Ruins of Wanxiang City

Ruins of Wanxiang City

The ruins of Wanxiang City are located in Jiemengzhang Village, Longzhang Town. In the Dai language, “Jie” means city, “Meng” means ten thousand, and “Zhang” means elephant. Together, “Jiemengzhang” translates to Wanxiang City (City of Ten Thousand Elephants). It served as the seat of the 10th to 13th Tusi (local hereditary chieftain) pacification commissioners of the Ganya region. Legend has it that the Longzhang area was once home to a great many elephants—up to 9,999—and to this day, many places associated with elephants remain, such as Elephant Village (Mangzhang), the Place Where Elephants Were Kept (Nazhang), the Pond Where Elephants Bathed (Longzhang), and the Pool Where Elephants Rolled (Tangzhang), among others. The elephant is a symbol of good fortune in Dai culture. Between the first year (1573) and the eleventh year (1583) of the Wanli reign during the Ming Dynasty, the Ganya region suffered frequent warfare. The official residence in Longkou City (today’s Old City) was burned down, and the official seal of the Pacification Commissioner was lost. As a result, in the twelfth year of Wanli (1584), when Dao Pa Wang Xuan Gong, the tenth-generation Tusi of Ganya, assumed his position, he chose a place abundant in elephants to rebuild the government office, hoping to bring good luck. At the time, there were already 9,999 elephants, so an additional one was created from paper to make the total number 10,000—hence the name “Wanxiang City” (City of Ten Thousand Elephants).

It is said that Wanxiang City was once very prosperous, featuring a royal garden covering dozens of acres and as many as seven main streets bustling with merchants from all walks of life. Elephants were bred domestically and used as tools for war and various forms of labor. In the 16th year of the Shunzhi reign during the Qing Dynasty (1659), the Yongli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty stayed overnight in Wanxiang City while fleeing to Myanmar via Yingjiang. In the 31st year of the Kangxi reign (1692), the city was burned down by the peasant rebel army of the Daxi faction under Sun Kewang. From its construction to its destruction, the city stood for 107 years. Today, only a pair of intact stone lions and a stone bridge remain at the site. In 1987, the People's Government of Yingjiang County erected a stone tablet inscribed with “Ruins of Wanxiang City.”