Ancient City Ruins of Paotai Mountain

Ancient City Ruins of Paotai Mountain

The ancient city ruins of Paotai Mountain is a cultural tourism attraction.

The ancient city of Paotai Mountain is commonly known as "Paotai Mountain Ancient City" because it is located on an isolated hill that resembles a gun emplacement. It lies 2 kilometers northeast of Ping’an Village in Qixingpao Town, Baoqing County, and about 200 meters from the right bank of the Qixing River. It was designated as part of the fifth group of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level by the State Council on June 25, 2001, and preparations have been made to nominate it as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The "Big Dipper Altar" located atop the mountain city is the first discovered urban core architectural layout in China modeled after an astronomical constellation, and it is also the largest Big Dipper altar found so far in China and the world.

The Han and Wei Dynasty ruins in the Sanjiang Plain are densely distributed, well-preserved, and diverse in type, making them rare both within China and globally. The ancient city of Paotai Mountain is situated at the heart of this cluster of ruins and is also one of the key areas of the national “Ninth Five-Year Plan to Tenth Five-Year Plan” archaeological and research project focusing on the settlement archaeology of the Han and Wei periods in the Qixing River Basin of the Sanjiang Plain.

The construction of the ancient city of Paotai Mountain is unique, with a complex structure featuring eight walls and nine layers, integrating city and altar. The site has an oval layout. The city walls were built by piling up excavated earth and are divided into upper, middle, and lower tiers. The lower tier includes the outer city, or the encircling wall, along with the crescent wall that flanks the encircling wall, the barbican gate, the moat, and surface pits within the city. The middle tier is the mountainside city, or the inner city; the upper tier is the mountaintop city, or the earthen remnant city, which also has an oval layout. There are eight surface pits within the city, each with a diameter of 6–8 meters and a depth of approximately 0.3–0.5 meters. Seven of these “heavenly pits” are arranged in the shape of the Big Dipper. Another “heavenly pit” is located to the north of the Big Dipper, indicating the position of the North Star at that time. Near the center of the mountaintop, slightly to the north—where the Big Dipper’s bowl and the North Star are framed—a rectangular sacrificial altar is situated. Built with stone and paved with clay, it measures 19 meters in length, 14 meters in width, and 0.5 meters in height, serving as a dedicated ceremonial platform.

The "Big Dipper Altar" has been recognized by relevant experts and scholars. The positions of the Big Dipper and the North Star it depicts reflect the star map from around 4,500 years ago. In June 2001, Mr. Zhang Zhongpei, former director of the Palace Museum in Beijing, visited Paotai Mountain and inscribed the words “Treasures of the Northern Frontier, Origins of History in the Wilderness.” On July 24, 2001, Professor Yi Shitong, a renowned Chinese astronomer and archaeoastronomer, inspected Paotai Mountain and confirmed that the "Big Dipper Altar" was the first of its kind discovered in China. On August 20, 2001, Mr. Zhang Wenbin, then Director of the National Cultural Heritage Administration, visited Paotai Mountain and inscribed the words “Treasure of the North.” To make full use of this cultural heritage resource, the Bureau of Culture and Sports of Baoqing County formulated the “Overall Development Plan for the Paotai Mountain Ancient City Cultural Tourism Project,” and the county government listed it as one of its key investment-attracting development projects.

Qixingpao Town: Qixingpao Town is located in the eastern part of Heilongjiang Province, in the hinterland of the Sanjiang Plain, northwest of Baoqing County, and is 46 kilometers from downtown Baoqing. It is a central town in the Sanjiang Plain region, covering an administrative area of 1,189 square kilometers, with 430,000 mu of arable land and a population of 62,000. It administers 28 villages including Hongfeng, Xianghua, Zhonghong, Sanhe, Fuxing, Yongsheng, Yongquan, Yong’an, Jinshuhe, Yihé, Yongxing, Yongfa, Xinghua, Ping’an, Xinmin, Minzhu, Lanfeng, Jinshagang, Xinfā, Dexīng, Jiěfàng, Liángshuǐ, Jùbǎo, Shuāngběi, Shènglì, Xīnfēng, Dōngtài, Xītài, and others... More detailed information about Qixingpao Town++