Sifangcheng City Site

Sifangcheng City Site

Sifangcheng City Site is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Sifangcheng City Site is located on an elevated platform 200 meters east of the Sifangcheng Town Government in Changtu County, Tieling City, Liaoning Province. Covering an area of 180,000 square meters, it is a heritage site dating from the Liao to the Jin dynasties. The city walls were constructed from rammed earth, forming an irregular diamond shape. The city has gates to the south and north, and moats (Hongshan River) to the east and north. Within the city, a large number of ceramic fragments and architectural materials from the Liao and Jin periods have been preserved, including beast-face roof tiles, cloud-pattern tiles, and large grayish-black square bricks. Also found were coins from the Northern Song Dynasty such as “Zhenghe” and “Yuanyou,” iron arrowheads, iron armor fragments, chariot linchpins, and other artifacts. In 2000, a fragmented stele from Anzhou was unearthed within the city, confirming it as the site of the Liao Dynasty’s Anzhou Prefecture. During the Jin Dynasty, it served as the seat of Guiren County. It was a bustling hub of commerce and trade at the time.

The inscriptions on the stele read: “Of the fifty-four prefectures in the land of Liaodong, Anzhou is one of them... Its prosperity surpasses others in Liaodong, truly a scenic gem... It once unified the lands of Liao and Song, stretching its territory for thousands of miles... The people chose to gather here, drawn by the benevolent virtue implied in its name ‘Guiren’ (meaning ‘returning to benevolence’)...” In the autumn of 2000, local farmers discovered a broken stele while farming. Subsequently, archaeologists excavated two exploratory trenches, each 2 meters wide and 10 meters long, near the find. They unearthed scattered fragments of the stele and a large number of Liao and Jin dynasty glazed architectural materials, including roof tiles and water spouts, as well as military weapons such as iron arrowheads, iron knives, helmets, and armor fragments, along with everyday utensils. Based on the stele inscriptions and the excavation findings, cultural heritage authorities confirmed that the ancient city of Sifangcheng was the site of the Liao Dynasty’s Anzhou and the Jin Dynasty’s Guiren County.

This city site is the best-preserved rammed earth city of the Liao Dynasty in northeastern Liaoning, holding significant value for historical research. In December 1988, it was designated as a Provincial-Level Cultural Relics Protection Unit in the fourth round of announcements by the Liaoning Provincial Government. In May 2013, it was ratified and announced by the State Council as a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit in the seventh round.

Further Reading:

· Fourth Batch of Liaoning Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

· Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units