Chengshanzi Mountain City

Chengshanzi Mountain City

Chengshanzi Mountain City is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Chengshanzi Mountain City is located to the southwest of Dunhua City in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, Jilin Province, situated on the southern bank of the Dashih River, a tributary of the upper Mudan River, on an isolated high mountain. The city is named after the ancient fortress built atop the mountain.

The mountaintop is surrounded by an earthen and stone wall structure, approximately 4.5 kilometers in length, with remnants of a palace site in the central area where many artifacts from the Eastern Xia Kingdom were unearthed. This mountain city served as the Nanjing (Southern Capital) of the Eastern Xia Kingdom during the late Jin Dynasty.

The city walls form an irregular oval shape, with a perimeter of about 2,000 meters. The mountain city winds along the ridges, undulating along the mountainside. The walls are constructed from a mixture of earth and stones, with a base width of 5–7 meters, and up to over 10 meters in some sections. The remaining height of the walls ranges from 1.5 to 2.5 meters. The layout of the city is lower in the northeast and higher in the southwest, tilting slightly toward the northeast following the terrain. The northern wall sits atop a cliff above the water; due to the steepness of the cliff, which rises over 40 meters, the northern wall is relatively low. At the western end of the northern wall, the wall turns southeast, forming an acute angle at the corner. After a short stretch, there is a gate — the west gate — with an opening 4 meters wide. On the west side of the gate, the wall curves inward from the outside in a circular hook shape, resembling a fortress. From the west gate toward the southeast, the wall follows a steep slope and gradually ascends. In this section, due to the outward bulge of the mountain, three “battlements” (马面) are set up at varying distances to aid in surveillance and defense. The wall then follows the slope down sharply toward the mountain’s high point while curving northeast. At the northeastern corner of the city, the terrain flattens, and a gate — likely the east gate — is situated here, slightly smaller than the west gate with an opening of 3 meters. The walls on either side of the gate also curve inward from the outside in a circular hook shape, forming two fortresses. Outside the east gate, to the north, the terrain is relatively flat, about 100 meters from the riverbank, where water can be drawn.

Inside the east gate and toward the southern side lies a large, gently sloped mountain hollow, where over 50 semi-subterranean house foundations remain. Most are rectangular, with larger ones measuring about 8 meters east-west and 6 meters north-south, and smaller ones around 6 meters east-west and 4 meters north-south. The center of each house foundation is a shallow, flat pit, with earthen walls stacked around the edges, standing 20–40 centimeters high. Each house has a door, mostly located in the middle of the east wall, though a few open to the north. A few house foundations can also be found on the southern slope of the mountain and the western part of the mountain city.

In the northwest part of the city, about 100 meters from the west gate, there is a stone-lined pool with a diameter of 4.6 meters, shaped like a pot bottom, 1 meter deep, with a stone-paved base. On the north side is an outlet that channels water through a small ditch down to the base of the cliff to the north. In the eastern part of the city, beneath a large expanse of house foundations, there is also a large reservoir.

In the central part of the city, there are several leveled areas resembling parade grounds, with the largest stretching over 100 meters. These were likely military drill grounds. Within and around the city, artifacts such as spearheads, iron swords, iron arrowheads, and Tang Dynasty coins like the “Kaiyuan Tongbao” have been unearthed.

Based on the relics and structure of Chengshanzi Mountain City, it is believed to be an early site of the Bohai State. In May 2006, Chengshanzi Mountain City was designated by the State Council as part of the sixth group of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Further Reading:

· Sixth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units