Site of Xingwuying City

Site of Xingwuying Ancient City

The Site of Xingwuying City is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Xingwuying Ancient City

Xingwuying Ancient City is located 48 kilometers northwest of Yanchi County, now within Erbukeng Village, Gaosawo Township. It sits in a low-lying area at the convergence of two sections of the Ming Dynasty Great Wall. According to Volume Three of the Jiajing Ningxia Chronicles: “There was an old city here, though its dynasty and original name are unknown. Only the ruins of one wall remain, commonly referred to as ‘Half a City.’” In the ninth year of the Zhengtong era (1444 AD), Censor-in-Chief Jin Lian initiated the construction of this city on the foundations of the old site, establishing a garrison command. Investigations reveal that the ancient city is roughly rectangular, with the east wall measuring 610 meters, the west wall 580 meters, the south wall 470 meters, and the north wall 480 meters in width. The walls were equipped with waist towers—five on the east, four on the west, four on the south, and five on the north. About a hundred meters outside the south barbican gate lies an ancient well, commonly called the Dragon-Trodden Well. Legend has it that a knight once passed through on his way to Lingzhou just as the sun was setting. He asked a herdsman, “Can I reach Lingzhou before dark?” The herdsman replied, “Lingzhou is still over a hundred li away. Unless you’re a divine being on a divine steed, there’s no way you’ll make it.” Just then, the horse, parched and unable to drink, gave a long whinny and dug the earth with its hooves, causing a spring to burst forth. The herdsman looked up, but the knight had vanished. Later, a Guan Yu temple was built atop the barbican gate, with a statue of the deity installed, and the well was named Dragon-Trodden Well. In years with heavier rainfall, the well water would overflow. Local residents would visit at dawn on the first day of the lunar new year to observe the direction of the overflow, believing that whichever direction the water flowed toward would enjoy a bountiful harvest.

Xingwuying was an important fortress along the Great Wall, known as the “Strategic Stronghold of Lingxia and Vital Bastion of Pingqing.” The 400-li journey from Ningxia to the Yulin border offered no high mountains or valleys for defense, so reliance was placed on Huamachi and Xingwuying. Xingwuying is a valuable cultural heritage site and part of the Iron Pillar Spring Ancient City. The Iron Pillar Spring Ancient City is situated 36 kilometers southwest of Yanchi County, currently within Baojichun Village, Fengjigou Township. It lies 8 kilometers east of the Habahu Forest Farm, 6 kilometers west of Wangchongzhuang, 5 kilometers north of Qianjitan, and 500 meters west of Iron Pillar Spring Village. The Qingshan–Fengjigou Highway passes through this area. The ancient city is rectangular, measuring 385 meters from north to south and 360 meters from east to west. The east wall has a gate and a barbican, which is 28 meters long from north to south and 18 meters wide from east to west. The structure is built from rammed earth, with a base width of 10 meters, remaining height of 4–8 meters, and a top width of 13 meters. The rammed layers are approximately 20 centimeters thick. Originally, there were bricks and stones, but they were removed long ago. Parts of the ancient city are overgrown, while others have been converted into farmland. The surface is scattered with numerous fragments of Ming Dynasty porcelain, bricks, and tiles—building materials from that period. The site is a County-Level Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

In the fifteenth year of the Jiajing era (1536), Liu Tianhe, Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate and concurrently Left Vice Minister of War (later promoted to Minister of War), was ordered to oversee military affairs in the Three Borders region. Together with Central Commissioner Zhang Wenkui, “they planned the restoration of Iron Pillar Spring City—a perimeter of about four li, walls over four zhang high, and equally thick fortifications. The city was built to protect the spring, and the moat to protect the city, all crafted for lasting resilience. A military command officer was appointed to lead the garrison, with over 1,500 troops and 86 horses, supplemented by locally recruited defenders.” After the city was completed, it put an end to 170 years of conflict between the Tatars and the people of Huamachi over water and pastures. Current research indicates that the spring inside the city can no longer be found, likely buried by sand. However, there is a spring to the east of the city, created by later generations. The former scene of “water gushing like a pillar, the spring water sweet and cool, capable of quenching tens of thousands of horses daily without drying up” no longer exists, but the spring still irrigates hundreds of acres of fertile land and provides drinking water for residents. The renowned Peking University geographer Professor Hou Renzhi once visited Iron Pillar Spring for a special investigation.

Further Reading:

· Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units