Guandui Mound Site (Liu Bang's Ascension Platform)

Guandui Mound Site (Liu Bang's Ascension Platform)

The Guandui Mound Site (Liu Bang's Ascension Platform) is a cultural heritage site protected by Shandong Province.

The Guandui Mound Site is located 520 meters south of Jianglou Village, Fangshan Township, Dingtao County. In the 1960s, the People's Commune organized members of nearby production brigades to haul soil for land leveling, causing severe damage to the site. The remaining mound has steep walls, with a base measuring 30 meters north-south, 15 meters east-west, and a height of 8 meters. The cultural layers are distinctly exposed, including ash layers, burnt earth surfaces, clam shell pits, and ash pits, all indicating a rich cultural content.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, researchers from the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, provincial archaeological institutes, and faculty and students from Shandong University’s archaeology department have visited the site multiple times. They discovered and collected numerous artifacts from the Neolithic Age and the Shang Dynasty. These include a large number of deer antler fossils, wild animal bones and teeth, roughly made stone tools, finely polished stone knives, axes, and sickles, clam sickles and knives with clear signs of use, sharp bone needles, awls, and arrowheads, as well as a significant number of pottery fragments such as pots, bowls, jars, tripods, urns, and lids—all conforming to standardized shapes. These artifacts date from the Neolithic Age to the Shang and Zhou periods, demonstrating that this was once a large ancient village settlement with a history of four to five thousand years. These relics serve as historical evidence, offering crucial insights into the cultural landscape, characteristics, ethnic groups, social structures, and productivity levels of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, especially in southwestern Shandong. They provide tangible proof of the region’s past. The discovery of these precious artifacts fully confirms that our ancestors cultivated this land diligently in ancient times, thrived here, and created human civilization, painting a vivid picture of a society steadily advancing through history.

In the early Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, ascended the throne here. According to the *Dingtao County Annals*: “The Mandate Altar is located about ten li northwest of the city. Emperor Gaozu of Han was enthroned on the sunny side of the Fan River—this is the place. The high mound remains, now called Guandui Mound.” The *Cao’nan Literature Record* also states: “The Han Ancestral Altar of Jiyin County (i.e., Dingtao), situated twenty li northeast of the county (at that time, the county seat was in Zuocheng), was established where Emperor Gaozu of Han was enthroned on the sunny side of the Fan River in Dingtao in the fifth year of his reign.” Sima Qian’s *Records of the Grand Historian* also records: “Liu Bang was enthroned as emperor on the sunny side of the Fan River.” On the eve of liberation, a Qing Dynasty stone stele stood south of the mound, inscribed with “Han Gaozu’s Mandate Altar,” but it has since been lost.

In the fifth year of the Han King period (202 BCE), Liu Bang pursued Xiang Yu to Yangxia (present-day Taikang, Henan) and sent emissaries to summon Han Xin and Peng Yue to join forces. However, Han Xin and Peng Yue deliberately delayed their arrival, leaving Liu Bang to fight alone. He was defeated by Xiang Yu at Guiling (present-day western Taikang). While consolidating his troops for defense, Liu Bang also sought the support of Han Xin and Peng Yue by promising them territories: the lands east of Chen County to the coast for Han Xin, and the areas north of Suiyang to Gucheng for Peng Yue, should they help defeat Xiang Yu. He also persuaded Zhou Yin, Xiang Yu’s Grand Marshal, to surrender, and politically advocated the “Three Chapters Agreement,” which gained him the people’s support. With a solid foundation, Liu Bang joined forces with Han Xin, Peng Yue, Zhou Yin, and others at Gaixia, surrounding Xiang Yu. Amid the “Chu Song at Gaixia” (the siege song of Chu), Xiang Yu committed suicide at the Wu River. The four-year-long Chu-Han Contention thus ended with Xiang Yu’s defeat.

After the suicide of Xiang Yu, the Hegemon-King of Western Chu, at the Wu River, Han King Liu Bang subdued the Western Chu. Following Zhang Liang’s advice, he buried and honored the Hegemon-King with the ceremonial rites befitting a buried Duke of Lu. Once the city of Lu surrendered, Liu Bang marched his army to Dingtao. In the first month of 202 BCE, feudal lords such as Han Xin, Peng Yue, and Ying Bu jointly proclaimed Liu Bang, the Han King, as emperor—an idea Liu Bang had secretly hoped for. He then summoned his ministers and pretended to decline, saying: “I have heard that throughout history, only virtuous kings could bear the title of emperor. Such a title is an empty honor, unworthy of acceptance. Now the feudal lords insist on bestowing this title upon me, but I am unworthy of such a noble name.” The ministers responded in unison: “Your Majesty, your might extends across the four seas, and your virtue rivals the heavens. How could the feudal lords compare to you? They can only be kings—your ascension to emperor is truly well-deserved.”

Liu Bang feigned humility several times before finally saying: “If you lords insist that this is for the good of the nation, I shall accept.” The ministers chose an auspicious day, prepared the ceremony, and readied for the imperial enthronement.

In the tenth month of the fifth year of the Han King period (202 BCE), on the mound on the sunny side of the Fan River in Dingtao, drums blared, flags fluttered, and tens of thousands of soldiers stationed below formed orderly ranks, their cheers shaking the heavens. Surrounded by his ministers, Liu Bang donned the imperial yellow robe, performed rituals to heaven and earth, and officially ascended the throne as emperor. The dynasty was named Han, and he later came to be known as Emperor Gaozu of Han. He established Empress Lü Zhi as his empress, and his son Liu Ying as the crown prince. The capital was initially set in Luoyang before being moved to Chang’an. This mound became known as Guandui Mound because it was where Liu Bang was enthroned.

Thus, Guandui Mound is both an ancient cultural site and the place where Emperor Gaozu of Han ascended the throne, marking the birthplace of the Han Dynasty’s rise. In 1979, the site was designated as a county-level key cultural relic protection unit, and in 1992, it was announced by the Shandong Provincial People’s Government as a provincial-level key cultural relic protection unit.

Further Reading:

· Second Batch of Shandong Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Units