During the Spring and Autumn Period, China’s first poetry anthology, the “Book of Songs” (“Shijing”), in the section “Chen Feng · Wankiu,” once described the moving scenery here: “You dance joyfully on Wankiu, truly affectionate yet hopeless. Drums are beaten down below Wankiu, all year round adorned with egret feathers. Drums are beaten on the path of Wankiu, all year round with egret plumes.” This means that during the Western Zhou Dynasty, the scenery here was pleasant, and young men and women of the State of Chen often came here to sing, dance, and court. Later, the ancient city of Wankiu was gradually abandoned.
Before the excavation of the Ancient City of Wankiu, not much 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 distribute relief grain. Unexpectedly, the Fourth Imperial Uncle embezzled the imperial grain and mixed sand into it before giving it to the people. When the news reached the capital, the court dispatched Bao Zheng to investigate the case in Chenzhou. Bao Zheng, upright and impartial, beheaded the Fourth Imperial Uncle on the Golden Dragon Bridge in the city and personally sifted the sand out of the grain at this location. The pile of sifted sand allegedly formed this mound. Even without considering the sieved sand, it would have been impossible to have such a large pile of grain, so this account is not credible.
During the Song Dynasty, this place was indeed used as a grain storage platform, related to the Northward Transport of Grain from the South during the Song Dynasty. The History of the Song Dynasty records: “...Grain and textiles transported via the Guangji River to the capital came from seventeen prefectures in eastern Shandong; those transported via the Shitang and Huimin Rivers came from six prefectures — Chen, Ying, Xu, Cai, Guang, and Shou — all supervised by imperial court officials.” The county annals state: “The Huimin River, also called the Cai River, transported 400,000 shi of grain and 200,000 shi of beans, all supervised by imperial officials.” This mound lies east of the Cai River and south of the Huai River. Grain tribute from several southeastern prefectures was necessarily shipped here by canal before being transported to the capital Kaifeng by horse-drawn carts.
A family surnamed Lin once lived on this mound. They possessed a yellow satin imperial edict bestowed by Emperor Renzong of Song, exempting their burial ground from taxes. This edict was read aloud in 1910 and witnessed by many, but its current whereabouts are unknown.
This mound was originally square. Because no one knew what it was, it became a convenient source of soil for nearby residents building houses, homes, or brick kilns, and its eastern, southern, and central western parts were dug flat. It was these digging activities that began to reveal its true nature. The archaeological excavation in 1979 shocked the world.
The ruins of this ancient city are square-shaped, covering a total area of 50,000 square meters, with over 34,000 square meters of residential area inside the city. The upper width of the city wall is 10 meters, the lower width 17 meters, built with rammed earth, and the four corners are curved. Beneath our feet lies the western wall of the ancient city.
After the Ancient City of Wankiu was abandoned, it served as a cemetery during the Chu and Han periods for over 2,000 years. Numerous precious artifacts were unearthed here, including inlaid gold and silver swords of the King of Yue, Ba-Shu swords, four-wheeled iron chariots, and jade bi discs.
City gates were excavated here, with earthen guardhouses built alongside the gate passages. Below the city gates, inverted “品”-shaped pottery drainage pipes were buried, scientifically solving the problem of sewage disposal within the city. These are the earliest pottery drainage pipes discovered in global archaeological history. Their discovery pushed back the history of China’s municipal construction by more than 2,000 years. In 1984, this artifact was exhibited at the “Water and Humanity” International Exposition in New Orleans, USA, where it received praise from experts.
In the southeastern part of the city, three rows of high-platform buildings from the Longshan Culture period, constructed with earthen bricks, were discovered. Houses were built with earthen walls on these platforms. Additionally, three pottery kilns were found. Among the numerous unearthed relics were stone axes, adzes, fishing net weights, arrowheads, pottery jars, pots, bowls, and basins. There were also remnants of burnt charcoal, partially burned branches, and charred animal bones. Carbon-14 dating indicated that the ancient city was built 4,600 years ago. Below the ancient city, there were also cultural layers of the Dawenkou Culture. Through analysis and research combining the abundant relics with historical documents, archaeologists unanimously concluded that the Pingliangtai Ancient City Site and the legendary ruins of Taihao, known as Wankiu, are the same place. This confirmed historical records such as “Chen was the ruin of Taihao” and “Emperor Yan Shennong’s first capital was Chen.”
Currently, the Ancient City Museum has three exhibition halls: the Primitive Society Hall, the Chu Culture Hall, the Han Culture Hall, and an Ancient Art Performance Hall. Here, you can explore the splendid ancient culture of the Chinese nation, experience the customs of the Chu and Han peoples, trace the origins of culture, and reflect on the past.
Information source: Huaiyang Government Website
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