Taihe city site

The site of Taihe City, the former capital of Nanzhao, is located in Taihe village, Xiaguan Town, Dali city. It is located at the peak of Cangshan Buddha between Xiaguan (Longweiguan in Nanzhao period) and Dali. It is 6km away from Xiaguan in the South and 7km away from Dali ancient city in the north. This is the throat of Dali Bazi between Cangshan Mountain and Erhai Lake. It is the only way from Longweiguan to Dali ancient city. Taihe City, with Cangshan Mountain in the West and Erhai Lake in the East, was the fortress for mengshe imperial edict to further capture the land of Dali and unify the six imperial edicts. It was the preferred capital of Nanzhao in the early days of the people's Republic of China. Taihe city was once the capital of the ancient Nanzhao state. It was moved here in 739 ad. after the construction of several dynasties in Nanzhao, it gradually formed a big city. It was not until 779 that Yimou moved its capital, yangjubaa City, that Taihe city was gradually abandoned. As the capital of Nanzhao at that time, it was the political, economic and cultural center in the early period of Nanzhao. Taihe city has a famous "Nanzhao Dehua stele", 3.02 meters high, 2.27 meters wide, 0.58 meters thick, standing in the first year of Dali (766). According to legend, the author of the inscription is Zheng Hui, the Qing Ping official (Prime Minister) of the Han nationality in Nanzhao. It was written by Du Guangting, the emperor who lived in Nanzhao in the Tang Dynasty. More than 5000 words are engraved on both sides of the stele, describing Nanzhao's political system, economic development and his desire for friendship with Tang Dynasty. What is particularly important is that the inscriptions truly record the distribution and integration of all ethnic groups in Yunnan at that time. This is an important material for studying the history of Nanzhao. The monument and Taihe city site are listed as the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

Taihe city site

Taihe city site, located in Taihe village, Xiaguan Town, Dali City, Yunnan Province, is located at the foot of Cangshan Buddha peak between Xiaguan (Longweiguan in Nanzhao period) and Dali. It is 6km away from Xiaguan in the South and 7km away from Dali ancient city in the north. This is the throat of Dali Bazi between Cangshan Mountain and Erhai Lake. It is the main road from Longweiguan to Dali ancient city

. Taihe city's "harmony" means hillside in Yi language, which means a city built on hillside

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Taihe city site is the first capital of Yunnan minority local kingdom "Nanzhao state" after the establishment of Tang Dynasty. It is also one of the most complete preserved city sites of Nanzhao's three capitals. From the 27th year of Kaiyuan (739) of Tang Dynasty when the capital was set up here to the 14th year of Dali (779) when the capital was moved to yangjubaa city (Dali ancient city), Nanzhao was built in Dali for 40 years Yunnan was unified for the first time in history, which laid a regional foundation for Nanzhao state, Dali state and Yunnan Province in yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties

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On March 4, 1961, Taihe city site was announced as the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units by the State Council of the people's Republic of China

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Historical evolution

In the Tang Dynasty, there were six chieftains scattered around Erhai Lake, which were called "Liuzhao". Mengshezhao originated in Weishan and was also called Nanzhao because it was located in the south. After mengshezhao unified Liuzhao with the support of the Tang Dynasty, it moved to Taihe city (Taihe city site) in the 27th year of Kaiyuan (739)

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In the sixth year of Tianbao (747), a King Kong City was built in Taihe city

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In the first year of Dali (766), Luo Feng, the king of Nanzhao, built a stele of Dehua in Nanzhao

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In the 14th year of Dali (779), Nanzhao moved its capital to baa city of Yangju, and Taihe city ended its mission as a capital

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From 1938 to 1940, the former Central Museum conducted a field archaeological survey of Taihe city site

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In 1964, the cultural relics team of Yunnan Province conducted another investigation on the Taihe city site

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In 1997, Yunnan Institute of archaeology conducted a survey of Taihe city site

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In 2005, with the expansion of Dafeng section of national highway 214, Yunnan Institute of archaeology excavated the eastern part of the northern and southern walls of Taihe City, covering an area of 1300 square meters

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In 2015, Yunnan Provincial Institute of cultural relics and archaeology, together with Dali Prefecture and Dali Municipal Administration of cultural relics, discovered No. 2 and No. 3 building remains of Taihe city site in the exploration of Taihe city site

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From mid November 2016 to late January 2017, Yunnan Provincial Institute of cultural relics and archaeology, together with Dali Prefecture and Dali Municipal Cultural Relics Management Institute, conducted an archaeological excavation of Taihe city site No. 2 and No. 3, with a total excavation area of 2000 square meters, of which the excavation area of No. 2 building remains is about 1100 square meters and that of No. 3 building remains is about 900 square meters

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Site features

Taihe city site is divided into three parts: inner city, imperial city and outer city. The inner city has a semicircle urn city. The ancient road in front of Dehua monument is the North-South street in the city. The buildings in the imperial city and outer city are built by stone barriers. The buildings in the inner palace of King Kong City are mainly made of wood. The walls in the eastern section of the North-South wall in the outer city are mainly rammed with black mud mixed with sand and stone, and the wall bases and grooves are rammed with yellow fine sand There are retaining wall columns, etc

. The site of King Kong City is a small city in Taihe City, which is located on the top of the Buddhist peak. It is irregularly circular in plane and connected with the western end of the northern wall of Taihe city. It is rammed with earth. When it was built, it happened that the King Kong sutra was granted to Nanzhao by the Tang Dynasty, so it was named "King Kong City". It was the summer palace of Nanzhao in that year. There was only one earthen platform in the site of King Kong City

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Cultural relics

There are a large number of tiles (including tiles with characters) and glazed pottery bricks unearthed from Taihe city site. In No. 6 trench, a large area of floor tiles was found. The exposed floor tiles were 14 meters long and 1.6 meters wide. The floor tiles were green gray unglazed tiles, 33.5 cm long, 17 cm wide and 5 cm thick. Beside the paving tiles, a stone column foundation was also found. The stone column foundation was composed of a whole block of square stone, with a tenon hole in the middle, with a side length of 77 cm to 80 cm and a tenon hole diameter of 10 cm. The column base spacing is 4.9M. The ground level with the column foundation and floor tiles is a relatively hard active surface. There is a layer of rubble accumulation on the active surface and floor tiles, and a small amount of lettered tiles are found

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Several stone building foundations were cleared in No. 8 trench. The foundation of the building is built with regular stones, and some of the foundations are paved with pebbles with a diameter of more than 10 cm, which seems to be water dispersing facilities. On the basis of stone building, there are thick brick and tile accumulation. In addition to green brick and glazed pottery brick, a large number of tiles are also found. There are many kinds of tiles, such as cloud pattern, animal face pattern, lotus pattern, Falun pattern, and a small amount of dripping water

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Red pottery pieces were found in No. 4 and No. 10 trenches. Judging from the shape of the pottery, it belongs to the remains of the spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period. The Taihe city at that time should be built on the remains of the second period

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In the excavation area of No.2 building of Taihe city site, under the accumulation layer of Nanzhao period, a remnant circular building stone wall foundation of bronze age was found. In the same stratum nearby, one bronze Yue and one bronze arrowhead were unearthed. In the excavation area of No.3 building, there were 2 pieces of Han and Jin Dynasty decorative remnant tomb bricks, 338 pieces of Nanzhao character remnant tiles, 7 pieces of Nanzhao remnant flower pattern bricks, 21 pieces of remnant square bricks, 2 pieces of remnant green glazed bricks There are 10 pieces of remnant pottery, one piece of remnant red sand stone Buddha head, one piece of complete bronze gilded Yang Zhi Guanyin standing statue, one piece of bronze diamond pestle, two pieces of remnant green glazed pottery bottle, one piece of remnant green glazed pottery bowl, one piece of remnant yellow glazed pottery cup, one piece of remnant gray pottery cup, four pieces of gold foil sand coated pottery pieces, two pieces of Kaiyuan Tongbao, 16 pieces of remnant dripping water and 24 pieces of remnant tile

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The Nanhao Dehua stele stands in the Dehua stele Pavilion of Taihe city site, with a height of 3.02 meters, a width of 2.27 meters and a thickness of 0.58 meters. The inscriptions record the process of unifying the five imperial edicts, Nanzhao and the Tang Dynasty in the early days of the establishment of Nanzhao regime. The two sides met each other in three wars, and finally attached to Tubo, built Dongcheng (Kunming City), and set up the official system

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Research value

In the Dali Museum, there are a large number of materials showing the history and culture of Nanzhao in Dali. Taihe city plays an important role in the whole development history of Dali

. The No.1 building site of No.3 building remains in Taihe city site is covered by the rubble accumulation layer containing the words and tiles of Nanzhao, so its age should be the period of Nanzhao. From the remains unearthed in the same ash pit that broke the site of room 1, such as the remains of the stone Buddha head, the bronze gilded statue of Yang Zhi Guanyin and the bronze diamond pestle, it can be seen that the site of room 1 is more likely to be a religious building. The excavation revealed that there was no wall between the houses, and the main room was connected with the wing room, which provided archaeological data for the study of Nanzhao period. Taihe city site provides an extremely important literature for the study of the formation of Nanzhao, social system, the relationship between Yunnan Nationalities, the relationship between Nanzhao and Tang Dynasty and Tushan

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protective measures

On March 4, 1961, Taihe city site was announced as the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units by the State Council of the people's Republic of China

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Since the 1980s, Taihe city site has been protected and managed by Dali Municipal Office of cultural administration

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In 2009, Dali people's government began the overall protection planning of Taihe City Heritage Park

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In June 2013, Taihe city site was listed in the "12th Five Year Plan" period large site protection project by the State Administration of cultural relics

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In June 2014, Yunnan Institute of archaeology compiled the Research Report on Taihe city ruins

Chinese PinYin : Tai He Cheng Yi Zhi