Unity 3D software are presented on screen, which the user can rotate and zoom by using the appropriate instructions (Hu et al., 2017). The most conspicuous benefit of this hybrid combination of panoramic sights of the exhibition halls and the tridimensional models of the cultural relics is that the data volumes and the construction expenses for making the panoramic images of the exhibition halls are considerably lower than their digitalised tridimensional model forms (Hu et al., 2017). Thus, storing, processing, and transferring these data can be improved for use on offsite multimedia devices such as mobile phones and personal computers with supporting applications (Luo and Lan, 2015; Hu et al., 2017). An example with a similar theory in which scenes are presented with static images instead of digital tridimensional models can be found in the VR reconstruction project of the cultural relics in Egnathia Archaeological Park in Italy (Ardito et al., 2007). The Italian cultural relics are presented with sequential screenshots taken from 16 different perspectives (22.5° between each) or 8 different perspectives (45° between each) at two different distances. Through these screenshots, the application users can imitate the “rotating” and “zooming” operations that only exist in controllable digital tridimensional models. The data volume of the VR application was suitably reduced to fit the low performances of cell phone hardware in 2007 (Ardito et al., 2007). Although it is not urgent to reduce the file sizes of VR systems for current generations of mobile phones in the 2020s, this idea of “simulating spatial organisation with static images” is still instructive for both outdoor environments such as Liangzhu archaeological sites and indoor environments such as Liangzhu Museum.

AR technology

“Edge-based tracking” technology for registering the physical archaeological remains with digitally reconstructed tridimensional models and “location-based tracking” technology for navigation

With VR technology already adopted in numerous projects, mostly in the indoor environments of the Liangzhu archaeological sites, AR technology still awaits certain innovative proposals that need further discussion and adoption, especially for outdoor simulations. To date, AR technology has only been implemented in the indoor exhibition halls of the Liangzhu Museum. The fruit of cooperation between a technological enterprise and museum management, this technology is used to show more information behind the exhibited models, cultural relics, and documents, which the annotated boards cannot fully provide. This information is realised by a pair of digital glasses set with two transparent vertical acrylic display screens at a 45° angle. When a visitor wearing the glasses approaches a model/cultural relic/document available for AR explanation, the indoor spatial sensors first register his or her approach. Then, the corresponding video is projected from the top of the glasses, refracted through the acrylic display screens, and finally displayed to the visitor’s eyes. Therefore, the visitor can watch the video imposed on the transparent screens while the actual surrounding environment is still visible (see Fig. 10).

Fig. 10 [Images not available. See PDF.]

The augmented reality glasses adopted in Liangzhu Museum (photographed by the author on 22 February 2023).

This AR method has two characteristics: first, the commencement of the video display is dependent on the visitor’s spatial proximity to the exhibited item, which is sensed by either a satellite positioning system (outdoor) or spatial sensors (indoor); second, the exhibited item corresponds to a fixed video without any possibility of interaction. Currently, another type of AR method is also worth considering for adoption since it manifests different ideas about initiation mechanisms and display forms: the device first senses the physical characters (mainly edges or points) of the exhibited item or its marker board instead of the visitor’s location, matches these characters with a previously registered digital tridimensional model and finally imposes this model (or its animation) with the correct orientation and scale on the screen over the authentic item. A new display form has also been adopted for dynamic and interactive content instead of static videos (Xiang, 2022; Xu, 2022) (see Fig. 11). Because of current visitors’ expectations for interactive and immersive tourism, this method is suitable for both indoor archaeological relics and outdoor archaeological remains. In the process of establishing an AR project for exterior archaeological remains, the physical remains must be reconstructed into digital tridimensional models that are registered with the physical remains and then presented as superimpositions onto the displays of AR devices; in this process, the most pressing issue is to ensure the accuracy of the registration.

Fig. 11 [Images not available. See PDF.]

Dynamic and interactive AR content: the AR method which matches the physical building frame with its registered digital tridimensional model by identifying the main edges (produced by the author).

Experimental research in Cardeto Archaeological Park in Italy has provided practical inspiration in several aspects of using AR in exterior environments, especially concerning registration. In this case, the designers conduct the registration by matching their geometric characteristics onsite in real time instead of matching the geographic locations and orientations of the tourists and the remains (Pierdicca et al., 2016). As the tourists approach and view the archaeological remains included in the AR presentation, a tool called the “Canny Algorithm” in the AR devices starts recognising the geometric edges of the remains, simplifying these edges into line segments, articulating their proportional relations, and matching these line segments with the edges of the digital tridimensional models in the database (Pierdicca et al., 2016). This method, called “edge-based tracking”, was invented to avoid the usual locating errors and instabilities in satellite positioning services in the process of registration, which requires considerably high accuracy to tightly superimpose the digital tridimensional models onto the physical remains through the AR devices (Pierdicca et al., 2016). The superimposed models can be presented as half-transparent silhouettes to show their profiles or even be replaced by floating informative images or photographs (Pierdicca et al., 2016). Moreover, this method only relies on the geometric edges of the physical remains instead of their colours and textures, which can be easily affected by various outdoor lighting conditions, and the data volumes of the digital geometric models are limited enough to be stored or transferred over long distances (Pierdicca et al., 2016).

Obviously, this “edge-to-edge” registration method is only appropriate for archaeological remains with apparent and articulated edges or distinct geometric appearances. Considering that most of the exterior remains in Liangzhu are earthen archaeological structures that lack the original tridimensional profiles that would be used for registration, frame structures simulating their original brief profiles can be built on the excavated remains to assist with registration. The existing 1:1 metal profile frames of residential houses in the Zhongjiagang Area in Liangzhu archaeological sites (Huang, 2020) and the profile-simulating structures of Xuanzheng Hall and Zichen Hall in Xi’an Daming Palace (Hsueh, 2017) are useful references for building this prompt for registration.

In this experimental research, tourist navigation can be achieved by another positioning method called “location-based tracking”, which does not require strictly accurate registration of digital models onto physical remains as in the “edge-based tracking” method. This location tracking mechanism is not the same as the mechanism previously described inside Liangzhu Museum, where installed infra-red sensors sense the location of the visitor and AR device. In this outdoor circumstance, location is sensed by satellite positioning services such as the Global Positioning System (GPS). By identifying the geographic location of a certain archaeological remain and presenting its direction and distance from the tourist on the AR display screen, the satellite positioning system and the gyroscope, compass, and accelerometer in the AR device allow detailed information about the archaeological remain, including the distance, to be superimposed on the display in the direction of the remain (Pierdicca et al., 2016).

Inviting more themes for AR exhibitions

Although the above multimedia exhibition methods have already “revivified” multiple Liangzhu themes, including crafting, hunting, scenes of ceremonial tributes of jade presented to the king inspired by the “words” carved on a black pottery jar, and virtually dismountable buildings, there are still numerous cultural characteristics in Liangzhu culture that are worthy of exploration and extraction. According to the interview in this article, for the archaeology profession, all the scenes of work and life are crucial components of Liangzhu society. Their excavated and articulated scenes, including agricultural production, eating, playing, social hierarchy, water transportation, graves, handicrafts, dam construction, and architectural construction, can be proposed for digital or physical simulation exhibitions. To illustrate expansive spatial contexts, the virtual presentation of the famous painting “Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival” is an example of extracting and tridimensionally reconstructing detailed scenes of the people in the foreground and several buildings in the painting. Tourists can choose to explore these scenes for further information, such as by “entering” the buildings to observe their imagined interior spatial arrangements (Pan et al., 2020). Similar interactive exhibitions can be installed in Liangzhu archaeological sites to show bird’s-eye views, including the locations of the main archaeological remains, while the detailed, dynamic tridimensional scenes of people and buildings can be further selected for close observation in the AR user interface. Another critical exhibition possibility that the current museum and archaeological sites have overlooked is the use of the hieroglyphics found on the excavated cultural relics at Liangzhu. Apart from the famous black pottery jar on which several hieroglyphics are compactly carved, numerous other hieroglyphics—or possible hieroglyphics in carved images—have been identified and analysed by archaeologists and philologists. Most of the meanings of these hieroglyphics, especially their natural existence, can be observed in Liangzhu’s ancient capital city (current Liangzhu archaeological sites). Moreover, the consciousness of symmetricity evidenced by some hieroglyphics and symbols may explain why the central palace platform and the buildings were designed symmetrically. Sourced from this relation between the hieroglyphics and the natural/built environments of the ancient capital city of Liangzhu, AR presentations of the hieroglyphics corresponding to their different topics in the archaeological sites should receive more encouragement and implementation.

Integrating AR with simulated restoration sculptures and interactive activities

The 1:1 simulated sculptures of the living and crafting scenes of the Liangzhu people on the shores in the Zhongjiagang Area can also be considered for inclusion in AR exhibitions since the geometric characteristics of these metal-framed simulation models are individually unique and geometrically identifiable (Huang, 2020). These characteristics facilitate their registration with corresponding digital tridimensional models or dynamic animations. The capture of the shape within the AR system can be realised by installing sensors on the key points of the metal sculpture outlining its brief and unique geometric profile, which can be either multiple points capturing the surface of the sculpture by triangular faces or several connected points at key joints showing the inner bones of the structure (see Fig. 12). Through the AR display screens, these models can be dynamically rendered, which is potentially an innovative and experimental solution for “reviving” Liangzhu people.

Fig. 12 [Images not available. See PDF.]

Simulatively restored 1:1 sculptures of Liangzhu people by metal frames: allowing either multiple points capturing the surface of the sculpture or several connected points at key joints showing the inner bones of the structure for AR registration (photographed by the author on 23 February 2023; produced by the author).

Interactive activities are still limited to only a few themes in the current Liangzhu archaeological sites. These interactive activities are regarded as educational entertainment, which are supportive services provided for tourists to enhance their knowledge about archaeological sites (Guo et al., 2019). These services are usually arranged in the level-3 zones of archaeological sites (the “Environmental Control Zone” at Liangzhu and the “Outskirt Zone” at Sanxingdui), which have been proposed for use with tourist facilities and cultural industries such as restaurants and commercial streets (Guo et al., 2019; Liao and Gao, 2010). Currently, an excavation field situated on the eastern part of the Liangzhu archaeological sites has been transformed into an interactive base where visitors can experience archaeological excavations and cultural relic repairs (see Fig. 13). As the interview in this article explains, this experimental archaeology base has been used to integrate VR and AR technologies to advance the immersive quality and interactivity during tourist education. Specific measures can be used to impose the locations of underground “cultural relics” on the AR display screen and encourage the participant to excavate them or to impose how to clean and repair a specific unearthed “cultural relic” on the screen. Meanwhile, the interview shows that activities such as cosplaying the Liangzhu people can also be considered, requiring exhibition spaces with performance venues such as those recommended for the Anyang Yinxu archaeological site, where visitors can wear the costumes of Shang people to host “sacrifices” (Chen et al., 2016).

Fig. 13 [Images not available. See PDF.]

An excavation field serving for experiential archaeology in Liangzhu archaeological sites (photographed by the author on 24 February 2023).

Integrating AR with innovative cultural products and public space constructions in nearby areas

Not only can onsite archaeological remains be included in VR or AR projects, but there can also be creative ways to combine innovative cultural products with VR or AR technologies. Haydar et al. (2011) point out that immersive technologies such as VR, due to the strongly virtual environments they create, are usually incapable of involving the experiencers in a sense of real participation. Thus, through the display screens of AR headsets, a tangible AR interface assisted by physical objects that are registered with corresponding static digital models or dynamic digital animations can be considered as a solution. These researchers developed a combination of physical products for use with the AR system, where the experiencers can handle chess-sized objects with certain instructions to select and observe the digital models corresponding to underwater cultural relics, obtain information about their distances under the surface, and view their geographic distributions (Haydar et al., 2011). Similarly, the innovative cultural products of Liangzhu culture can be designed into AR experiences by replacing certain physical objects with innovative cultural products that are registered with virtual presentations. The data of this whole AR exhibition, including the digital models and animations for the registrations, can be stored on the responsible developers’ remote servers or as a software application downloaded by the users into their AR headsets or mobile phones. For example, cultural product developers can consider a set of souvenir models, where the tiny renditions of palaces, residences, jades, and stone relics can be placed on corresponding positions on a map of Liangzhu archaeological sites. With an AR application installed on his or her mobile phone, the user can get information about the whole souvenir set via the phone camera while the highlighted silhouettes of the models are superimposed on the image, ready for the user to click on them for further explanation.

With “edge-to-edge” AR registration methods, AR technology can even be further adopted in the construction of public spaces near Liangzhu sites, which has the potential to create a new way for both tourists and nearby residents to perceive the cultural integration of Liangzhu culture with local contexts. When a statue with an identifiable geometrical shape is captured by the camera of an AR device such as a mobile phone or a headset, its registered animation from the database can be superimposed on the statue on the display screen. Various types of statues satisfying the cultural favours of local communities can be constructed in public spaces, such as outdoor squares where nearby residents gather or a stream where people wash their clothes. According to the author’s observation, the public areas near Liangzhu sites (for example, Pingyao Square in Pingyao Town) lack an emphasis on Liangzhu culture or have even insufficient expression of traditional Zhejiang folk cultures. Installing statues in these public spaces may emphasise the importance of Liangzhu culture, provide physical stimuli for AR displays, and underscore the spaces’ landmark functions. However, this proposal should consider the expenses entailed in maintaining and securing these statues by management corporations and whether local communities and tourists have wide access to supportive AR devices and the corresponding software applications.

Conclusions

Focusing on the current excavation, preservation, management, and exhibition practices for Liangzhu culture and its cultural and economic regeneration, this article refers to numerous similar implementations and recommendations from other archaeological cultures.

As mentioned by the interviewee of this article, all exhibition forms should serve the academic results they present. Regardless of how Liangzhu culture is exhibited to modern-day Chinese people, such as through innovative cultural products, magnificent digital and multimedia approaches, integration with public spaces in nearby areas, or simulated restoration models, the core purpose should always be educational and promotional. As a Neolithic society, Liangzhu culture is characterised by more secular observations than the major heritage sites of Romanised regions, which include significant Christian, Jewish or Islamic narratives such as the Kremlin and Elysée Palace. It is also more primitive than the other historical heritage sites around East Asia, such as Heijo Palace in Nara and West Lake in Hangzhou, which are usually associated with narratives of significant struggles between powerful interest groups and authorities or profound personal emotions. The only faces of Liangzhu culture available to contemporary people are about productivity, basic lifestyles, and harmonious transformations of the natural environment. Thus, exhibitions of its archaeological remains and cultures focus on purely objective and material issues, avoiding the heavy ideological burdens and value-orientation ambiguity of associated historical traditions; thus, tourist experiences are light and relaxing.

The value of tourist experiences in leisure and recreation while receiving educational information relies on an increased variety and novelty of the regeneration at Liangzhu sites with innovative and interactive exhibitions about the archaeological remains, more developed cultural industries, such as customer-guided innovative cultural products, and intelligently simulated restorations of archaeological remains with imaginative approaches. Moreover, the emphasis on nearby residents also aims to improve their living conditions using cultural integrations and spirit-space connections, which is beneficial for both social development and archaeological preservation. All the above proposals are intended to create harmonious conditions for every person involved with Liangzhu culture, and their accomplishments rely on the capability of light and heavy industries and infrastructural development in modern China.

Compared to popular virtual reality technology, which has already been adopted in several Liangzhu exhibitions and is still encouraged for future use (according to the interview), this article emphasises a greater focus on the future adoptions of augmented reality technology, inspired by its computationally impressive yet easily understandable “edge-to-edge” registration principle. Even more inspiring, this geometry-based registration method is independent of satellite positioning, allowing AR technology to be integrated with multiple fields, such as innovative cultural products, simulated restoration models, nearby public space construction, and interactive activities, regardless of their geographical conditions. AR is foreseeably advanced in the technological use of this registration method and other satellite-independent stimuli. Not only limited to archaeological sites and museums, AR technology can innovatively form a revolutionary new way of living in any geographic conditions through the portable communication of virtual information that superimposes diverse static models or dynamic animations on actual objects without obscuring their real-world surroundings (unlike the immersive VR interface).

It must be acknowledged that the proposed recommendations for regeneration are all based on the current technological and industrial abilities available in Chinese society. For example, the broad adoption of VR and AR technologies, which are foreseeably practical for exhibiting Liangzhu culture in the future, should be expected to follow predictable developments in Chinese industries, which allow the device components to be fungible at an affordable rate and any new aesthetic or functional innovation to be available with a timely release. The methods and technologies discussed in this article obviously only reflect the technological and industrial advances in the past two decades to a certain extent. Thus, further worldwide technological and industrial developments may revolutionarily change the current methods for restoring Liangzhu culture, especially from the perspectives of exhibition curators and innovative cultural product designers.

With attention from academics worldwide, Liangzhu culture would benefit both academically and socially by increased diversity in cultural expressions in the surrounding areas of the current archaeological park. More suggestions should be officially welcomed on exhibition methods and combinations of Liangzhu culture with cultural industries and communities from nearby residents, visitors and people interested in Liangzhu culture both in China and worldwide. Some archaeological fruits, especially the hieroglyphics whose value has been underestimated in the author’s opinion, can be more exposed to discussion—or even organised research funding—in academia and in the public sphere. Through the above recommendations for regeneration practices in Liangzhu Museum and archaeological sites, as well as Liangzhu culture itself, this article hopes to inspire innovative integrations of Liangzhu culture with the lifestyle of the current people, poetically “reviving” Liangzhu culture and extracting deeper cultural connotations that contribute to rich understandings of current and future China.

Acknowledgements

The author appreciates Dr. Christopher Young from the Institute for Sustainable Heritage of the University College London in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, who was the advisor of this article which was initially a dissertation during the author’s study in Master of Science: Sustainable Heritage and provided the author with ample academic suggestions patiently and kindly. The author also appreciates Mr. Chenglong Yu from the Nanjing Museum in the People’s Republic of China, who generously contributed his detailed and in-depth answers based on his knowledge and working experiences to the questionnaire interview of this dissertation. Finally, the author would like to thank his father and mother, who gave suggestions on the logic frame of this article.

Data availability

A set of data was collected as the answered questionnaire interview from the interviewee of this research. The transcript of this questionnaire interview has been stored in the Dataverse Repository. It is available at: https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/JZQEYC.

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Ethical approval

The questionnaire interview of this article was approved by the BSEER/UCL Research Ethics Team in the University College London when the author was conducting the research of this article as his graduate dissertation. The Research Ethics Team proved that this study was low risk and could commence. All research was performed in accordance with the relevant guidelines/regulations.

Informed consent

Prior to the interview, a tick form was reviewed by the interviewee Mr. Chenglong Yu. After ticking all the sections and confirming that he would like to answer, Mr. Chenglong Yu started to finish the questionnaire interview.

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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