Ancient City of the Jin State

Ancient City of the Jin State

The Ancient City of the Jin State is a cultural tourism attraction.

Introduction: Five ancient city ruins of the Jin State have been discovered in Houma. One located in Niucun is called the Niucun Ancient City, and another near Niuwangcun is called the Pingwang Ancient City. The ruins of these ancient cities are now buried about one meter underground. The southeast corner of the Pingwang Ancient City ruins overlaps with the northwest corner of the Niucun Ancient City ruins. The Niucun Ancient City is 1,340 meters long from north to south and 1,100 to 1,400 meters wide from east to west. Its city walls were built using rammed-earth blocks. Inside the southern wall, there was a roadway that ran along the perimeter, and outside the wall was a moat 6 meters wide and 4 meters deep. The remains of palace structures are located in the northern part of the city. The palace foundations are square-shaped, about 0.8 meters high, and measure 52 meters on each side. The palace ruins in the Pingwang Ancient City are situated more toward the southern part of the city and are divided into three levels. The lowest level is square, measuring 7.5 meters on each side; the second level is raised 4 meters above the ground; and the third level is located in the northern half of the second level, stretching 35 meters from north to south and 45 meters from east to west. Both cities have over one meter thick accumulations of collapsed buildings. Also discovered were the ruins of Bai Shop Ancient City, Taishen Ancient City, and Ma Zai Ancient City. From these ancient city ruins, we can imagine how magnificent the capital architecture of the Jin State—one of the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn period—must have been.

Linfen City, Shanxi Province