Wangzongtang Site

Wangzongtang Site

The Wangzongtang Site is a cultural heritage protection unit of Shandong Province.

The Wangzongtang Site is located about 1,500 meters southeast of Wangzongtang Village, Tongcheng Town, Dong'e County. The exposed area of the site covers approximately 2,500 square meters, with a grayish sandy soil composition. A cultural layer deposit begins about 0.5 meters below the surface. Collected samples include gray pottery jars with fine clay from the Longshan Culture, polished black pottery, tripod feet, pottery shards from the Shang and Zhou dynasties, and Han Dynasty jars. In addition to plain designs, the decorations include rope patterns and string patterns. Exposed in the western part of the site are stone-chambered tombs from the Han Dynasty. This site is a cultural relic site dating from the Longshan Culture to the Han Dynasty. It is said to be the tomb of Cangjie.

Cangjie was the historian of the Yellow Emperor. Drawing on the wisdom of the people and inspired by “bird tracks” and “insect markings,” he created Chinese characters, ending the ignorant era of knot-tying and wood-carving for record-keeping, and ushering in a new chapter in the evolutionary history of the Chinese nation. According to the 1829 (the ninth year of the Daoguang reign in the Qing Dynasty) edition of the Dong'e County Annals, Cangjie’s Tomb is “thirty li north of the county seat (the county seat refers to Dong'e Town in Pingyin County).” There used to be a memorial temple in front of the tomb, but it has long been dilapidated. Investigations have revealed that the site originally included “Cangjie’s Tomb” and the “Temple of the Sage Cang” (also known as “Cangwang Temple”), along with three ancient steles. The temple was destroyed during the Anti-Japanese War, and the tomb was demolished in the 1970s. The whereabouts of the ancient steles are unknown. Existing relics include one “Sage Cang Bridge,” several original stone components from the “Temple of the Sage Cang,” and a stone incense burner, among others. Today, local residents have rebuilt the tomb and inscribed new steles in his honor, restoring it to a certain scale.

In 2013, the Wangzongtang Site was announced by the People's Government of Shandong Province as part of the fourth batch of provincial-level cultural heritage protection units in Shandong.

Wangzongtang Village: Wangzongtang Village…… Detailed information about Wangzongtang Village++

Further Reading:

· Fourth Batch of Cultural Heritage Protection Units in Shandong Province