Ruins of Beiping City

Ruins of Beiping City

The ruins of Beiping City are a cultural heritage site protected at the provincial level in Anhui Province.

The ruins of Beiping City are located sixty-four Chinese miles east of Woyang County and four Chinese miles north of Caoshi Market.

Beiping City was the ancient Shansang City during the Han Dynasty. It is also known as Hongli City or Hongchengzi. In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, Wen Qin was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Shansang here, and the place where he lived came to be commonly called Beiping City. According to the Commentary on the Water Classic, "The North Fei River flows southeast, passing south of the Shansang settlement, commonly referred to as Beiping City." The Comprehensive Gazetteer states, "Beiping City is located forty-five Chinese miles southwest of Linhuan County." This location corresponds with the records found in historical texts.

To this day, the city site of Beiping still remains. It is square-shaped, with both length and width measuring five hundred meters, covering an area of four hundred mu. The city walls rise more than two meters above the ground surface, reaching a maximum height of seven point five meters. The walls are five meters thick, and the current base width is fifteen meters. Originally, watchtowers were built at the four corners of the city wall, and there were two gates on the east and west sides, each seven meters wide. Outside the city lies a moat, thirty meters from the walls, fifteen meters wide and half a meter deep.