Ruins of the Palace Complex of the Nanyue Kingdom

Ruins of the Palace Complex of the Nanyue Kingdom

The ruins of the Palace Complex of the Nanyue Kingdom are a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The ruins of the Palace Complex of the Nanyue Kingdom are located on Zhongshan 4th Road in the old city center of Guangzhou. In 203 BC, the Qin general Zhao Tuo established the independent kingdom of Nanyue in the Lingnan region and built a royal palace and gardens in its capital, Panyu (modern-day Guangzhou). The ruins contain not only Nanyue royal gardens but also artifacts and structures from 12 dynasties spanning the Qin, Han, Jin, Southern Dynasties, Sui, Tang, Southern Han, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing, and the Republic of China. These remains, layered upon one another, form a silent historical record of over two thousand years of development in Guangzhou.

The Palace Complex of the Nanyue Kingdom spans an area of 150,000 square meters, stretching from Cangbian Road in the east to Guangda Road in the west, and from Zhongshan Road in the south to Yuexiu Road in the north. Experts have dubbed it the “Pompeii of the East.” The core area of the palace complex covers 48,000 square meters, bounded by Zhongyou Street in the east, Beijing Road in the west, Zhongshan Road in the south, and the front of Guangzhou Mansion in the north. This area has been designated as a cultural relics protection zone by the municipal government. To protect the ruins, the government allocated over 500 million yuan in compensation for land value and the relocation of the Guangzhou Children’s Park. Currently, Guangzhou is preparing a World Heritage nomination for the “Nanyue Kingdom,” which includes the Nanyue Royal Palace ruins, the Western Han Nanyue King’s Tomb, and the “Shuiguan” (water gate) discovered on Xihu Road—all three as part of the “Nanyue Kingdom” project.

In 1984, during construction of the telecom hub building at the telecommunications bureau on Zhongyou Street on Zhongshan 4th Road, a large underground stone water reservoir from the Nanyue royal gardens was discovered. It covered approximately 4,000 square meters, with 400 square meters excavated at the time—most of it still lies beneath residential buildings. The reservoir is about 8 meters below ground level, paved with closely fitted stone slabs featuring a cracked ice pattern. Its walls are sloped, and the floor is flat, laid with crushed stones and pebbles. A wooden water conduit runs southward underground. Scattered throughout the stone pool were octagonal stone pillars, stone railings, stone lintels, large iron stone columns, iron door pivots, “Long Live” roof tiles, rope-patterned tiles, cylindrical tiles, large stamped floor bricks, and even a section of a wooden oar. Analysis suggests the pool could have accommodated boats, and there were likely stone corridors or pavilions along its edges. Notably, the 95x95 cm large floor bricks found here are the largest of their kind nationwide. Such large, flat, and ancient square bricks show no signs of warping during firing—an impressive feat that indicates highly advanced brick-making techniques of the time. Stone carvings bearing the characters “Fan,” “Zi,” and “Yue” are also among the earliest known stone inscriptions discovered in the Lingnan region.

The royal garden ruins contain seven overlapping cultural layers from different eras, revealing relics from the Qin, Nanyue, Eastern Han, Jin, Southern Dynasties, Tang, and Song periods. Eighty-three wells from various dynasties have also been found, dating from the Nanyue era to the Republic of China. These include earthen wells, brick wells, tile wells, wooden wells, bamboo-ring wells, and pottery-ring wells, reflecting the architectural characteristics of different periods. Particularly fascinating is the Bagua (Eight Trigrams) Brick Well, where vertical bricks are interspersed with horizontal ones in the pattern of the eight trigrams, demonstrating the ancients’ understanding of rigid mechanical principles—a testament to their advanced well-building techniques.

Ancient Chinese architecture was typically wooden or brick-and-wood structured, yet these ruins resemble the stonework of ancient Roman cities—an architectural uniqueness within China’s Qin and Han-period sites. Could Western building techniques have been introduced to Panyu at the time? Of course, wooden structures would have existed above ground, but they were likely burned down when the Western Han dynasty conquered the Nanyue Kingdom. The winding canals, scenic framing, and delicate design that miniaturized nature within the courtyard reflect classic features of Eastern garden design—completely different from the geometric, symmetrical, and fully exposed artificial style of Western gardens (such as France’s Versailles). We believe this blend of Roman-like stonework and Eastern landscaping is the most distinctive feature of the Nanyue Palace Garden—the first and foremost example of a royal garden in China.

The center of the royal palace was uncovered in early 2000 when archaeologists excavated around 500 square meters of what is identified as Palace No. 1. Here, we can clearly see the “scattered water” drainage features of two Nanyue royal palaces from 2,000 years ago, a tiled corridor from the Tang Dynasty 1,300 years ago, foundation slots for four columns of the Southern Han palace floors from 1,000 years ago, and various other architectural remains. At the bottom of the pit lies a row of stone strips paved with pebbles. According to Liu Qingzhu, director of the Institute of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and an expert in ancient palace archaeology who visited the site, these pebble strips were typically laid on the ground beneath the eaves of ancient imperial palaces to channel rainwater—known as “scattered water.” In Han Dynasty architecture, using pebbles for “scattered water” was class-specific: if all sides of the palace eaves were paved, it indicated an imperial standard; paving only two sides denoted a royal but not imperial level. From the excavation, the northern and eastern sides of the palace were paved with pebble “scattered water.” By the symmetrical rules of Chinese architecture, the western and southern sides, yet to be unearthed, should also have been paved. This means the palace was built by the Nanyue Kingdom in imitation of Han imperial palaces. In scale, it was likely the office space of the Nanyue king. Director Liu speculates that there must have been more than one main hall—perhaps halls comparable to Beijing’s Taihe, Zhonghe, and Baohe Halls? Based on his 30 years of experience in palace archaeology, he believes the currently unearthed hall is quite large, making it unlikely that there is a larger hall to the south. He estimates that an even larger palace complex probably lies to the west.

In November 1996, it was declared a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit by the State Council.

Address: No. 316, Zhongshan 4th Road, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou

Type: Historical Site

Recommended Visiting Time: 3–4 hours

Opening Hours: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays in the afternoon; Saturdays all day; closed on Sundays and Mondays for maintenance.

Ticket Information: Free