Rear Mound

Rear Mound

Rear Mound is a cultural relic protection unit of Hebei Province.

Rear Mound is located at the northwest corner of Rear Mound Village. The earthen mound is largely intact, standing about fourteen meters high, approximately sixty meters wide from east to west, and around sixty meters long from north to south, covering an area of about nine mu. According to the Jizhou Annals: “In the northwest of the prefectural city, there are numerous earthen mounds, large and small, totaling more than twenty, commonly called ‘Grain Storage Mounds.’ Old records assumed they were built by Cao Cao during his campaign against Jizhou, disguised as open grain piles to deceive the enemy, but in fact, that was not the case.” Historical research suggests that most of these ancient mounds are tombs of nobles and royals dating back to the Western Han Dynasty or later. Artifacts unearthed from mounds in villages such as Qianzhong, Sundl, and Xiyuantou also support this conclusion. So, whose tombs are these two “small hills” that rise from the flat land—Qianzhong Mound and Rear Mound?

Present day: The area around Rear Mound Village features water-surrounded fishponds. To the east of the village lies the Middle Road Avenue of Hengshui, which served as a key route for the 2012 Hengshui Lake Marathon and is also an important arterial road in Hengshui’s future urban development plan. To the east of Middle Lake Avenue lies Hengshui Lake, known as the “Pearl of Southern Beijing.” Rear Mound Village is situated in the middle section of Middle Lake Avenue—the most scenic stretch—about four kilometers from Jizhou City, offering convenient transportation. It faces the Lakeside Park of Jizhou in the distance and neighbors the under-construction Dao’an Temple in Jizhou.

Further reading:

· Second Batch of Cultural Relic Protection Units of Hebei Province