Ruins of Fengshan Temple

Fengshan Temple Ruins

The ruins of Fengshan Temple are a cultural heritage site protected at the provincial level in Hebei Province.

The ruins of Fengshan Temple are located on a high terrace 500 meters south of Qianwozi Village in Jianchangying Town, approximately 300 meters west of Lengkou Shahe River, bordered by Dalingshan Mountain to the south and Mafen to the east. The soil at the site is yellow sandy soil, forming an irregular square shape with the longest side measuring 180 meters, the widest side about 120 meters, and a total area of around 21,000 square meters. The site is currently well-preserved as a whole.

The cultural strata at the site can be divided into two layers: upper and lower. The lower layer is thick, with soft soil of a grayish-brown color, rich in artifacts, and is 1–2.5 meters thick. On the terraced cliffs around the site, multiple ash pits are exposed, and the surface contains numerous pottery fragments and a small number of stone tools. The stone tools include knives, axes, and sickles; among the pottery, there are types such as tube-shaped li tripods and flanged li tripods, with pointed or columnar feet. Other artifacts include zun vessels, jars, basins, spinning whorls, and clay animal sculptures. The pottery is predominantly brown sand-tempered, followed by gray sand-tempered and polished gray pottery, with decorative patterns such as fine cord marks, appliqué ridges, and incised grid patterns.

The polished gray pottery tube-shaped li tripods and zun vessels collected from Fengshan Temple are identical to those found at other sites in western Liaoning and Hebei, such as Yao Wangmiao, Zhizhushan, and Xiaoyushulinzi in Chifeng, as well as Sanguan in Yu County, Hebei—all of which belong to the Lower Xiajiadian Culture of the West Liaohe River system. These artifacts represent the main archaeological cultures of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou periods in this region. In contrast, the sand-tempered brown pottery flanged li tripods with cord marks, also found at sites like the third phase of Weifang in Tianjin and Lidakanzhuang in Xuanhua, Zhangjiakou, represent a different cultural element distinct from the former and may date to a period later than the Lower Xiajiadian Culture. Therefore, the Fengshan Temple site likely dates to the late Xia or early Shang Dynasty. This site provides highly valuable material evidence for in-depth research on the cultural characteristics, historical conditions, and human activities of the Xia and Shang periods in the region.

The upper cultural layer at the Fengshan Temple ruins is relatively thin and contains a significant number of bricks and tiles, suggesting it may be the remains of a building complex from the Liao or Jin dynasties. Locals refer to it as Fengshan Temple. The Yongping Prefecture Records state: “Thirty li north of the county lies Fengshan Temple.” Thus, Fengshan Temple refers to this very site.

The Fengshan Temple ruins were designated as a county-level cultural heritage site by the Qian’an County Government on December 5, 1992, and were recognized as a provincial-level cultural heritage site by the Hebei Provincial Government in 1993.

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Further reading:

· Third Batch of Hebei Provincial Cultural Heritage Sites