Minyue King City

　　The Wuyishan Chengcun Han City, also known as Guyue City or Minwang City, is located 21 kilometers from the Wuyishan Scenic Area and adjacent to Nanwu Road. The city site spans 480,000 square meters, with the palace city where nobility resided located within the walls, while numerous official buildings, residences, workshops, and burial sites are distributed outside. This city represents a distant chapter created by the ancient Minyue people in the vastness of history. Though palaces and noble mansions have long vanished with the passage of time, the aura of their former grandeur can still be faintly felt. Nearby the ruins, a Fujian Minyue King City Museum covering 15 acres has been built. The main structure of the museum consists of one entrance hall, two main exhibition halls, and two corridors, forming a typical Han-style architectural complex. The museum displays a large number of cultural relics unearthed from the ancient Han city, serving as a vivid window into the rise and fall of ancient Han history.

　　In 209 BC, the peasant uprising led by Chen Sheng and Wu Guang broke out, with people across the country responding in kind. Wuzhu led the Minyue troops from central Min to march northward in support of the central plains uprising and to strike against the Qin regime. In 206 BC, after the fall of the Qin, the Chu-Han Contention erupted. Wuzhu once again marched north to the central plains to help Liu Bang defeat Xiang Yu, making contributions to the establishment of the Han Dynasty. In 202 BC, due to Wuzhu’s assistance in Liu Bang’s victory over Xiang Yu, Emperor Liu Bang enfeoffed Wuzhu as the King of Minyue, ruling over central Min, with Xianyang among his sphere of influence. It was also in that year that Wuzhu began constructing the Minyue King City in Chengcun. Covering an area of 480,000 square meters, the city had four gates. A 300-meter-long road paved with cobblestones ran between the east and west gates. To the north of the road lay the palace area, spanning 20,000 square meters, with the main hall alone covering over 900 square meters. At that time, the Minyue Kingdom was the most powerful regime in the southeast during the Han Dynasty. The capital city was also the largest in the region at the time. For nearly a century, while preserving elements of the indigenous Minyue culture such as architectural style, religious beliefs, customs, and arts, the kingdom was also influenced to some extent by Han Chinese culture in politics and economy. This fusion gave birth to the splendid culture of the ancient Minyue Kingdom. After Wuzhu’s death, internal strife ensued, leading to frequent warfare. The various Baiyue peoples were subsequently subjugated, and neighboring Liu-family kingdoms sought favor with the Minyue Kingdom through gifts of treasures. By then, the Minyue Kingdom had grown into a formidable power on the southern frontier. However, during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, after decades of peace and prosperity, especially during the height of the Han Dynasty, the emperor could not tolerate the rising power of regional regimes. The Western Han launched military campaigns from the northern frontier and resolved conflicts in the northwest. Around that time, they also dispatched troops to attack the Minyue Kingdom. The Han employed strategies of divide and rule within the Minyue Kingdom, persuading King Yujv of Minyue and some nobles to kill King Yu Shan and surrender. In 110 BC, the Minyue Kingdom was destroyed by the army sent by Emperor Wu of Han.

　　The Minyue King City ruins consist of three east-west mountain ridges and a central area—the Gaohuping Palace District. The site straddles three connected low hills, with city walls built along the undulating terrain. Within the walled area, earthen platforms are densely arranged, and depressions are clearly visible. Although palaces and noble residences disappeared over 2,000 years ago, the foundations and outlines remain faintly discernible. Standing amid the ruins, one can deeply sense the weight and vicissitudes of history. The site is an irregular rectangle, approximately 860 meters long from north to south, 550 meters wide from east to west, and about 480,000 square meters in area. The city walls, preserved on the surrounding hills, have a measured circumference of 2,896 meters, with remaining heights of 2 to 8 meters, generally over 4 meters. The city had four land gates and three water gates, all well-preserved. Outside the city, in addition to natural ravines and depressions, there are generally remnants of wall and moat structures.

　　The internal architecture of the royal city divides the terrain into three parts: the south (Dagangtou), the north (Madagang), and the central area (comprising Xiashigang, Xiashiping, and Gaohuping). The palace district is located on Gaohuping in the center of the city, reflecting the ancient Chinese concept of placing the palace at the center. Over the past 40 years, tens of thousands of Han Dynasty artifacts have been excavated from the site, many of which are of high value. The finest pieces are preserved in the Fujian Provincial Museum and the Wuyishan Minyue King City Museum.