Fan Cunjing Site

Fan Cunjing Site

The Fan Cunjing Site is a protected cultural heritage site of Jiangsu Province.

The Fan Cunjing Site is located west of Fancun Residential Community in Chengxiang Town, Taicang, north of Shanghai West Road, and on the south bank of Zhihetang. It was discovered in January 2016 during the construction of the Fanjing River North Extension Project. From early 2016 to the end of 2017, rescue archaeological surveys and excavations revealed large-scale storage remains, residential foundations, roads, bridge foundations, and more, all of which were important components of the urban planning and construction of Taicang during the Yuan Dynasty.

The site is currently the largest discovery of Longquan celadon ware outside of Longquan kiln site excavations, yielding an astonishing 150 tons of exquisitely crafted mid-to-late Yuan Dynasty Longquan celadon ceramics and fragments. It holds significant academic value for supplementing the typological specimens of Yuan Dynasty Longquan celadon and establishing a specimen database. Additionally, findings such as Shufu porcelain, Yuan blue-and-white shards, and brown-spotted celadon vessels represent major discoveries of ceramic specimens in southern Jiangsu.

Yuan Dynasty Ceramic Storage Remains at the "Fan Cunjing Site"

The excavated ceramic fragments were primarily damaged goods lost during transit within the site area. In terms of both quantity and variety, they exhibit the characteristics of a large-scale ceramic storage and trade distribution center. Such a massive economic trade operation lacks any related historical records, making this discovery not only a valuable supplement to documented history but also confirmation that the Taicang Port was indeed the “Number One Port Under Heaven” during the Yuan Dynasty.

The shapes and decorative patterns of the excavated ceramics closely match those of Longquan celadon wares recovered from the Sinan shipwreck off the coast of South Korea in the 1970s. The unearthed ceramics, along with storage facilities, river channels, docks, and residential structures, fill a gap in the archaeological record of overseas ceramic trade during the Yuan Dynasty in this region. They provide tangible evidence that Taicang was one of the key ports along the Maritime Silk Road during the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, where ceramics were gathered and shipped to domestic and international markets.

The original Fan Cunjing Yuan Dynasty Site was part of the land previously used by Taicang No. 1 Middle School and modern residential areas. An ancient river channel, the Fan Cunjing, once ran through the site, which is distributed along both the east and west banks of the Fan Cunjing, with its main cultural elements dating back to the Yuan Dynasty. Hence, it was named the Taicang Fan Cunjing Yuan Dynasty Site.

The discovery of large-scale Yuan Dynasty ceramic storage remains, house foundations, roads, river channels, and dock bays, along with their uniform planning and layout, is a major archaeological find in the Jiangnan region and fills a gap in the record of large Yuan Dynasty sites in southern Jiangsu.

In 2019, the Fan Cunjing Site was included in the eighth batch of Jiangsu Provincial Cultural Heritage Protection Units.

Further Reading:

· Eighth Batch of Jiangsu Provincial Cultural Heritage Protection Units