The Ancient City Site of Pingliangtai

　　The Ancient City Site of Pingliangtai is located in the southwest corner of Dazhu Village, Dalian Township, about 4 kilometers southeast of Huaiyang County. It covers an area of over 100 acres and stands two zhang high. Commonly known as Pingliangtai, Pingliangzhong, or Zhuliangtai, it was designated as a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit on February 13, 1988. It is currently the earliest discovered, largest in scale, and best-preserved ancient city site from the Longshan Culture period, dating back approximately 4,600 years. Excavated in 1979, the news was widely reported by dozens of domestic and international media outlets such as the People's Daily, Guangming Daily, Henan Daily, Hong Kong's Ta Kung Pao, and Xinhua News Agency, causing a sensation at the time and shocking the world.

　　Before its excavation, the moving scenery of this place was described in the "Odes of Chen · Wanqiu," the first poetry anthology in China from the Spring and Autumn Period: "You dance joyfully atop the mound, truly full of charm, yet hopeless. Drumbeats echo below the mound; all year round, egret feathers wave. Drumbeats echo on the path of the mound; all year round, egret feathers sway." This means that during the Western Zhou Dynasty, the scenery here was delightful, and the handsome men and beautiful women of the State of Chen often came here to sing, dance, and fall in love. Later, the ancient city of Wanqiu was gradually abandoned.

　　Before the ancient city of Wanqiu was excavated, little was known about it, leading to many legends. The most widespread one is linked to the story of Bao Zheng distributing grain in Chenzhou during the Song Dynasty: During the Northern Song Dynasty, Chenzhou suffered frequent disasters, and the people were living in misery. The imperial court sent the Fourth Imperial Uncle to Chenzhou to provide disaster relief. Unexpectedly, the Fourth Imperial Uncle embezzled the imperial grain, mixing sand into it before distributing it to the people. When the news reached the capital, the court dispatched Bao Zheng to investigate the case in Chenzhou. Upright and impartial, Bao Zheng executed the Fourth Imperial Uncle at the Golden Dragon Bridge in the city without showing favoritism. He also sifted the sand out of the grain at this very site, and the piled-up sand formed this mound. Not to mention the sifted sand, it would have been impossible to pile up such a large area with just grain—this story is not credible.

　　During the Song Dynasty, this place was indeed used as a grain storage mound, related to the northward grain transport from the south during the Song era. The History of Song records: "...Grain and textiles transported to the capital via the Guangji River came from seventeen prefectures of eastern Shandong; those arriving via the Shitang and Huimin Rivers came from six prefectures—Chen, Ying, Xu, Cai, Guang, and Shou—all supervised by imperial officials." The county annals state: "The Huimin River, also called the Cai River, transported 400,000 stones of grain and 200,000 stones of beans, all supervised by imperial officials." This mound is situated east of the Cai River and south toward the Huai River. Grain tribute from several prefectures in the southeast necessarily passed through here by canal before being transported by horse cart to the capital, Kaifeng.

　　A family surnamed Lin once lived on this mound. They possessed an imperial yellow silk decree from Emperor Renzong of Song granting them tax exemption for their burial ground. This decree was read aloud in 1910 and witnessed by many, but its current whereabouts are unknown.

　　Originally square-shaped, the mound became a convenient source of soil for nearby residents to build houses, construct homes, and dig clay for brick kilns—its eastern, southern, and central western parts were leveled. It was precisely these digging activities that revealed its secrets. The archaeological excavation in 1979 shocked the world.

　　The ancient city site has a square layout, covering a total area of 50,000 square meters, with over 34,000 square meters of residential space within the city walls. The upper width of the city wall is 10 meters, and the lower width is 17 meters. It was built with rammed earth, and the four corners of the wall are arc-shaped. Beneath our feet lies the western wall of the ancient city.

　　After the ancient city of Wanqiu was abandoned, it served as a burial ground during the Chu and Han periods for over 2,000 years. Thousands of precious artifacts have been unearthed here, including gold- and silver-inlaid swords of the King of Yue, Bashu swords, four-wheeled iron chariots, and jade discs.

　　Source: Huaiyang Government Affairs Website