Ruins of Zhongling Ancient City

Ruins of Zhongling Ancient City

The Zhongling Ancient City is a cultural heritage site protected at the provincial level in Shanxi Province.

Ruins of Zhongling Ancient City

Ruins of Zhongling Ancient City (Second Batch of Provincial-Level Protected Sites)

Era: Han Dynasty

Address: 12.5 km west of Youyu County and 2.5 km west of Wei Yuan Town

The Zhongling Ancient City is the site of the Zhongling County of the Han Dynasty's Yanmen Commandery. It was built in the 25th year of the Jianwu era (49 AD) during the Eastern Han Dynasty by Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu. The ancient city has a rectangular layout, with a wall dividing the city into eastern and western sections. The northern and southern walls are each 1,500 meters long, and the eastern and western walls are each 900 meters wide, giving the ancient city a total area of 1.35 million square meters. The ruins of the city gates in the east, west, south, and north walls, as well as the middle section, are still evident, but the city walls themselves have largely disappeared. The southeastern wall has lost a corner due to erosion by the Cangtou River. Various Han Dynasty artifacts are exposed on the ground within the city, such as cloud-patterned roof tiles, grid-patterned roof tiles, wuzhu coins, banliang coins, and a large number of pottery fragments. Additionally, villagers in the surrounding area discovered a stone coin mold for banliang coins buried underground in the city. The mold features four half-coins, all clearly and completely preserved.

Further Reading:

· Second Batch of Provincial-Level Cultural Heritage Protected Sites in Shanxi Province