Xiangyu Castle
Xiangyu Castle
Xiangyu castle is located in Xiangyu village, Zhengcun Town, 50 km southeast of Qinshui County, Jincheng City, Shanxi Province. Xiangyu, formerly known as Xianggu, is surrounded by mountains and waters, so it is called Xiangyu by adding "Ji" and "Shan" to the name of the village. Xiangyu city is a honeycomb castle, which is built of brick and stone civil structure. It is 280 meters long from east to west and 100 to 150 meters wide from north to south, covering an area of 32500 square meters. The city was built in 1623 by sun Juxiang and sun Dingxiang, and completed in 1634. Because sun Dingxiang was the third of the four brothers of the sun family, and once served as the right deputy imperial envoy of the duchayuan, his mansion was named "sandutang", so the ancient city of Xiangyu was also called "sandutang".
In February 2020, in order to pay tribute to the medical workers who are struggling in the front line of anti epidemic, from the end of the epidemic to the end of 2020, the national medical workers can visit the scenic spot free of charge with their valid certificates.
geographical position
Xiangyu castle is located in Xiangyu village in Zhengcun Town, 58 km southeast of Qinshui County, Jincheng City, Shanxi Province. It is 6 kilometers away from the prime minister's palace in the South and 5 kilometers away from Zhao Shuli's former residence in the West. It is surrounded by mountains and rivers, surrounded by mountains and green cypresses. It is picturesque. It is surrounded by waterfalls in the East, Hushan in the west, Tibetan dragon in the south, Phoenix in the north, two dragons playing with pearls in the mountain, and five dragons meeting in the water, so it is called Xiangyu.
Xiangyu village is famous for three brothers, sun Juxiang (Jinshi in the 20th year of Wanli), sun Kexiang (yushidutang), and sun Dingxiang (the head of the four tribes), who were officials of the same Dynasty. Its ancient castle is commonly known as "sandutang" in history.
Overview of scenic spots
The castle is 280 meters long from east to west and 100-150 meters wide from north to south, covering an area of 32500 square meters. It's a complete castle. The ancient city is built according to the mountain, which is divided into inner city and outer city. The main buildings in the city are divided orderly by two East-West streets and nine north-south roadways. The main existing buildings are sandutang, Shuaifu, ten big houses, big and small men's houses and other residential buildings, as well as temples, ancestral halls, private schools and other public facilities. In addition, there is the tomb of sun Juxiang.
Xiangyu high-rise building is the earliest one in the same era, which is earlier than the Huangshan building in the imperial city and the Yulou building in Guoyu. It played a certain role in resisting the destruction of the peasant uprising army in the late Ming Dynasty.
In the south, it is only 6 kilometers away from the prime minister's palace in the imperial city. The ancient buildings are well preserved and worth seeing.
Xiangyu village used to be a small village with only a few dozens of families, so the scale of the castle is not large. It is nearly 300 meters long from north to south, more than 100 meters wide from east to west, and covers an area of more than 30000 square meters, which is equivalent to the Lingshi King's courtyard and Qikou Xiwan residential area, and slightly smaller than the imperial prime minister's office and Dizhen city in Yangcheng.
The ancient city wall of Xiangyu is built on the stone wall and steep slope, with a height of more than 10 meters to more than 20 meters, which is extremely tall and magnificent. Looking up at the ancient city from a distance, you can see the arched windows on the city wall and the houses in the city. They are dense like beehives, which is called "beehive city" by the people. There are three gates in the ancient city, the west gate has been destroyed, and the east gate and the south gate are extant. After crossing the Xiangyu River and climbing the ramp parallel to the city wall, you enter the south gate. The ramp is in a right angle shape inside the gate. After turning a corner, you continue to climb. There is a stone wall built inside the door opening. Its position and function are similar to the shadow wall in the folk houses. The "chenxun" plaque on the south gate does not appear outside the door, but is inlaid on the stone wall, which is still an isolated example among many ancient cities and castles in Shanxi. It is said that the reason for doing so is due to geomantic considerations. At the same time, it also plays a certain role in military defense. Outsiders can't find the south gate from the commanding height of Fanshan opposite or other places in the distance, because there is no plaque on the gate, while the city gate and the stone wall in the gate have been integrated visually from a distance, as if they were a complete section of the city wall. The streets and alleys in Xiangyu city are "five vertical and three horizontal" checkerboard pattern. However, most of these streets and alleys do not extend straight and perpendicular to each other, but conform to the trend of the terrain or bend into a certain arc intentionally. In some places, there are even two 90 degree turns in succession, and their military defense purpose is very obvious. Because of the age-old and lack of maintenance, the "five vertical and three horizontal" street pattern in the ancient city is not obvious now. However, the middle street and some alleys still retain the ancient and simple style. The roads are paved with stones or millstones. On both sides are closely adjacent courtyards. On the middle Street, there are two stilts. At the corner of a T-shaped street, just above the brick wall facing the alley, there is a brick wall inlaid with carvings. In residential buildings, it is very common to inlay the stone carving of "Taishan shigandang" under the wall, but it is very rare to hang the Fengshui wall in the middle of the wall of a three story building. Unfortunately, the brick carving in the center of the screen wall has been stolen. According to villagers, the brick carving is based on Kirin, which later appeared in a castle style residential building developed nearby. In addition to a small number of newly built residential buildings in recent years, most of the buildings in the city were built in the late Ming Dynasty. These residential buildings are mainly three to four storey buildings, which are simple, elegant and magnificent. Walking in narrow alleys, it gives people a feeling of high-rise buildings and row upon row. There are also religious and sacrificial buildings in the west of the city, which is very prominent because of its high terrain. In the past, it used to be the location of Xiangyu primary school, but now it is closed. A villager surnamed Lian led us to visit the main dwellings in the city. We walked slowly through the courtyards of "big men's courtyard", "small men's courtyard", "Shuaifu courtyard", "Treasury courtyard", "xiulou courtyard" and "study courtyard". In terms of architectural form and style, the residential buildings in Xiangyu ancient city are similar to those in the surrounding ancient cities and villages, but the main house is larger, the high-rise buildings are more concentrated, and the momentum is more magnificent. At the same time, it also has its own characteristics, that is, the combination of Chinese and Western architectural decoration forms. Most of the windows in Xiangyu dwellings are arched and decorated with brick carvings of "eyebrows, eaves and columns". This is a decorative form that has been nationalized in the Han Dynasty but still has a strong Western style.
traffic
After you get on Jinyang expressway, you can get off the expressway from runchengkou and go along duanrun first-class highway to Wu'an bridge of Sihe Coal Mine of Jinmei group. Turn right, which is the direction of Zheng Village indicated by the sign. You can walk about 5 kilometers to the sign of Sandu ancient city. You can also take the bus from Jincheng to Duanshi and get off at Wu'an bridge
.
Nearby attractions
Prime Minister's palace of national AAAAA scenic spot
Haihui Temple
Guoyu ancient city
Free policy
In February 2020, in order to pay tribute to the medical workers who are struggling in the front line of anti epidemic, from the end of the epidemic to the end of 2020, the national medical workers can visit the scenic spot free of charge with their valid certificates.
Address: Xiangyu village, Qinshui County, Jincheng City, Shanxi Province
Longitude: 112.592932
Latitude: 35.570198
Chinese PinYin : Xiang Yu Gu Bao
Xiangyu Castle
