Ancient Battlefield Site of the Battle of Changping

　　The site of the Battle of Changping is located in Changping Village, 10 kilometers north of Gaoping City, and is now a key cultural relics protection unit of Shanxi Province. It spans from Skull Mountain and Ma’an Gully in the west to Hongjiagou and Xing Village in the east, covering a width of about 10 kilometers; and extends from Danzuling Mountain in the north to Mishan Town in the south, spanning approximately thirty kilometers. The valley areas along both sides of the Dan River between the eastern and western mountain ranges are all designated as key protected zones.

　　In ancient times, Gaoping was called Xuanshi during the Spring and Autumn Period and was renamed Changping during the Warring States Period. This area is considered one of the birthplaces of the original Chinese civilization. Legend has it that the ancestor of the Chinese nation, the greatest Chinese emperor—Yan Emperor—once roamed the Ze-Lu Basin, and after his passing, he was buried in Zhuangli Village southeast of Yangtou Mountain, which is regarded as the ancestral tomb of Emperor Yan Shennong.

　　Legend has it that after the great Battle of Changping, Zhao Village was reduced to ruins. After the death of Zhao Kuo, local villagers secretly retrieved his body and buried it on Erxian Ridge to the north of the village. To ensure that future generations would not forget the State of Zhao, they renamed the place Zhao Village. The idiom “armchair strategist” refers to Zhao Kuo’s dogmatic approach to military strategy.