The Taijiasi Site

The Taijiasi Site

The Taijiasi Site is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Taijiasi Site is located in Funan County, Fuyang City, dating back to the Neolithic to Zhou periods.

The Taijiasi Site is located in Baimiao Natural Village, Sanhe Village, Zhuzhai Town, Funan County, Fuyang City.

It was a high-level settlement along the Huai River during the early to middle Shang Dynasty. Two batches of Shang Dynasty bronze artifacts have been unearthed from the Run River that flows through the site. Among them, the bronze Dragon-Tiger Zun excavated in 1957 (now housed in the National Museum) and the Taotie-patterned Zun (now in the Anhui Museum) are treasures and masterpieces of China’s Bronze Age, also indicating the significance of the Taijiasi Site. In 2012, the site was rated as a provincial-level cultural relics protection unit.

Since 2014, a team from the Anhui Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the School of History at Wuhan University has conducted archaeological excavations at the Taijiasi Site. Over three years of excavation, they uncovered 16 Shang Dynasty houses, 273 ash pits, and 7 Shang Dynasty tombs. It was confirmed that the Shang culture represented by the Taijiasi Site belongs to the Central Plains Shang culture system. The site dates from the late Early Shang period to the early Late Shang period, reaching its peak during the Huanbei Shangcheng phase. The team discovered important remains including a complete square moat, large buildings, bronze-casting remains and artifacts, foundation pits, sacrificial pits, and noble tombs, along with a large number of relics. These findings revealed scenes of production, daily life, and burial practices of high-ranking Shang nobility in the Huai River basin, filling several gaps in Xia-Shang-Zhou archaeology.

The large platform and three major structures in the northern noble residential area of the Taijiasi Site are typical examples of Shang culture architecture. In terms of individual building scale, they are the largest palatial structures in southern China, second only to those of Sanxingdui and Panlongcheng. The eastern large building features a unique “品”-shaped layout, which was a first discovery within Shang culture.

According to the Taijiasi archaeological team, the discovery of a Shang Dynasty bronze-casting workshop and a large number of clay molds for bronze vessels at the Taijiasi Site marks the first confirmation of bronze vessel casting activities outside of Shang capitals during this period. It also represents the largest number of such molds and variety of cast items found outside the two Shang capitals. Bronze vessel casting technology was the most advanced craft of the Shang Dynasty. The archaeological findings at Taijiasi have overturned the notion that bronze vessels could not be produced outside the capital during the Xia-Shang period. At the same time, they provide crucial direct evidence for the control and distribution of metal resources and the management and dissemination of bronze-casting techniques during the Shang Dynasty.

Archaeological experts believe that the Taijiasi Site played a leading role in the development of Bronze Age civilization in the Huai River basin. Its sophisticated bronze casting industry and outstanding works such as the Dragon-Tiger Zun prove that the Taijiasi Site was the center of Bronze Age civilization in the Huai River region. The mound-based layout of the Taijiasi Site successfully set a trend in the Huai River basin and Jianghuai area 3,300 years ago during the Shang Dynasty.

In 2012, the Taijiasi Site was designated as part of the seventh batch of provincial-level cultural relics protection units by the People's Government of Anhui Province.

In 2019, the Taijiasi Site was included in the eighth batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Protected Area: Centered on the site, extending 50 meters east and south, and 80 meters west and north.

Construction Control Zone: Extending 50 meters east and south, and 20 meters west and north beyond the protected area.

Sanhe Village: Located in the southeastern part of Zhuzhai Town, Sanhe Village neighbors Minzhuang Village in the east and is one of the eight low-lying villages along the Run River in Zhuzhai Town. It covers an area of 7.9 square kilometers, with 459 hectares of arable land, including 17 natural villages, 1,235 households, and a population of 5,810. The main economic activities of the villagers are migrant work and income from crop farming and animal husbandry. Sanhe Village is a land of talent and spirit, being the birthplace of the world-famous national treasure, the Dragon-Tiger Zun. The village leadership consists of seven members. Under the leadership of Secretary Ming, the village “two committees” work closely together... [More details about Sanhe Village]++

Further Reading:

· Eighth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units