Site of Qinv City

Site of Qinv City

The Site of Qinv City is a cultural relic protection unit of Shandong Province.

Commonly known as Qinv City. It was originally Qiyi, a settlement of the Zhu state during the Spring and Autumn period, later coming under the control of the Lu state. The Zuo Zhuan (Duke Xiang, Year 21) records: “Shu Qi of Zhu fled here with Qiyi and Lüqiu.” The Han Dynasty scholar Liu Xiang’s Biographies of Exemplary Women, Volume 3: The Lady of Qishi in Lu, recounts the story of the Lady of Qishi during the reign of Duke Mu of Lu, after which the place came to be called Qinv City. The Commentary on the Water Classic refers to this area as Qixiang. The 18th year of the Guangxu reign edition of the Zou County Annals records that seven bronze tripods were unearthed here, with one small tripod inscribed with the three characters “Yong Zhai Yong” (For Eternal Residence). Based on this, it is inferred that during the Eastern Zhou period, there should have been large-scale aristocratic tombs at Qinv City. The site is located 4 kilometers west of Zoucheng City and is a settlement primarily featuring the Longshan culture of Shandong, along with cultures from the Zhou to the Han Dynasty. The site is elevated 2 to 3 meters above the surrounding farmland, forming a terrace-like highland that slopes from the northeast to the southwest. It is 120 meters long from east to west and 100 meters wide from north to south, covering a total area of 20,000 square meters. The soil is mostly black-gray, with ancient cultural deposits about 3 meters thick. The surface is scattered with Eastern Zhou li tripod feet, basin rims, dou stem bases, as well as Han Dynasty coiled cloud-pattern roof tiles, rope-patterned tiles, pottery jars, and fragments of Sui and Tang Dynasty porcelain and lotus-patterned roof tiles from the Tang Dynasty, along with exposed Longshan culture pottery shards. Cliff sections reveal Longshan culture strata 0.5 to 1.5 meters thick, with relatively hard, yellowish-brown soil containing red fired earth particles and charcoal fragments. The Longshan culture ash pits are kettle-bottom shaped. In 1957, Zou County conducted a cultural relics survey and registered this site. In 1963, the Shandong historian Wang Xiantang also investigated the site. In 1964, the Shandong Team of the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, conducted a comprehensive survey of the site, with findings included in a survey bulletin. In 1973, 1980, and 1988, the Shandong Provincial Cultural Relics Survey Team conducted three key follow-up inspections of the site, collecting samples stored at the Zou County Cultural Relics Preservation Office.

The site remains largely intact. Collected Longshan culture samples include production tools such as stone axes, stone arrowheads, stone chisels, and pottery spinning wheels, among which polished triangular stone arrowheads are typical hunting implements of the Longshan culture. There are also daily-use pottery items such as sand-tempered jars, white-bodied pottery gui vessels, black pottery cylindrical cups, flat-bottomed plates, and jar-shaped tripods. Tripod feet are mostly in bird-head or flat-chisel styles, with pottery mainly consisting of finely made polished black pottery, and fewer sand-tempered gray pottery pieces. There are also small amounts of eggshell pottery, as well as pottery shards with checkered and basket patterns.

The early cultural content of the site belongs to the typical Longshan culture, closely resembling the cultural features of Liangcheng in Rizhao, with some elements of the Henan Longshan culture. The cultural content from the Eastern Zhou period is rich, and the city was abandoned around the Sui and Tang periods. In 1985, the Qinv City Site was designated as a key cultural relic protection unit of Jining City. In June 1992, it was further designated as a key cultural relic protection unit of Shandong Province.

Further Reading:

· First Batch of Shandong Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Units

· First Batch of Municipal Cultural Relic Protection Units in Jining City