Site of Heicheng City

Site of Heicheng City

The Site of Heicheng City is a cultural tourism attraction.

The Site of Heicheng City is a cultural tourism attraction. It is located 500 meters southwest of Heicheng Village, Dianzi Township, Ningcheng County, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. It was once the Western Xia’s Heishuicheng and the Yuan Dynasty’s Yijinai Lu city site, known in Mongolian as Harahota, meaning “Black City.” Although Heicheng had become an isolated ruin in the desert as early as the mid-14th century due to the drying up of its water source, the northern route of the Silk Road established two thousand years ago—the Juyan North Route—once passed near Heicheng, giving the site significant archaeological value.

In 1976, the site was excavated and found to consist of inner and outer city walls. The outer city, commonly called Luocheng, is rectangular, measuring 1,800 meters east-west and 800 meters north-south. The base of the city walls is 16–20 meters wide, with remnants standing 1–3 meters high. In the southern part of the city, there are coin minting workshops and kiln sites dating back to the Wang Mang period. The inner city is situated slightly north within the outer city, commonly known as Heicheng, and measures 700 meters east-west and 500 meters north-south. The base of its walls is 15 meters wide, with remnants standing 8–9 meters high. Each of the four walls has a gate about 9 meters wide, with an outer barbican. In the northwest part of the inner city lies a small rammed-earth walled enclosure, commonly known as Huacheng, measuring 250 meters north-south and 200 meters east-west. Its wall base is 5–6 meters wide, with remnants standing 1–2 meters high. Artifacts such as Warring States period gray pottery with rope patterns have been unearthed at Huacheng. The inner city has yielded a large number of cloud-patterned roof tiles and coins, while the outer city has produced Han dynasty pottery shards, crucible fragments, coins, ironware, and relics from the Liao and Jin periods. Based on unearthed bronze seals such as the “Buqu Jiang” (Commander of the Troops) seal and clay seals reading “Bailang’s Assistant” and “Seal of the Governor of Yuyang,” scholars infer that this site was the former location of Pinggang, the seat of Youbeiping Commandery during the Han dynasty. The inner city was also the site of Fuyu Inn during the Liao dynasty and the county seat of Fushu during the Jin dynasty.

In May 2006, the Site of Heicheng City was designated by the State Council as part of the sixth group of Major National Historical and Cultural Sites.

Further Reading:

· Sixth Group of Major National Historical and Cultural Sites