Ancient Battlefield Site of the Battle of Changping

Ancient Battlefield Site of Changping

The Ancient Battlefield Site of Changping is a national AAA-level tourist attraction and a cultural relic protection unit of Shanxi Province.

The site of the Battle of Changping is located in Changping Village, about 10 kilometers north of Gaoping City, and is now a key cultural relic protection unit of Shanxi Province. It stretches from Skull Mountain and Ma’an Gully in the west to Hongjiagou and Xing Village in the east, spanning approximately 10 kilometers in width; and from Danzhu Ridge in the north to Mishan Town in the south, covering about thirty kilometers in length. The valley areas on both sides of the Dan River between the eastern and western mountains all belong to the key protected zone.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, Gaoping was called Xuanshi, and was renamed Changping during the Warring States Period. It is the birthplace of China’s ancient civilization. Legend has it that the Yellow Emperor, the first ancestor of the Chinese nation and the greatest emperor of China, once roamed the Ze-Lu Basin, and after his passing, he was buried in Zhuangli Village southeast of Yangtou Mountain, which is regarded as the ancestral tomb of the Yan Emperor Shennong.

Legend has it: After the great Battle of Changping, Zhaozhuang Village was reduced to ruins. After the death of Zhao Kuo, local villagers secretly retrieved his body and buried it on Erxian Ridge north of the village. To ensure future generations would not forget the State of Zhao, they renamed the place Zhaozhuang. The idiom “armchair strategist” refers to Zhao Kuo’s dogmatic approach to military command.