From first rice to emergence of cities, light shed on origins of civilisation in China

Excavation of the Liangzhu site, which is over 5,000 years old and is one of the major sites covered in the origin-tracing project, has yielded an inner city covering three million square metres and an outer city of 6.3 million sq m, making it the world's largest capital at the time. - China Daily

BEIJING: In a single domesticated grain seed, one might see the bud of great civilisations.

The birth of agriculture was a turning point in humans' social development, as stable food supplies enabled people to transcend the constraints of food gained by hunting and gathering. After that, people were able to settle down and experience population booms.