Dongjing City

　　 Dongjing City is situated in Wensheng District, Liaoyang City, north of Zhonghua Street, and currently lies on the site of Xincheng Village. It was the capital city constructed more than 300 years ago when Nurhaci, the founding emperor of the Qing Dynasty, made Liaoyang his capital. The city was built in the seventh year of the Tianming era of the Later Jin (1622). The city walls were erected on an elevated area beside water, constructed with brick, stone, and rammed earth. The city had a diamond-shaped layout, with a perimeter of 3,510 meters, stretching 890 meters from east to west and 886 meters from north to south. There were eight gates positioned on all four sides, namely Neizhi, Fujin, Huaiyuan, Waorang, Desheng, Tianyou, Fusheng, and Dizai, with two gates on each side, arranged opposite each other from north to south. The original octagonal hall where Nurhaci held political meetings was built on the earthen mound in the northwest part of the city, and its ruins can still be found today.

　　In the tenth year of the Tianming era (1625), Nurhaci moved the capital to Shenyang, and a garrison commander was stationed in Dongjing City with troops for defense. By the 20th year of the Kangxi reign (1681), the defending forces had been relocated to Jinzhou, and the city gradually fell into disrepair. Although Dongjing City served as the capital for only four years, during this brief period, Nurhaci implemented a series of political, economic, military, and religious reforms. These changes led to a qualitative transformation in the Jurchen society he led, and Dongjing City holds significant importance in the architectural history of the Qing Dynasty.

　　With the passage of time, the decline of the Qing Dynasty, and neglect in maintenance, Dongjing City fell into ruins several times. After the liberation in 1949, four stone plaques from the city’s four gates—Tianyoumen, Neizhimén, Deshengmen, and Fujinmen—were unearthed in Xincheng. Each plaque was inscribed with the words “Dà Jīn Tiānmìng Rénxū Nián” (Great Jin, Heavenly Mandate Year of Renxu). Experts in Qing history have confirmed that the gate inscriptions of Shenyang’s Shengjing City were modeled after those of Liaoyang’s Dongjing City. Stone tablets, gate plaques, and palace relics excavated from the city are now housed in the Liaoyang Museum.

　　The once magnificent architecture that soared proudly no longer exists. Among the eight gates, only the surviving main southern gate (Tianyoumen) remains standing after being restored in 1997, silently telling the story of its former prosperity and splendor.

　　The Hedong New City Management Committee and the Wensheng District Government have included the reconstruction of Dongjing City as part of their investment attraction projects. The project focuses on the protection and restoration of the ruins within Dongjing City, aiming to build a large-scale heritage park themed around the culture of the early Qing (Later Jin) period. This park will integrate functions such as sightseeing, leisure vacation, shopping, dining, entertainment, cultural creativity, and film production, enhancing its influence and expanding the tourism market.