Qinghua Ancient Mountain Stronghold Ruins

Qinghua Ancient Mountain Stronghold Ruins

The Qinghua Ancient Mountain Stronghold Ruins are a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Qinghua Ancient Mountain Stronghold Ruins, located on the southern slope of Beigang, 200 meters north of Chengzi Tun in Qinghua Village, Xinli Township, Bin County, Harbin City, Heilongjiang Province, are ancient ruins dating back to the Warring States Period to the Han Dynasty. This year, the Qinghua Ancient Mountain Stronghold Ruins in Bin County were included in the list of national cultural heritage protection units. During a 2013 survey, Bao Haichun, president of the Harbin Academy of Social Sciences, discovered rare cloud-pattern pottery shards here. According to experts, the cloud pattern was a typical decorative motif used over two thousand years ago during the Shang-Zhou to the Warring States and Han periods, and was used by nobility.

The site is oval-shaped, with a perimeter of approximately 650 meters. Excavations conducted between August and September 1985 uncovered two houses, one ash pit, and one storage pit, yielding more than 300 artifacts, primarily pottery, as well as bronze, bone, and stone objects. In May 2013, it was designated as part of the seventh batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units by the State Council.

According to research by Deng Shuping, a researcher at the Heilongjiang River Basin Museum and an invited researcher at the Harbin Academy of Social Sciences, the Qinghua Ancient Mountain Stronghold Ruins were the capital city of the Tuyuli Kingdom. He stated: The Tuyuli Kingdom was the first regional regime within our province with relatively detailed written records. It was established before the Western Zhou Dynasty by the Tuyuli people, a minority group from China's northeastern region. The earliest record of this kingdom appears in Wang Chong’s “Lunheng.” Based on records in “Lunheng” and other historical texts, scholars have deciphered key accounts.

Historical records state that the maid of the King of the Northern Tuyuli Kingdom suddenly became pregnant without reason, angering the king, who ordered her execution. The maid told the king: “A gas-like sphere the size of an egg descended from the sky and entered my womb, which is why I became pregnant.” Later, she gave birth to a boy named Dongming. He was abandoned in a pigsty, but the pigs warmed him with their breath. The king suspected he was a heaven-sent child and ordered the maid to retrieve and raise him. As Dongming grew up, he became skilled in archery, and the king, fearing he would seize power, plotted to kill him. Dongming fled but was blocked by the Yan River (now the eastern section of the Songhua River). He struck the water with his bow, causing fish and turtles to surface and form a bridge. Once Dongming crossed, the creatures dispersed, blocking the pursuers on the other side of the river. Dongming escaped south to the indigenous Fuyu region, integrated with the local Fuyu people, and established the Fuyu Kingdom. Renowned scholar Wang Mianhou from Liaoning and the late renowned archaeologist Zhang Taixiang from the Heilongjiang Provincial Institute of Archaeology both agreed that the Qinghua Ancient City was indeed the capital of the ancient Tuyuli Kingdom.

The discovery of the cloud-pattern pottery shards within the Qinghua Ancient City further supports the theory that this ancient city was once inhabited by nobles of the Tuyuli Kingdom.

In May 2013, it was designated as part of the seventh batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units by the State Council.

Further Reading:

· Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units