Zhangbi Castle

Zhangbi village, also known as Zhangbi castle, is an administrative village in Longfeng Town, Jiexiu City, Shanxi Province. It is located in a steep area with three gullies and one plain in the southeast of Jiexiu basin, with an altitude of 1040 meters. The castle made full use of the geographical advantages of retreating against the mountains and being difficult to attack and defend. It built an ancient tunnel with a length of 3000 meters and three layers of attack and defense. On the ground, it built a barricade to build a city and garrison a Tibetan army. The castle wall is 1300 meters, covering an area of 120000 square meters. On both sides of a red stone "Longji Street" in the castle, there are five temple buildings at random.

Zhangbi castle is the only castle site with dual military and civil uses in China, and it is also a rare ancient pocket castle in China. It is not only different from the courtyard culture of Shanxi merchants, but also different from the ancient city culture of Pingyao.

The most noteworthy part of Zhangbi castle is in the underground part. The tunnel is curved and blurred, which is divided into three layers. There are soil troughs for feeding livestock in the upper layer. There are soil caves for two or three people at intervals below the middle wall, which are the sentry posts of the tunnel and the grain storage caves. There are mangao, jiangjunyao grottoes, patios and wells, granaries, flood control, communication facilities and Assassin's organs. However, when and who built the Ming Castle secret passage has always been a puzzle for archaeologists.

Zhangbi Castle

Zhangbi castle, a national AAAA scenic spot, is the Sixth Batch of national key cultural relics protection units

It is a rare ancient pocket "Castle" integrating military, residential, production, astrology and religious activities. It contains many cultural relics and historic sites, such as ancient cultural sites of Xia and Shang Dynasties, tunnels of Northern Dynasties, tombs of Jin Dynasty, theatres of Yuan Dynasty, dwellings of Ming and Qing Dynasties, especially ancient tunnels of Northern Dynasties, Khan Temple and glazed steles. The whole village of Zhangbi castle was built according to the traditional Chinese Ancient Astrology and the concept of Canyu. The ground layout corresponds to the 28 stars in the sky. Therefore, Zhangbi castle is also known as "the first village of astrology in China".

Zhangbi castle has won six titles, including "China's top ten charming towns", "China's famous historical and cultural villages", "national key cultural relics protection units", "national tourism characteristic landscape towns and villages", "traditional ancient villages" and "Shanxi's top ten new scenic spots".

Zhangbi Castle

geographical position

Located in Zhangbi village, Longfeng Town, Jiexiu City, Shanxi Province, the scenic spot is 10km away from Jiexiu urban area and Jiexiu exit of Dayun Expressway. It is adjacent to Pingyao ancient city, Wangjia courtyard and Mianshan tourist area, which are famous scenic spots in China. There are tourist special lines directly to the scenic spot. Zhangbi castle is a very rare pocket town in the world. Its area is only 0.12 square kilometers, but it has complete urban form and good military defense function. The castle is 1020 meters above sea level, with gullies on three sides and mountains on one side. The terrain is dangerous and difficult to defend and attack. It has an ancient tunnel with a length of about ten thousand meters, three floors up and down, and both attack and defense, which can be called "two cities on the ground and underground". Zhangbi ancient castle integrates the tunnel, palace, temple, military religion, folk history, and star culture. It is famous for "the difference of gods and Buddhas in ancient temples, and the mystery in Ming Castle".

the measure of area

The castle wall is 1300 meters, covering an area of 120000 square meters. Near the gate of the north and South Fort, there are religious buildings, such as the temple of emperor, the temple of Kehan, the temple of kongwangxing, the temple of Erlang, etc. On both sides of Hongshun street, a main street built by red stones, there are seven deep ancient lanes.

Start to build

Most experts presume that Zhangbi castle was built in the period of the Sixteen Kingdoms, which is one of the many dock walls built by Zhang Ping, the later Zhao Haoqiang. It has a history of more than 1600 years.

Castle structure

The whole castle was built along the tableland, high in the South and low in the north. Looking down from the north of the fort, there is a deep ditch on the left, middle and right, extending downward. Yaowan ditch is on the west of the fort, with steep cliffs and steep slopes as deep as tens of feet. The east of the fort is high and blocked by ditches and moats. Only the south of the fort is backed by Mianshan mountain, which can be described as "easy to defend but difficult to attack, and there is a way to retreat.". Around the castle, there is a rammed wall about 10 meters high, which stands tall after thousands of years of wind and rain.

There are only two gates in the north and south of the castle. Hongshun Street (Main Street) connects the gates, less than 300 meters long. There are three lanes in the East and four lanes in the West. There is a urn in the north gate, a stone in the south gate, and a gatehouse on the gate. There are elegant shops and simple dwellings on both sides of the main street; the north and South temples are covered with glass, resplendent; the ancient tombs of the Jin Dynasty, the ancient locust trees with willows, rare glass steles.

The underground of the castle is full of tunnels, extending in all directions, and cleverly connected with the ground buildings. The tunnel is a three-layer three-dimensional structure, with about 2 meters from the ground in the high level, 8-10 meters from the ground in the middle level, and 17-20 meters from the ground in the bottom level. The tunnel is a network structure, about 2 meters high and 1.5 meters wide, curved and blurred. There is an entrance between the north and south of the fort, which can be used as both an entrance and exit and a sentry post. There are ventilation holes in the road, and water wells are connected with the ground.

Every other section of the tunnel wall has a small pit with different distance, which is the place to place the oil lamp. There are soil troughs for feeding livestock in the high level; there are soil caves for two or three people at intervals below the middle level cave wall, which are the sentry posts of the tunnel; there are deep holes with depth of 11.5 meters, height of 7.5 meters and width of 5.5 meters in the bottom level, which are the granaries of the tunnel. Such a huge and complex underground project is far beyond the reach of the people's financial resources. It is a strategic facility for military needs and external confidentiality.

Castle architecture

There are many ancient buildings preserved in Zhangbi castle, which are mostly relics of Ming and Qing Dynasties. For example, in the 41st year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, the temple of King Kong Buddha, which is more than 400 years ago, sits in the north and south, with three main halls. The main statue in the hall is King Kong Buddha, and the gables are painted with murals of the story of King Kong Buddha becoming a Buddha. The top of the hall is decorated with three colored glaze of Ming Dynasty. The knife work is exquisite and the firing is exquisite. The image is lifelike and lifelike. Under the front porch of the ancestral hall, there are two rare glazed steles. They are all made of glass, with peacock blue background and black characters. The forehead of the stele is green, yellow and green, and the two sides are decorated with blue and black dragon flower patterns. The East Passage records the hard process of the cultivation of the King Kong Buddha, and the West passage records the origin of the construction of the King Kong palace. In addition, Zhenwu temple, Sandashi hall, luzu Pavilion, Erlang temple, Guandi temple, Xinglong temple, Khan Temple and other ancient buildings are still preserved in the castle.

evaluate

"Beijing for 500 years and Shanxi for 5000 years". Shanxi's antiquity, simplicity, clumsiness and simplicity are the soul of Chinese civilization. Zhangbi castle is a small pocket town with an area of only 0.12 square kilometers, but it has rich and diverse cultural heritage. From the period of the Sixteen States, the ancient castle has roughly gone through several stages, such as dock wall, military town and fortified village. In the long history of more than 1600 years, it has gradually formed a unique military defense system of "aboveground castle and underground secret road", a religious culture of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, a magical star like Canyu culture, and a splendid farming folk culture.

Pocket Castle

Dock wall organization is a product of an era. It is a kind of local powerful and public defense system under the special historical background. This system mainly appeared in the period of Sixteen States, especially in Henan, Hebei and Shanxi. Most experts presume that Zhangbi castle was one of the dock walls built at that time, and it was a military fortress with single function. Zhangbi castle is a rare ancient pocket castle which integrates military, residential, production and religious activities.

Zhangbi castle was built along the tableland, high in the South and low in the north. In the north, there are three deep gullies extending downward; in the south, there are three outward passageways; in the west, there is yaowan gully with steep cliffs and steep slopes, which is tens of feet deep; in the East, there are gullies and moats, which can be described as "easy to defend but difficult to attack, and there is a way to retreat". There are two gates in the north and south of the castle. The north gate is made of brick, and the south gate is made of stone. It is decorated with simple dwellings and several splendid temples covered with glass. The ancient locust trees in Baoliu and the rare glazed stele also add color to the castle. The difference of the castle is that all the intersections here are T-shaped and there is no cross. The main street, three lanes in the East and four lanes in the West constitute a "Ding" shaped structure. Most of the dwellings in dongsanxiang are farmyard, while those in xisixiang are well-organized. In the past, most of the dwellings were well-off households, with exquisite lintels and exquisite brick, wood and stone carvings.

In addition, Zhangbi castle still retains the traditional Lifang pattern prevailing in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Along both sides of Hongshun street in the village, according to the terrain trend, at the T-shaped entrance of the main street and several alleys, visitors can still see the preserved alleys. They are the only exit of each "Lifang". After the gateway is closed, each lane becomes a relatively closed castle in the castle. The lanes can not only fight each other, but also echo each other, which is a complete set of internal defense system.

Star Village

Kuixing in the sky, Zhangbi in the world. The shape of Zhangbi castle is similar to Kuixing in the sky, which tells us that the castle was once a military defense site. The construction of the fort follows the basic principles of ancient Chinese astrology and Canyu. In the ground buildings and tunnels, there are more than 30 landmarks corresponding to the twenty-eight constellations, such as well, stage, seven star pagoda, Tianyan and Jiangjun kiln. The custom of "sacrificing the stars" on the twenty-eight day of the first month is still preserved in the fort. There are five elements of yin and Yang on the ground and six Rens on the ground. Zhangbi castle is the only ancient castle in China

Chinese PinYin : Zhang Bi Gu Bao