Ruins of Iron Urn City

Ruins of Iron Urn City

The ruins of Iron Urn City are a cultural heritage site protected at the provincial level in Jiangsu Province.

Iron Urn City, also known as Zicheng or Jincheng, was first built in 195 AD and took shape in 209 AD during the Three Kingdoms period under the Eastern Wu regime; it was renovated by subsequent dynasties including Jin, Tang, Song, Ming, and Qing on the original foundation, boasting a history of over 1,700 years. The "Zhishun Zhenjiang Annals" records: "Iron Urn City is located in front of Zhengfeng at the Zhou prefectural office, also called Zicheng." The "Jiankang Shilu" under the entry for the thirteenth year of Jian'an (208) states: "Sun Quan first moved from Wu to Jingkou and governed from there," and "Sun Quan administered Dantu from Wu and named it 'Jincheng', which is the current prefecture; in the sixteenth year he moved the capital to Jianye, using this place as the Jingkou garrison."

Built by Sun Quan, Iron Urn City was the first city in the history of Zhenjiang and the earliest political center constructed in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in the south during the Six Dynasties period. Jingkou’s Iron Urn City predates both the Stone City built by Sun Quan in Nanjing and the King of E City in Hubei, and is hailed as the “First City of Eastern Wu in the Three Kingdoms.” Over the years, archaeological excavations have uncovered a large number of Six Dynasties bricks, rammed earth layers, underground passages, and remnants of the southern city wall gate piers. In 2000, Iron Urn City was designated as a provincial-level key cultural relics protection unit.

Further Reading:

· Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units