The Ruins of Fangcheng City

The Fangcheng City Ruins

The Fangcheng City Ruins are a cultural relic protection unit of Hebei Province.

The Fangcheng site in Gaoyi County is located in the area of Gucheng Village in the southwest of present-day Gaoyi County. Remnants of the city wall still exist. It is an earthen city built with rammed earth, rectangular in shape, approximately 1,400 meters long from east to west and about 1,100 meters wide from north to south.

Fang was originally a city of the Zhao State during the Warring States Period and has a history of over 2,000 years. "Records of the Grand Historian: The House of Zhao" says: “In the tenth year of King Jing’s reign, a battle was fought with the Zhongshan State at Fang.” It also records that during the reign of King Wuling of Zhao, “in the seventeenth year, the king set out from Jiumen to build Ye Tai, in order to observe the borders of Qi and Zhongshan... In the nineteenth year, in the first month of spring... the king campaigned northward into the territory of Zhongshan, reaching Fang.” "Book of the Later Han: The Annals of Emperor Guangwu" states: “In the second year of the Gengshi era, Guangwu attacked Zhending, Yuanshi, and Fangzi, all of which were captured” (Fang and Fang were interchangeable in ancient times). The Fang County was first established here at the beginning of the Western Han Dynasty. By the seventh year of the Tianbao era of the Northern Qi Dynasty (556 AD), the seat of Fang County was moved to the location of present-day Gaoyi County, and Fang County was abolished and incorporated into Gaoyi County. From then on, Fang County was never re-established.

From the time it was established as a county to when it was abolished, the Fangcheng site served as the political, economic, and cultural center of the region for over 700 years. As a result, many relics and artifacts have been left behind both above and below ground. Artifacts once collected from the site include flat-bottomed, slender-handled beans from the Warring States Period, bronze arrowheads, pottery tripods, pottery pots, bronze belt hooks, bronze mirrors, as well as Han Dynasty wuzhu coins. Few late-period artifacts have been found. The artifacts collected and the historical records mutually confirm that the time of its establishment and abolition is largely consistent.

In July 1993, the Fangcheng site was announced by the People's Government of Hebei Province as a provincial-level key cultural relic protection unit.

Further Reading:

· Third Batch of Cultural Relic Protection Units of Hebei Province