Ancient Xia City and Zhaoji Ancient City Site

Ancient Xia City and Zhaoji Ancient City Site

Ancient Xia City and Zhaoji Ancient City Site are cultural tourism attractions.

Half of Mengcheng County and five Warring States-era cities make up a celebrated tale of Mengcheng.

Located in the heartland of the Central Plains, Mengcheng has been a strategic battleground throughout history. According to experts, just north of the Guo River and within half of Mengcheng County’s area, there are five ancient city ruins dating from the Warring States period and even earlier. These include: Qiyuan Ancient City, Yinxu Beimeng, Licheng, Xia City, and Zhaoji Ancient City Site.

The walls of Beimeng and Licheng, ancient cities thousands of years old, still stand tall and continuous, exuding grandeur. Qiyuan Ancient City is also famous worldwide because of Zhuangzi, while Xia City and Zhaoji Ancient City Site remain relatively unknown.

About twenty kilometers northeast of the county town, on the northern bank of the Beiwei River, lies an ancient city once called Xia City and now known as Wuji (or Wuyi Ji). Most of the ancient city walls have been destroyed, with only small sections protruding from the ground, making it impossible to accurately determine its original size, though it is estimated to have covered around four square kilometers. Within and around the ancient city, pottery fragments from the Warring States period are often unearthed.

The "Commentary on the Water Classic" records: “The Beiwei River flows eastward, accumulating into a slope called Xia Slope, then continues southeast, passing south of Xia City.” “The Chu army retreated to Xia, referring to this very city.” According to the "Mengcheng County Annals": “The Chu general Zhuang…”

attacked Song, and on his return, built Xia City on Xia Slope.” Flipping through "Records of the Grand Historian: The House of Chu," we find that King Zhuang of Chu “in the twentieth year, besieged Song for five months. The food within the city ran out, people exchanged their children to eat, and boiled bones for fuel. Hua Yuan of Song went out to plead their plight, and King Zhuang said, ‘A true gentleman,’ then withdrew his troops.” “He returned to Xia Slope and built Xia City.” This marks the beginning of this region of Mengcheng shifting from allegiance to Song to allegiance to Chu. Xia City was the first fortress established by the Chu state in the Meng region. According to the "Kangxi Dictionary," citing the "Tongzhi Shizulue": “The surname Zhuang originated from the descendants of King Zhuang of Chu, taking their lineage name from his posthumous title. Chu had a great scholar named Zhuang Zhou.” It is evident that Zhuang…

and Zhuangzi were descendants of King Zhuang of Chu and the founding ancestors of the Zhuang surname in Mengcheng.

Less than ten kilometers apart and facing each other north-south, in Sun Village northwest of present-day Zhaoji, there is a castle from the Warring States period. The book "The Eastward Spread of Chu Culture" refers to it as the “Sun Village Ancient City Site.” The site is noticeably elevated above the ground, though no city walls are visible. The city is not large, roughly square-shaped, covering about one square kilometer. To this day, bricks, tiles, and pottery fragments from the Warring States period can still be found within the urban area, and Chu shell coins and other artifacts have been excavated. Beneath the cultivated soil layer, remnants of rammed earth city walls can be found. This is a small castle, almost directly aligned north-south with Xia City to the south. Could it be a satellite fortress built by Zhuang…

after constructing Xia City, or perhaps a border stronghold built by the Song state to counter Chu?　

These two small cities seem rather desolate today; their former glory exists only in books, underground, and among broken bricks and tiles.