Ruins of Xiaohongcheng

Ruins of Xiaohongcheng

The Xiaohongcheng ruins are a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Located 9 kilometers northeast at a 34° angle from the county town, it lies to the north of Xiaohongcheng Village, about one li east of the Shandian River, and approximately three li southwest of Hulunnao. The site has a rectangular layout, oriented 4° southeast, with remaining walls stretching 374 meters from north to south and 310 meters from east to west. The outer walls are constructed of stone and lime mortar, while the inner walls are made of rammed earth. The remaining wall height is 3.5 meters, and the top width is 3.1 meters. There are gates in the center of the east, west, and south walls — the east and west gates are 8 meters wide, while the south gate is unrecognizable. Near the ruins of the three gates, there are large quantities of bricks and tiles, and a drum-shaped Han white jade carving with a diameter of about 1.5 meters was excavated at the site of the south gate. A square brick-paved path led from the south gate directly into the city (now gone).

In the northern part of the city stands a platform foundation, roughly cross-shaped in plan. Its surrounding parts have collapsed, measuring about 70 meters from north to south and 35 meters from east to west, with a height of around 3 meters. It was built from rammed earth and originally paved with square bricks (now removed). The surface of the foundation is scattered with various plain, interior-woven, gray slab tiles, tube tiles, and gray straight-patterned brick fragments, as well as yellow-green glazed tiles, beast-face or patterned tile ends, water spouts, Han white jade carvings, brick carving fragments, and porcelain shards from the Jun and Cizhou kilns.

Around the main platform foundation, there are also ten 10×10-meter earthen platforms, two 20×20-meter ones, and seven 18×20-meter ones, symmetrically distributed along the central axis. The unearthed items are largely similar to those found on the large platform.

About 35 meters east of the main city lies a smaller city, slightly offset to the rear of the northern wall of the main city by 6 meters. Locally known as the East Small City, it has a rectangular layout, measuring 108 meters from north to south and 95 meters from east to west. Its wall structure is essentially the same as that of the main city, with the remaining walls currently standing 1–1.5 meters high and the ruined top width about 2.5 meters. The center of the southern wall has a gate. Inside, there are remains of northern, eastern, and western rooms, with piled remnants about 1.2 meters high.

Items unearthed from both cities also include: Han white jade dragon heads, column bases, perforated flat slabs, white-glazed plum vases (with the character “内府” [Inner Court] inscribed inside the belly), Longquan celadon, Jun ware, Cizhou blank-ground black-flower porcelain shards, chicken-leg bottles, bowls, jars, basins, and other ceramic fragments. There are particularly many fragments of thick-rimmed, wide-mouthed jars in black, ocher, and tea green. In 1978, local residents also unearthed two raw iron pillars 1.2 meters high, 0.21 meters in diameter, with end diameters of 0.3 meters and concave ends, located beneath the foundation of a house in the southeast. They also found dozens of brick-shaped iron blocks weighing around 36 jin (about 18 kg each), two iron frames each measuring approximately 1.4 meters × 0.9 meters, and two bronze weights. One of the bronze weights bears the inscriptions “总府” (General Office) and “至元八年” (the eighth year of the Zhiyuan era). The iron pillars, bronze weights, and some porcelain, pottery, and tile fragments are still preserved in the cultural museum. Most experts identify this site as the Yuan Dynasty Chahan Na’er Imperial Traveling Palace.

This site was designated a Provincial Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit in 1982.

Further Reading:

· Second Batch of Hebei Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

· Sixth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units