Jianchang Ancient Town

Jianchang Ancient Town

Jianchang Ancient Town is a national AAA-level tourist attraction and a cultural heritage site.

There are over 2,400 cultural relics distributed across Jianchang Ancient Town, with ancient ruins, burial sites, stone carvings, rock paintings, and historic architecture scattered throughout the city. The ancient ruins in Xichang mainly fall into four categories: settlement ruins, city site ruins, kiln site ruins, and mining and metallurgy ruins. These date from the Neolithic Age, the Shang Dynasty, the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the Qin and Han Dynasties, the Jin Dynasties, the Tang and Song Dynasties, and the Ming and Qing Dynasties. There are seventeen Neolithic sites, two Shang Dynasty sites, three Han Dynasty sites, eleven ancient city sites, two kiln sites, and two mining and metallurgy sites. Jianchang Ancient Town is a microcosm of the five-hundred-year history of Xichang’s diverse ethnic groups. Over the past five hundred years, all major historical events have left their mark on the ancient town.

The discovery of bricks inscribed with the “Dàshùn” (Great Shun) reign mark in the ancient town confirms that after the peasant uprising leader Zhang Xianzhong established the “Dàxī” (Great West) regime in Chengdu in 1644, his general Liu Wenxiu (Military Governor of Funan) indeed raised the “Dàshùn” banner in Xichang, occupying the city for several months and waging an anti-Qing struggle. He also oversaw the renovation of Jianchang Ancient Town. This event gives the ancient town special historical significance. The “Dàshùn” bricks are the first of their kind discovered in Sichuan.

Stone tablets recording the passage of Shi Dakai, the Wing King of the Taiping Rebellion, were found within the city walls. These are of great importance to the study of the Taiping Rebellion. For five hundred years, Jianchang Ancient Town has been a gathering place for literati and scholars. Literary figures such as the Ming Dynasty writer Yang Shen, the Qing Dynasty calligrapher He Shaoji, the Qing poet Zha Jian Tang, and modern educators such as Huang Yanpei have all left their inscriptions here. In addition, about 2 kilometers east of Jianchang Ancient Town atop Jiangpo Hill lies what locals call the “Yuelu Ancient Fortress.” On-site assessments confirm that this fortress was a military stronghold from the late Yuan and early Ming Dynasties. To this day, remnants of wartime fortifications and stone cannons can still be found at the site.