YAO City Ruins

YAO City Ruins

The YAO City Ruins are a cultural heritage site protected by Suzhou Municipality.

The YAO City Ruins are located on Da Yao Mountain in Da Yao Village, Chefang. According to *The Annals of Yue* (*Yue Jue Shu*), “YAO City was where the prince of Wu resided. Later, it was inhabited by the YAO King of Yue.” Da Yao Mountain was part of the ancient YAO City, which was a feudal estate during the Spring and Autumn period. Initially, it was granted to a prince of Wu, and after the fall of the Wu Kingdom, it became the fief of the YAO King of Yue. Both the prince of Wu and the YAO King were royal relatives who enjoyed hereditary noble titles and privileges. Their enfeoffment is a clear example of how the states of Wu and Yue inherited the feudal system established in the Western Zhou Dynasty. The enfeoffed not only received property but also estates, including land and even populations. After Yue conquered Wu, the YAO King of Yue took up residence in this ancient city, which was originally inhabited by the prince of Wu. The “city” thus got its name from the YAO King. The YAO King also dug a “waterway to the river” here and used it to attack the Lord of Shang She. *Records of the Grand Historian – The House of Goujian of Yue* states that during the reign of King Wei of Chu, Chu launched a military campaign that “defeated Yue decisively, killed King Fuchai, and seized all the former territories of Wu up to the Zhe River… Thereafter Yue fell apart, with various royal descendants vying for power—some becoming kings, others lords—who then submitted to Chu.” The YAO King’s lineage continued for generations, and later “he assisted the feudal lords in overthrowing Qin. Emperor Gaozu of Han then reinstated him as the King of Yue to uphold the Yue legacy. The Eastern Yue and Min lords were all his descendants.” The YAO King, named Yu, was the son of An Zhu and belonged to the Gu clan (surname Gu), which was a prestigious family in the Wu region and the founding lineage of the noted Gu family. The famous Three Kingdoms statesman Gu Yong was also a descendant of the YAO King. The Chen clan of Suzhou has long resided in Da Yao. Originally, there was the residence of the Jinshi-degree holder Chen ?, the retreat of renowned painter and calligrapher Chen Daofu, and the mansion of Chen Renxi, who achieved the title of Tan Hua (third place in the imperial examination) in the second year of the Tianqi era of the Ming Dynasty (1622). Chen Renxi wrote in *An Account of the Chen Clan’s Ancestral Residence in Da Yao*: “Traveling from Fenlou along the Chaotian River, passing through Dushu and Huotan, through Gaodian, and another ten li will bring you directly into Da Yao. Its slopes form a marsh where lotuses bloom splendidly in summer. A boat can glide straight through, and standing firmly amidst it is Da Yao Mountain, home to the Great Awakening Temple from the Liang Dynasty.”

In the late Shang Dynasty, Taibo and Zhongyong, sons of King Tai of Zhou, fled southward and styled themselves “Gou Wu.” *The Annals of Yue – The Account of the Wu Region* (*Yue Jue Shu · Wu Di Chuan*) records the statement: “Initially, the prince of Wu resided here, and later the YAO King of Yue lived here.” This place came to be historically known as YAO City. During the lake-draining and farmland-expansion campaigns of the last century, when the water was pumped out, ancient well ruins at the northwest shore of Lake Cheng — specifically in Chengdun Village and Da Yao Village — were discovered. These are also referred to as the YAO City Ruins.