Suoyang city site

Suoyang city is located in the Gobi Desert about 70km southeast of Guazhou county. It was built in the Han Dynasty. It is not only the county city site of ancient Guazhou, but also a big ancient city on the throat of the silk road. There is a Yuan Dynasty temple in the northeast of the city. The big tower is more than ten meters high, and thousands of small towers are arranged in a line. The name of Suoyang City originated from the folk in Qing Dynasty, because there are many delicious and sweet Suoyang around the city, and later people named it Suoyang city because of its objects.

Suoyang city site

Suoyang city site is located in Suoyang Town, Guazhou County, also known as "ancient city of Guazhou" and "kuyu city". It is an ancient cultural heritage site integrating ancient city sites, ancient tombs and ancient reclamation areas. The ancient military defense system and beacon information transmission system here are the best preserved model in China.

In 1987, local archaeologists investigated the site. According to the structure, Suoyang city can be divided into two cities: the outer city covers an area of 800000 square meters, the inner city covers an area of 280000 square meters, and there are a large number of earthen terraces, houses and other building relics in the city. In 1996, the State Council announced it as the fourth batch of national key cultural relics protection units. At the 38th UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting held in Doha, Qatar on June 22, 2014, the Suoyang city site, as one of the sites in the "Silk Road: road network of chang'an-tianshan corridor" jointly applied for World Heritage by China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, was successfully included in the world heritage list.

Historical evolution

In 1987, local archaeologists investigated the site. According to the aerial photos, there are more than 100 traces of canals, such as trunk canals, ditches, branch canals, and hairy canals. In the South and east of the suoyangcheng site, the remains of the ancient canal are relatively clear. Today, there is an ancient dam site with a length of more than 100 meters, and a branch canal with a bottom width of 16 meters and a mouth width of 20 meters.

In 1996, the ancient channel site of suoyangcheng was included in the fourth batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

On August 11, 2015, around the suoyangcheng site in Guazhou County, Gansu Province, a complete set of ancient irrigation and water conservancy system was unearthed, including dredging works, dams, trunk canals and branch canals.

Suoyangcheng site is located in Suoyang Town, Guazhou county. It is an ancient cultural heritage site integrating ancient city sites, ancient rivers, ancient temples, ancient tombs and ancient reclamation areas. The ancient military defense system and beacon information transmission system here are the best preserved typical models in China. According to the structure, Suoyang city can be divided into inner and outer cities, which encircle the inner city with high walls. The inner city covers an area of 280000 square meters. The rammed earth plate of the city wall is 7.5 meters wide at the bottom, 4.6 meters wide at the top, and 10 meters high. There are corner piers at the four corners. The structure is extremely complex. There are a large number of earthen platforms, houses and other building relics, and pottery and copper coins can be seen everywhere.

Regional distribution

Suoyangcheng site is located 7 kilometers south of Nanba village, Qiaozi Township, Anxi County, Jiuquan City. Also known as "Guazhou ancient city", "kuyu city". With a total area of more than 800000 square meters, it is divided into inner and outer cities. The inner city plane is rectangular, with the east wall 493.6 meters long, the south wall 457.3 meters long, the west wall 516 meters long, the north wall 536 meters long and the perimeter 2102.9 meters long. There is a wall in the inner city which was renovated in the Song Dynasty and divided the city into East and west parts.

The wall was rammed with a thickness of 0.1-0.14 meters. The base width is 7.5 meters, the top width is 4.6 meters, the height is 10 meters, and the area is 280000 square meters. There are 24 horse faces on all sides, and the enemy platform has been built (all have collapsed). The four corner pier is built, only the northwest corner pier is completely preserved, with a height of 18 meters, adobe masonry, and east-west arch under the corner pier.

There are five gates in the East, South, West and North, including two gates on the north wall. Outside the gate, an urn is built, with a width of 12.6-32.4 meters, a depth of 22.4-30.2 meters and a wall thickness of 10 meters. There are a lot of thunder stones on and under the city wall. In the West City, there are 26 round earth platforms surrounded by earth walls, which are the remains of the barracks. The outer city is called "Luocheng", which is two ring walls lower than the inner city wall. The inner wall is 4.5 meters wide at the base, 2.8 meters wide at the top and 3.2-4.5 meters high. The outer wall is 8-14 meters wide at the base, 3.2-4.5 meters wide at the top and 4.5-6.5 meters high. In the middle of the east wall are the city gate and the remains of the urn. A large number of coins, porcelain pieces, go pieces, bricks and tiles of the Tang Dynasty, as well as pieces of porcelain and pottery of the song, yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties are scattered around.

Water conservancy relics

The ancient agricultural irrigation system around the suoyangcheng site is a well preserved water conservancy relic of Han and Tang Dynasties in China. This ancient farmland irrigation system is distributed within 20 kilometers of the suoyangcheng site and is well preserved. The ancient agricultural irrigation system in the area of suoyangcheng mainly includes dredging project, dam, main canal and so on, and its irrigation water source is the water system in the upper reaches of Shule River. From the traces of aerial photos, one of the ancient channels of Shule River system flows through the east side of Suoyang city. In addition, Shule River was the main irrigation water source of this generation in Han, Wei, Jin, Sui, Tang and Xixia dynasties.

According to the records of "Tang Dynasty broken stele" and "map of Shazhou dududufu", as well as the existing ground relics and archaeological exploration, agricultural production began around the area of Suoyang city in the Han and Jin Dynasties, which benefited from this water conservancy irrigation system to a certain extent.

historical significance

Suoyang city was the seat of Ming'an County in Dunhuang County in Han Dynasty, Jinchang County in Western Jin Dynasty, Changle County in Sui Dynasty and Guazhou County in Tang Dynasty. After the war, the Ming Palace was abandoned. The name of Suoyang City originated from the folk in Qing Dynasty, because there are many delicious and sweet Suoyang around the city, and later people named it Suoyang city because of its objects. Suoyang city is a big ancient city at the throat of the silk road.

There are a large number of remains on the ground of suoyangcheng ancient canal site. It is of great value to study the history of water conservancy, architecture and agriculture, as well as the ancient canal network site in Guazhou. It played a very important role in politics, economy, culture and military in Hexi ancient times. In ancient times, there was a large open oasis near Suoyang City, which was the link between Jiuquan county and the western regions. There are dozens of ancient cities, tombs, grottoes and temples around, especially Suoyang city. Suoyang city is divided into inner and outer cities, with a total area of 800000 square meters in outer city and 280000 square meters in inner city. The pier in the northwest corner is 18 meters high, with ancient military facilities such as enemy's arena and challenge arena. Suoyang city has the best preserved ancient military defense system and ancient irrigation system. At the same time, it is also a typical specimen of the vicissitudes of the ancient desertification evolution process. It is the most perfect tourist attraction combining the ancient cultural heritage and the unique natural landscape in Western China.

In 1992, after visiting Suoyang City, Mr. Zhao Puchu was moved by its intact preservation and profound cultural connotation, and happily wrote a good sentence that "the trees along Anxi road are shady, leaving Guazhou as an alias; all things are withered and withered, and the snow mountain is known from the west". In the political, cultural, economic and military activities of Hexi area in ancient times, Suoyang city has always been a very special place. According to historical materials, "Suoyang city and its surrounding six ancient cities of Han and Tang Dynasties are rare in China for their complex shape, long age, complete preservation and rich remains."

Address: about 70 km southeast of Guazhou County, Jiuquan City, Gansu Province

Longitude: 96.199561776443

Latitude: 40.253140436315

Tour time: 1 hour

Traffic information: it is recommended to charter a car

Ticket information: 40 yuan per person, half price for students

Chinese PinYin : Suo Yang Cheng Yi Zhi