Shangyi Tuchengzi City Site

Shangyi Tuchengzi City Site

The Shangyi Tuchengzi City Site is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Tuchengzi City Site is located in Tuchengzi Village, Sangongdi Town, Shangyi County, Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province. It is the site of the Rouruan Town of the Northern Wei Dynasty, situated at the border between Hebei and Inner Mongolia. Its western and eastern sides border Xinghe County in Inner Mongolia. The latitude spans N41°73′14″ to N41°74′16″, and the longitude spans E114°47′75″ to E114°48′85″, with an average elevation of 1,381 meters.

The city wall of the Tuchengzi City Site has an irregular hexagonal layout, covering an area of 1.05 million square meters. The remaining walls are 0.5–1.5 meters high, built with rammed earth, and oriented from east to west. The city is approximately 1,100 meters long from east to west and 1,006 meters wide from north to south. The architectural layout reflects the style of the Northern Wei Dynasty and is similar to that of the ruins of Huaishuo Town in Inner Mongolia.

The eastern, southern, and northern sections of the Tuchengzi City Site's walls still remain. At the center of the site is a relatively high platform, where artifacts with typical Northern Wei characteristics have been found. The surface of the site is scattered with numerous fragments of gray pottery roof tiles with cloth patterns, red pottery tile fragments, and a small number of sandy black pottery fragments. At many locations within the site, artifacts featuring typical Northern Wei designs have been discovered, including lotus-patterned roof tiles, cloth-patterned flat tiles, interlocking tubular tiles, and sandy clay pottery fragments with wave and concave string patterns. The lotus-patterned roof tiles come in various styles, such as double-layered multi-petal and single-layered multi-petal designs. Artifacts unearthed also include iron plowshares, horse tack, bronze arrowheads, and iron arrowheads from the Jin Dynasty, as well as coins from the Northern Song and Jin Dynasties, such as the Zhenglong and Dading Tongbao coins.

The Tuchengzi City Site is located on the Bashang Plateau, a transitional zone where ancient agricultural and nomadic civilizations collided and merged. It is one of the meeting points of grassland culture and Yellow River culture, serving as important material for studying the movement of ancient northern nomadic peoples into and out of the Central Plains.

On May 25, 2006, the Tuchengzi City Site was designated by the State Council of the People's Republic of China as part of the sixth group of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Sangongdi Town: Sangongdi in Shangyi County was established as a village in 1954 as the third construction site for resettling immigrants from the Guanting Reservoir, hence the name. Located in the western part of Hebei Province, at the junction of Hebei, Shanxi, and Inner Mongolia, it is a key corridor connecting inland China with Hebei and Inner Mongolia, and an economic hub of the three regions. Provincial Highway 133, a secondary road, runs through the town, providing convenient transportation. It is also the main route for the flow of 30,000 mu of vegetables from neighboring Inner Mongolia areas. The town is 280 km from Beijing, 110 km from Zhangjiakou City, 880 km from the provincial capital Shijiazhuang, and 380 km from Erenhot. It has a continental monsoon climate, classified as a mid-temperature semi-arid zone with four distinct seasons... More detailed information about Sangongdi Town++

Further Reading:

· Sixth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units