Ruins of the Ancient City of Yugun

Ruins of the Ancient City of Yugun

The ruins of the ancient city of Yugun are a cultural tourism attraction.

The ancient city of Yugun, known as Bao'erhaote in Mongolian and also called Tuchengzi in Chinese, is located about three kilometers southwest of Shajintaohai Sumu in Dengkou County. It was built in the second year of Emperor Wu of Han’s Yuanshuo era (127 BC). The city has an irregular rectangular shape, measuring up to 250 meters from east to west and up to 200 meters from north to south. The northern and northwestern parts are covered by desert. The city walls are 9 to 13 meters wide, with a gap about 20 meters wide in the middle of the southern wall, likely serving as the city gate. The eastern and northern walls still stand 1 to 2.5 meters high. Slightly east of the center of the city lies a raised platform covering an area of 10,000 square meters, where cultural layers with depths of 1 to 3 meters have been identified. The lower layer of these cultural deposits contains Han Dynasty relics, which are relatively thick, including numerous gray pottery items and building materials from the Han era. The middle layer holds Tang Dynasty artifacts, among which several types of white porcelain fragments have been unearthed. The upper layer belongs to the Ming and Qing Dynasties and is also quite thick, featuring numerous Jun kiln porcelain fragments such as blue-and-white porcelain shards. Scattered across the broken walls, one can also find iron chains and tri-pronged bronze alloy arrowheads. About 100 meters east of the raised platform, two Tang Dynasty gold bowls were excavated — one with a lotus-shaped rim and the other with a round rim, engraved with entwined peony and honeysuckle patterns. These artifacts showcase exquisite craftsmanship and lifelike designs, and despite being buried underground for over a thousand years, they still shimmered with golden luster when unearthed.

Source: Dengkou County Tourism Bureau