Ancient City of the Zhu State

Ancient City of the Zhu State

The Ancient City of the Zhu State is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The site of the Ancient City of the Zhu State from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty is located on the sunny side of Mount Yi, 12 kilometers southeast of Zoucheng City. The terrain is open, featuring higher elevations in the north and south and a slightly lower central area. The ancient city has a rectangular layout, approximately 2,530 meters long from east to west and 2,500 meters wide from north to south, with a perimeter of about 10 kilometers and an inner area of around 6 square kilometers. The remaining sections of the ancient city walls total over 4,000 meters. The northern ends of both the eastern and western walls connect to Mount Yi, generally standing 3 to 4 meters high, with the highest point reaching 7 meters. The wall bases are 20 to 30 meters wide, built with solid rammed earth in distinct layers, each layer 8 to 12 centimeters thick, and the ramming pits have diameters of 4 to 6 centimeters, mostly showing club-shaped impressions from the Spring and Autumn period. Each of the eastern and western walls has two city gates. The southern wall is built atop the summit of Gu Mountain, taking the form of slopes or steps, with the upper section being rammed earth and the lower part having stone foundations. The wall remains 1 to 2 meters high, with bases 3 to 4 meters wide, and the rammed layers are not clearly visible. To the south of present-day Yishan Street Village, there are remnants of the inner northern city wall. The southeastern corner of the wall features an inward-retracting zigzag shape, forming a rare right-angle inward turn.

Throughout the site, platform tombs, earthen mounds, pottery shards, and ash deposits can be found everywhere. In the central-northern part of the ancient city lies a raised area, approximately 500 meters long from east to west and 240 meters wide from north to south, commonly known as "Huangtai" (Imperial Platform). The surface exposes a large number of pottery shards, architectural tiles, decorative bricks, and cloud-patterned roof tiles. Cliff-like sections reveal rammed earth layers, along with a small number of foundation stones and pottery drainage pipes, leading scholars to identify this as the location of the palace complex. In the northeastern corner of the ancient city, where the terrain varies greatly in elevation and is mostly marked by loess cliffs and numerous earthen mounds, ancient tombs were discovered before and after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, along with several bronze vessels from the Zhou Dynasty bearing inscriptions, believed to be the burial grounds of Zhu State nobility. Near Jingshui River, on both sides of today’s Jinzhangzhuang Village in the southwestern corner of the ancient city, multiple sites of ancient pottery kilns, pottery-making tools, and a large quantity of pottery shards have been found, thought to be the pottery workshops of the Zhu State. At the northeastern city wall of the ancient city, there are two earthen platforms, each with a circumference of over 10 meters, commonly called "Artillery Platforms." Pottery shards from the Eastern Zhou period have been discovered on these platforms, which are believed to have served as defensive structures of the Zhu State.

The site has not yet undergone comprehensive exploration or excavation. In 1964, the Shandong Team of the Institute of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Zoucheng Cultural Relics Preservation Office jointly conducted a detailed survey of the area and produced a site plan. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, among the many important cultural relics unearthed both inside and outside the ancient city, notable items include the Qin Edict Measuring Vessel in pottery, the Spring and Autumn period bronze tripod “Fumin Fu,” various bronze weapons, ritual vessels, seals, and especially over 3,000 pieces of Eastern Zhou pottery script. These findings are of great value for studying the origin of ancient Chinese writing and the evolution of scripts. In December 1977, the Ancient City of the Zhu State site was designated as a Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit by the Shandong Provincial Government.

Yishan Town: Located 10 kilometers south of Zoucheng City, Yishan Town covers an area of 106 square kilometers, with 64,000 mu of arable land. It administers 7 management areas and 50 administrative villages, with a total population of 52,000. The town boasts a long history and is home to many talented individuals. It features provincial-level cultural relics protection units such as the Ancient City of the Zhu State and the Yedian Site, as well as numerous historical and cultural landmarks. The town also enjoys superior geographical, transportation, resource, and tourism advantages: major transportation arteries such as National Highway 104, the Beijing-Shanghai Railway, and the Beijing-Fuzhou Expressway run north-south through the town; it has abundant mineral resources including granite, limestone, and laterite; and it is also home to a provincial-level scenic area known as the "Wonderful Sight South of Mount Tai"... More details about Yishan Town++

Further Reading:

· Sixth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units