Site of the Wuan Prefecture City from the Liao Dynasty

Site of the Wuan Prefecture City from the Liao Dynasty

The site of the Wuan Prefecture City from the Liao Dynasty is located in Nanta Village, Fengshou Township, Aohan Banner, Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. It lies to the north of the Yinma River and to the south near an elevated plateau. The Yinma River is a tributary of the Jialai River, flowing from east to west, with both banks featuring alluvial fan-shaped first-level terraces. The city site is situated on the first-level terrace on the right bank of the river. This site was designated as part of the third batch of key cultural heritage protection units in the region by the People's Government of the Autonomous Region in 1996.

Due to erosion by the river and cultivation, the city walls are poorly preserved and largely non-existent, with only the northern wall still faintly visible. The rest appears as intermittent gray soil strips. Three layers of city walls can be identified. The outermost layer is the most poorly preserved, roughly square with sides nearly 800 meters long. The second layer forms a square with each side about 650 meters long. The third layer is better preserved, curving slightly inward to the north and also roughly square, with sides around 270 meters long. The remains of city gates are no longer discernible. Most of the visible building foundations on the surface are located within the second and third layers of the city, while the southern area is covered with flattened, patchily distributed rubble, each patch likely representing the site of a building. The unflattened, tall building foundations form an almost contiguous northern-southern area. There are ten foundation sites that rise over three meters above the ground in mound-like, round hills. Observations of the exposed riverbanks show that cultural deposits inside the city are 2–3 meters thick, reaching up to 7 meters at the deepest points.

Three temple construction sites were built around the city, namely the Wujiadun site to the west, adjacent to the city. On the surface, nine tall building foundations can be seen. Four of these in front of the village were leveled in 1992, while five behind the village remain preserved. One in the northwest corner stands as high as 14 meters. The surface remains mainly consist of green-glazed architectural components, decorative elements such as facing tiles, dragon and phoenix sculptures, bas-relief landscapes, and components with images of Buddha and pagodas. Clay and earthen Buddhist statues have also been unearthed. Based on the ruins and recovered artifacts, this site is believed to be a high-standard temple construction from the early Liao period, featuring luxurious halls. There is also a smaller temple site on the southern plateau, where only fragments of bricks and tiles are visible on the surface.

On a high ridge on the left bank of the Yinma River, opposite the city site, there is another temple ruin. Only relics from the Liao Dynasty are found on the surface, all belonging to early Liao constructions, which had been abandoned by the Jin and Yuan periods. Only one Liao pagoda remains today. The pagoda is an octagonal, dense-eave hollow brick structure. Its spire has collapsed, leaving eleven remaining eaves, with a current height of 36 meters. Each side of the base is 6.2 meters long. The southern, northern, eastern, and western sides of the body feature Buddha niches, while the other sides have brick-carved lattice windows. The Buddha niche on the southern façade is damaged and missing, revealing a circular hollow space. From its top to the first level of eaves, it features a pointed dome with whitewashed inner walls. The first and second eaves are supported by bracket sets imitating wooden structures, while the eaves from the third level upward are supported by corbelled brackets. The eaves slope upward significantly, reflecting the style of early Liao pagodas. The outer walls of the pagoda are whitewashed, giving it the common name “White Pagoda.” In recent years, a number of cremation tombs have been discovered near the city site, such as in Xiawanzi and Xihuanghuang, indicating that the tomb occupants were Buddhists. For example, the Xiawanzi Liao tombs include over a hundred cremation graves, along with monk burial sites related to temples, reflecting the prevalence of Buddhism at the time.