Liyang City Site

Liyang City Site

Located in Guanzhuang village, Wutun Town, Yanliang District, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province, the Liyang City site is the capital site of the early Qin Dynasty.

During the period of emperor Xiangong's filial piety in Qin Dynasty and the struggle between Chu and Han Dynasty in the end of Qin Dynasty, Sima Xie, the king of saiwang, and Liu Bang in the early Han Dynasty used it as the capital. It is the third capital of Qin and Han Dynasty near Xi'an, besides Qin Xianyang and Han Chang'an.

The site of Liyang City is a treasure house of historical and cultural heritage, which provides a new materialized carrier for the history, culture and cultural heritage of Qin and Han Dynasties.

In 2001, the site was announced as the fifth batch of national key cultural relics protection units by the State Council.

Historical evolution

Dayu had been to Jingshan in the north of ancient liyang to control the flood, leaving behind the legend of Jingshan casting tripod. At the end of the Shang Dynasty, King Wen of Zhou opened a road from Qishan to Ruiyu for the lawsuit of duanrui (southeast of today's Dali Chaoyi town in Shaanxi Province) and Yu (north of Pinglu County in Shanxi Province). The Ancient Road passed through ancient Liyang, which further developed this area.

During the Western Zhou Dynasty, it was located in the capital, which was the only way from the northeast of Ho Jing (now southwest of Xi'an city) to today's Shanxi. It was also the ideal hunting place for the Zhou royal family.

In the spring and Autumn period, due to the fact that "Rong and Zhai lived in the north, and the three Jin Dynasties were connected in the East, there were also many big families", the transportation was very convenient and the customs were closed

In the middle and early period, the city of Quercus was formed here. Qin and Jin had frequent battles on Qi Rui road. In 562 B.C., Qin conquered the state of Jin.

In the second year of Xiangong (383 BC), the capital of Qin moved from Yongcheng to Liyang and to Xianyang in the twelfth year of Xiaogong (350 BC).

At the end of the Qin Dynasty, the Chu and Han Dynasties fought against each other. Xiang Yu divided Guanzhong into three parts, and Liyang was once the capital of Sima Xin. After Liu Bang, the king of Han Dynasty, captured Guanzhong by "building plank road in the open and crossing Chencang in the dark", he also took Liyang as his capital. It was not until the seventh year (200 BC) that the capital of Chang'an was moved. However, the emperor of the Han Dynasty still lived in Liyang and was buried on the northern plateau of the city after his death.

archaeological research

In 1964, the Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Administration Commission conducted a 15 day investigation and trial excavation of the ancient Liyang site.

From April 1980 to December 1981, the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences explored and excavated the site of the city of Liyang, and found 13 sites of the south wall, the west wall, three gates, 13 roads in the city, and 15 sites of buildings and workshops.

On June 25, 2001, the site of Liyang City was announced as the fifth batch of national key cultural relics protection units by the State Council.

In January 2016, archaeologists first unearthed clear "Liyang" pottery inscriptions in the site of Liyang City in the Qin and Han Dynasties.

In November 2017, three "monarch bathrooms" were discovered in the archaeological exploration of the site of Liyang City.

Site features

The site of Liyang City is a rectangle with an area of about 4.2 square kilometers. It is 2500 meters long from east to west and 1600 meters wide from north to south. The south wall is 1640m in height, 0.4m-0.6m in width, and the west wall is 1420m in width, 8-16m in width. There are 1 Jiaomen site and 2 Ximen site. There are 13 roads in the city, including 6 East-West roads and 7 north-south roads. The street width is 15.7-17.7 meters. There are 7 rammed foundation sites in the city, which are rectangular, and the largest is 700 meters. There are 15 sites of residence, workshops and wells. There are tombs in the southeast, northeast and northwest of the city, and there is an east-west channel outside the north wall.

The iron smelting workshop site was found in the site of Liyang City. Three pieces are known to be made in Liyang City, which indicates that it is also an important base for iron smelting and weapon making in Qin Dynasty. In addition, a copper cauldron was found in the late Warring States period, which contained eight gold cakes. One of the cauldrons was inscribed with "four in two and a half" in seal script. Sima Qian said that there are also many big merchants in Liyang, which shows that the business here is very developed.

Cultural relics

Over the years, unearthed relics include floor tiles, hollow bricks, rope pattern tube tiles, plate tiles, cloud pattern, sunflower pattern, plain tile, round pottery pipe, pottery bowl, bowl, pot, steamer, pot, jar, tripod, gold cake, bronze mirror, cauldron, arrowhead, "banliang", "wuzhu", mang coin, shovel, stone mill, stone model, stone rammer head, etc.

It is the first time that a clear "Liyang" pottery inscription was unearthed in the site of Liyang City, and it is confirmed that "Shangyang reform" took place in Liyang. As the capital of Qin and the early Western Han Dynasty in the Warring States period, the city of Liyang is large in scale, well preserved and has a relatively complete urban layout. It is an important link in the development stage of Chinese cities, which is of great value to the study of the capital planning of Qin and Han Dynasties and the development history of Chinese cities.

Cultural relics protection

In 2001, the site of Liyang City was announced as the fifth batch of national key cultural relics protection units by the State Council.

In October 2017, Yanliang District of Xi'an city is planning to build an archaeological site park in the city of Liyang.

On April 10, 2018, the site of Liyang City was selected as the "top ten new archaeological discoveries in China in 2017".

Tourism information

The site is located in Guanzhuang village, Wutun Town, Yanliang District, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province.

Address: between Guanzhuang and Yubao village, Wutun Town, Yanliang District, Xi'an City

Longitude: 109.31357208472

Latitude: 34.642508928558

Ticket information: no ticket required.

Chinese PinYin : Li Yang Cheng Yi Zhi