Ruins of the Ancient Capital of the State of Lu in Qufu

Ruins of the Ancient Capital of the State of Lu in Qufu

The Ruins of the Ancient Capital of the State of Lu in Qufu are a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Ruins of the Ancient Capital of the State of Lu in Qufu are located within and around Qufu City, Shandong Province.

The ancient capital of the State of Lu was the capital of the Lu state during the Zhou Dynasty and had the longest duration as the capital among all feudal states under the Zhou Dynasty. In the early Western Zhou period, King Wu of Zhou enfeoffed Duke of Zhou (Duke Dan of Zhou) in Lu, granting him the title of “Lu Duke.” During the reign of King Cheng, Duke of Zhou’s son Boqin succeeded his father and established the capital here. From then until the reign of Duke Qing of Lu, a total of 34 generations ruled for 873 years.

For over 300 years during the Western Han Dynasty, it remained the fief of the Lu state. The ancient city underwent eight major construction and renovation phases from the Western Zhou to the Han Dynasty, later serving as the county seat. In the Song Dynasty, the county seat was moved to Shouqiu, and the city gradually fell into disrepair. In 1940, the Japanese conducted surveys and small-scale excavations at the ruins of the ancient city. From 1977 to 1978, the Shandong Provincial Museum carried out comprehensive surveys and excavations, revealing the general layout of the ancient city.

The ancient city has a perimeter of 11.9 kilometers, with the city walls stretching 3.7 kilometers from east to west and 2.7 kilometers from north to south. The city is surrounded by a moat; there were three city gates on the east, west, and north sides, and two on the south side, with gateways 7 to 15 meters wide. Today’s Qufu City is located in the southwest corner of the ancient capital, covering only one-seventh of the area of the ancient city.

The inner city is situated in the southwest corner of the ancient city, occupying about one-quarter of the larger city. At the center of the inner city is a raised area that served as the location of the palace complex and the ancestral temple. A Temple to Duke of Zhou built during the Song Dynasty on this high ground still stands today. Surrounding the high ground were government offices, commercial areas, and residential districts.

The northern and western parts of the ancient city were dense with workshops for bronze casting, iron smelting, bone crafting, and pottery firing. The western part also contained a burial area where more than 100 Zhou Dynasty tombs have been excavated to date, yielding numerous bronze, pottery, bone, and shell artifacts. These burial objects feature characteristics of both Shang and Zhou cultures, proving that the Lu culture of the Zhou Dynasty was formed by integrating elements of both Shang and Zhou cultures.

The ruins of the ancient city preserve a wealth of cultural relics and historic sites. To date, 36 key protected areas have been identified and safeguarded through various measures. The preservation of these ruins holds significant value for the study of Zhou Dynasty history. In 1961, the Ruins of the Ancient Capital of the State of Lu in Qufu, as an ancient site from the Zhou to the Han Dynasties, was included by the State Council in the first batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Lucheng Subdistrict: Lucheng Subdistrict is located within the Ming Dynasty Old City of Qufu, Shandong Province, and is the seat of the Qufu Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government. It covers an area of 28.3 square kilometers, governs 26 villages (communities), and has 9,760 households with a population of 28,622. There are currently 112 grassroots Party organizations, including 1 village-level Party committee (Nan Chi Committee), 14 Party general branches, 97 Party branches, and 1,964 Party members. In 2376, the subdistrict achieved a total fiscal revenue of 118 million yuan, including 83.89 million yuan in local fiscal revenue, representing growth of 26.3% and 23.7%, respectively. The Subdistrict Party Working Committee and the Subdistrict Office are...  Detailed Information on Lucheng Subdistrict++

Further Reading:

·First Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units