Yangzhou Song Dynasty Great City Ruins

Yangzhou Song Dynasty Great City Ruins

Yangzhou Song Dynasty Great City Ruins is a cultural tourism attraction.

Yangzhou Song Dynasty Great City Ruins

The Song Dynasty Great City Ruins Museum on Siwangting Road has made significant contributions to archaeological research, showcasing the history of Yangzhou during the Song Dynasty. It was one of the top ten new archaeological discoveries nationwide during the Eighth Five-Year Plan period.

Ruins – Overview of the Song Dynasty Yangzhou City: In the late Tang Dynasty, Emperor Shizong of the Later Zhou Dynasty during the Five Dynasties period rebuilt a small section of the city in the southeast corner of the old city, commonly known as the Zhou Small City. The west gate was built upon the foundation of the Zhou Small City from the Five Dynasties period and continued to be used through the Qing Dynasty. Nearby are the crenellations (battle platforms on the battlements of the city wall) of the Five Dynasties city wall, the barbican gate passages from the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties, and the brick-paved roads leading into and out of the city gates. These indicate that during the Song Dynasty, China had begun using brick-vaulted circular gateways, replacing the previous wooden-beam square gateways. This shift was due to the invention of gunpowder in the Song Dynasty, which demanded greater structural strength for city gates serving defensive military purposes.

The currently restored Five Dynasties crenellation stands 5.5 meters high. Although only a partial section remains, it evokes the description in Shen Kuo’s *Dream Pool Essays* of the crenellations at Huanlian City: “extremely long and densely spaced,” with “each crenellation being four zhang long, spaced six to seven zhang apart, so that closely spaced crenellations meant the walls didn’t need to be too thick, nor would they be easily breached by manpower.”

Historical records indicate that Yangzhou in the Song Dynasty had three cities: the Song Great City (old urban area), Baoyou City (on Shugang Hill), and the Sandwiched City (on Bijia Mountain). The layout of the Song Great City was that of a regular rectangle, with a cross-shaped main street running through the city and connecting to all four city gates. The north-south main street had a parallel river (the Wen River, now filled in to become Wenhe Road) on its western side, which connected to north-south water gates. Three parallel east-west streets passed respectively over Taiping Bridge, Kaiming Bridge, and Xiaoshi Bridge, spaced approximately 300–500 meters apart.

Today, with original physical evidence, the restored barbicans from the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties reach heights of 4.5 meters and 3.5 meters respectively, with interior spaces of 400 square meters. Though only partial sections remain, they serve as exemplary specimens, clearly demonstrating the differences and evolutionary lineage among the city structures of the Five Dynasties, Northern Song, and Southern Song periods. The exterior brick-paved roads of the barbicans from both dynasties have been preserved in their historical form—laid with upright bricks. Not only are the curbs neat and orderly, but the road surface also features an arc shape with a higher center and lower edges, and the bricks are arranged in straight, methodical rows. The ruts on the Northern Song road surface are deeply sunken and the roadway is badly damaged, indicating social stability and economic prosperity at the time. In contrast, the Southern Song road ruts are shallow, the surface is flat, reflecting the frequent warfare, economic decline, and sparse population of that era.