Ruins of Liaozhongjing

Ruins of Liaozhongjing

The ruins of Liaozhongjing are a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The ruins of Liaozhongjing are located on the alluvial plain on the north bank of the Laoha River in Damingshi City, Ningcheng County, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Zhongjing was one of the Five Capitals of the Liao Dynasty. Construction began in the 21st year of the Tonghe era (1003 AD) and was largely completed by the 25th year, when the Dading Prefecture was established. Liao emperors often resided here to receive envoys from the Song Dynasty. After the fall of the Liao, the Jin Dynasty renamed it "Dading Prefecture, Beijing Road," and the Yuan Dynasty later called it "Daning Road." In the early Ming Dynasty, the Daning Guard was established here but was abolished in the first year of the Yongle era (1403 AD), after which it fell into ruin. From 1959 to 1960, the Cultural Relics Work Team of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and other institutions conducted surveys and archaeological excavations at the site.

The urban layout of Liaozhongjing was modeled after the system of Bianjing (Kaifeng) in the Northern Song Dynasty, featuring three layers: the outer city, inner city, and imperial city. The outer city had a rectangular plan, stretching 4,200 meters from east to west and 3,500 meters from north to south. Its southern wall had a central gate with a barbican, and corner towers stood at each of the four corners. From the southern Zhu Xia Gate to the inner city’s southern Yangde Gate, a distance of over 1,400 meters, ran a central avenue 64 meters wide. Alongside this avenue were wooden-board-covered drainage ditches leading to stone culverts beneath the walls on either side of the Zhu Xia Gate. About 500 meters from the Zhu Xia Gate, at the center of the avenue, lies the remnant of a saddle-shaped earthen mound, believed to be the site of a market tower. The avenue was flanked by symmetrically arranged streets—three north-south longitudinal roads and five east-west latitudinal roads, each 4–15 meters wide. The blocks formed by these streets were residential areas for the Han people.

The northern part of the outer city contains ruins of temples, corridors, post stations, and government offices. On the hillside in the southwest corner of the city, there is also a dense cluster of temple building ruins. In the northeast corner of the southern part of the outer city, near the southern wall of the inner city, stands a tightly-eaved brick pagoda. Legend says it was built during the reign of Emperor Shengzong of Liao and served as the stupa of Gansheng Temple in Zhongjing. It is now known as the "Damingsha Pagoda." Built on an approximately 6-meter-high earthen platform, the octagonal, 13-story pagoda rises 74 meters. The first story features brick carvings on its four frontal sides depicting Buddhas, bodhisattvas, guardian deities, and flying apsaras, while the rear four sides are designed as double-layered pagoda forms—the upper layer inscribed with the pagoda’s name and the lower with bodhisattva names. The pagoda is grand in form and scale, representing a masterpiece of Liao Dynasty Buddhist architecture. Southwest of this pagoda stands another, shorter tower, about 24 meters high and commonly called the "Small Pagoda." Also octagonal and 13 stories with tightly arranged eaves, it may date to the late Liao or early Jin Dynasty.

The inner city is located slightly north of the center of the outer city, with a rectangular layout stretching 2,000 meters from east to west and 1,500 meters from north to south. Most of the area within the city is open space. A roughly 40-meter-wide avenue runs from the southern Yangde Gate, at the center of the southern wall, to the southern Changle Gate of the palace city. About 85 meters south of the Changle Gate, this avenue intersects with a 15-meter-wide east-west road, which then turns north at both ends and leads into the palace city.

The palace city site is located in the center of the northern part of the inner city, with a square layout measuring 1,000 meters on each side. The northern wall of the palace city utilizes the northern wall of the inner city, while the east, south, and west walls were separately constructed. The eastern and western wall corner towers at the southern end can still be seen today, but the southern wall and the central Changle Gate have been lost. Approximately 180 meters east and west of the Changle Gate are gaps about 15 meters wide, believed to be the sites of the eastern and western Ye Gates. All three gates had roads about 8 meters wide leading into the palace city. Along the central axis north of the Changle Gate lies the site of a large palace complex, while the inner sections of the eastern and western Ye Gates each contain ruins of two-tiered palace structures.

Excavated artifacts mainly consist of construction materials such as roof tiles, tubular tiles, drip tiles, bricks, as well as ridge decorations and interior brick ornaments. Other finds include stone carvings and clay Buddhist statues, white porcelain fragments from the Ding Kiln, imitation coarse white porcelain from the Ding Kiln style, pottery utensils, and copper coins from the Northern Song Dynasty.

Liaozhongjing Dading Prefecture was one of the political, economic, and cultural centers of the Liao Dynasty. The original city was built following the layout of Bianliang, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty. The entire city had a square layout, stretching eight Chinese miles from east to west and seven and a half miles from north to south, with three layers of walls forming the outer city, inner city, and imperial city arranged in a “square within a square” pattern. The outer city also featured a moat and was inhabited by people of Han, Uyghur, and Jurchen ethnicities, while the inner city mainly housed Khitan residents and some lower-ranking officials. The imperial city was home to Khitan nobility. At that time, the imperial city contained major structures such as ancestral temples, the Imperial Portrait Hall of Empress Chengtian of Emperor Jingzong, the Cultural Hall, the Martial Hall, the Hui’an Hall, and the Zhaoqing Hall—all exquisitely built and grand in scale. Liaozhongjing Dading Prefecture also became the second-largest city on the northern grasslands of its time and an important secondary capital of the Liao Dynasty. After the founding of the Ming Dynasty by Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, he appointed his 24 sons as princes. Upon his death, his eldest grandson Zhu Yunwen ascended the throne as the Jianwen Emperor. Concerned about the excessive power of the princes, the Jianwen Emperor decided to reduce their influence. In the first year of the Jianwen era (1399 AD), Zhu Di, the fourth son of Zhu Yuanzhang and Prince of Yan, raised an army under the slogan “Purge the Court and Execute Treacherous Officials,” an event known as the Jingnan Rebellion. At that time, the Prince of Ning, Zhu Quan, who was stationed in Liaozhongjing Dading Prefecture, was also very powerful. The court, fearing an alliance between Ning and Yan, summoned Prince Ning to the capital in an attempt to confine him. Though Zhu Quan had no intention of joining forces with Zhu Di, he was unwilling to go to the capital. Caught in a dilemma, Zhu Di took the opportunity to launch a coup, taking Zhu Quan’s family and fleeing to Yan. Fearing potential changes along the way, Zhu Di set the city on fire to sever the emotional ties of Ning’s soldiers and prevent them from turning back. Sadly, the once-flourishing Liaozhongjing, after 392 years, turned to ruins in flames, leaving only three ancient pagodas, two layers of earthen walls, and a military drilling platform. Since the city was destroyed during the Ming Dynasty, it came to be known as Damingshi City, and the towering pagoda outside the city was called the Damingsha Pagoda.

Tianyi Town: Located in the eastern plain area of Ningcheng County, Tianyi Town is the seat of the Ningcheng County Party Committee and County Government. The town has a total of 10,186 mu of arable land and a population of 57,600. In 2003, its GDP totaled 292.01 million yuan, and the per capita net income of farmers was 2,578 yuan. The town administers 12 communities: Tiannan, Tianbei, Zhenxi, Zhennao, Tixi, Hedong, Zhanqian, Jingnan, Jingbei, Wujiange, Shatuozi, and Sumuga. ... More details about Tianyi Town++

Further Reading:

· First Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units