Liye Town, Longshan County, Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Hunan Province

Liye town

Liye town of Longshan County is located in the hinterland of Wuling Mountain in Hunan Province. As early as 6000 years ago, people lived in Liye. In 2002, more than 37400 Qin bamboo slips were found in a huge ancient well in Liye City, which shocked China and foreign countries. In September 2005, Liye was named "a famous historical and cultural town in China" by the Ministry of construction and the State Administration of cultural relics. In 2011, Huang Moya created head China in Liye town (Qianling County, Dongting County of Qin Dynasty). In 2019, Liye town will be selected as one of the first ten characteristic cultural and tourism towns in Hunan Province.

On May 26, 2020, Liye town was selected into the list of strong agricultural towns in 2020. At the same time, Liye ancient city scenic spot is also a national key cultural relics protection unit, a famous scenic town with Chinese characteristics, a town with Chinese characteristics, and a national AAAA scenic spot.

Historical evolution

In 1729, the seventh year of the reign of Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty, market trade was opened. It was a famous material distribution center of several counties in the border region of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture for nearly a century.

During the period of the Republic of China, it belonged to Sijia township.

In 1950, Wujia, Daban and ZhuoZhi were settled in five districts.

Liye commune was established in 1958,

In 1987, she town was merged into Liye town. With a total area of 261.26 square kilometers (2017) and a total population of 47935 (2017), it mainly produces rice and corn. The economic crops are tobacco and tea. Economic forests include citrus, tung oil tree and Camellia oleifera. It is the commercial transportation center in the south of Longshan County. Youshui river is navigable all the year round. There are 1 middle school, 9 primary schools and 3 hospitals.

administrative division

On November 30, 2015, the office of Hunan Provincial Department of Civil Affairs issued the reply of Hunan Provincial Department of Civil Affairs on Approving the adjustment plan of township division in Longshan County (xmxf [2015] No. 117), which agreed to form Jiashi Township and Liye town into an organic system and merge them into Liye town. One built village in Shuangping of neixi Township and two built villages in Xinshuang and Shanshu of Longtou town into an organic system and put them under the jurisdiction of the newly established Liye town . The adjusted Liye town governs 40 villages and 3 community neighborhood committees, with a total area of 261.26 square kilometers (in 2017) and a total population of 47935 (in 2017). The town people's government is stationed in Liye (the former resident of Liye Town People's Government).

agricultural development

On May 26, 2020, Liye town was selected into the list of strong agricultural towns in 2020.

natural environment

Location context

Liye town is 124 kilometers south of Longshan County. Neixi Township in the north, zanguo Township in the East, Baojing County in the south, Xiushan County and Youyang County in Chongqing City in the west, which are closely related to each other. They are the water and land important parts of the two provinces and four counties.

On both sides of the middle reaches of Youshui River, Liye belongs to Longshan and Baojing counties. To the east of Youshui River, it belongs to Longshan, a large and rich old commercial port. Generally speaking, Liye is just like this. In the north and west of Baojing, close to the mountain, the scale is much smaller, close to the village.

Youshui river runs through Hubei, Chongqing and Hunan provinces and cities. It is the largest tributary of Yuanjiang River in Dongting Lake water system. It flows through high mountains, dangerous roads and deep canyons. It has always been the main traffic route leading to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River plain at the junction of the three provinces and cities. The ancient city found in Liye town is at the throat of the middle reaches of Youshui river.

climatic conditions

The lowest altitude is 250 meters. The average annual temperature is 15.8 ℃, the highest is 39.5 ℃, the lowest is - 6 ℃, the annual rainfall is 1400mm, and the frost free period is 270-280 days. It mainly produces rice and corn. The economic crops are tobacco and tea. Economic forests include citrus, tung oil tree and Camellia oleifera.

Historical development

In May 1982, a Neolithic cultural relic site was discovered at zhendongbei bridge, which is called "Longshan culture". There are stone axes, stone flakes, red clay pottery, etc. the pottery is engraved with thick rope pattern, knot net pattern, scorn pattern, etc., which provides precious archaeological data for the study of the town and our history. After the discovery of the Warring States ancient city ruins and many valuable cultural relics.

In June 2002, the discovery of Liye ancient city site in Liye town and the excavation of more than 37400 Qin Bamboo Slips shocked the world.

In September 2005, Liye was named "a famous historical and cultural town in China" by the Ministry of construction and the State Administration of cultural relics.

In June 1985, some pottery and weapons were unearthed in Liye town.

In April 2002, in order to cooperate with the construction of Wanmipo hydropower station, Hunan Provincial Institute of archaeology carried out a rescue excavation in Liye, and hundreds of ancient tombs and burials emerged together with the ancient city. The ancient city is built next to the river and close to Youshui. There are rammed earth walls, moats, building sites, and drainage facilities. Many ancient wells are regularly distributed inside and outside the ancient city, which together form a complete ancient city system.

Historical site

Judging from the building materials, pottery, bronze weapons and life deposits unearthed from the ancient city, this city should be a military castle built by the state of Chu during the Warring States period, which was used to open up territory and resist the attack of the state of Qin. At the end of the Warring States period, Qin army invaded Youshui River Basin from Wujiang River Basin, Chu army was forced to move eastward, and the ancient city was abandoned. In addition to this ancient city which has never been recorded in history, Liye town has also found two ancient cities of the Western Han Dynasty and the Eastern Han Dynasty. In the whole Youshui River Basin, four ancient cities have been found, involving 79 ancient city sites and ancient tombs.

In the archaeological excavation in 2002, a large number of bamboo and wooden bamboo slips, more than 37400 pieces, were unearthed from the No.1 ancient well of Liye. The characters are in the style of seal script. Some of them are in the style of Li script, and some of them have multiplication formulas such as "6848, 7856", which is hundreds of years earlier than the bamboo slips of the Three Kingdoms period unearthed from Zoumalou in Changsha in December 1996. In later archaeological excavations, some bamboo slips were found. The contents of the bamboo slips, in modern Chinese, include all aspects except family planning, which comprehensively reflect the political, economic and cultural development and exchanges among Chu, Ba, Qin and other ethnic minorities during the Qin Dynasty, and reveal many unsolved mysteries. Because the Qin Dynasty has only a short history of 15 years, there are few documents, and there are few remains. The discovery of Liye ancient city has become the most important information for the study of Qin history. The excavation of Liye ancient city and Qin bamboo slips is an important discovery in Chinese archaeology.

In 2011, the writer Huang Moya took Liye town (that is, Qianling County of Dongting County of Qin Dynasty) as the creation site, and used a book "head China" to systematically analyze and reflect on the pre Qin history and even the Chinese civilization, exploring the core values of Chinese civilization, which has produced a warm response.

Collection of ancient towns

ancient city

Liye ancient city of Warring States was built near the river. The ruins include city walls, moats, wells, roads, workshops, management department and poor residential areas. It is 210 meters long from north to South and 120 meters wide from east to west, covering an area of more than 20000 square meters. It was built in the Warring States period and continued to be used in the Qin and Han Dynasties. Ancient square, its shape, structure and layout are very particular, built with city wall moat, from the residential area outside the city and the city's high-specification buildings and the corresponding supporting facilities, such as ceramic sewer, return tile, tube tile, ancient well and bamboo slips, wooden slips, bronze, iron, pottery and stone, mussel, hemp products and a large number of unearthed cultural relics, people's living facilities and military equipment at that time It is quite complete.

Ancient city wall

The north wall and the west wall of the ancient city of Liye are well preserved. The wall is 2 meters high and 24 meters thick at the bottom. It is rammed. The slope protection on both sides of the wall is built with boulders. According to the archaeologists' anatomy of the north wall, the wall was built in the Chu and Qin Dynasties. The first one was a military castle built in the Warring States period, and it didn't take shape until the Qin and Han Dynasties. Outside the ancient city wall, there is a moat 6 meters wide and 3 meters deep, forming a defensive pattern with a city and a pool.

"The first well in China"

Well No. 1 of the ancient city is called "the first well in China" by archaeologists because of its unique structure and the preservation of more than 37400 Qin bamboo slips. The structure of the well is very elegant. The diameter of the well circle is about 4.2m to 4.5m, the depth is 14.28m, and the well surface is 3M from the ground surface. It is built with 43 layers of wooden boards with tenons. Each board is 2 meters long, 30 cm wide and 15 cm thick. It is built with tenon and mortise structure in layers. The gap between the wooden frame and the shaft wall is filled with green paste mud. The bottom of the well is original cobble. Such a structure and depth of the ancient well in the pre Qin period is the first in China. Since the discovery of the first Qin Bamboo Slips in Jingli on June 3, 2002, more than 37400 Qin bamboo slips with more than 200000 characters have been found in No. 1 well, which is 7.5 times of the total number of Qin Bamboo Slips Unearthed in China in the 20th century. Most of the contents are official archives, involving social, political, military, economic, cultural, ethnic and other aspects at that time. Most of the bamboo slips are from the 26th year of the first emperor of Qin to the first year of the second emperor of Qin (221 bc-211 BC) after the unification of China in the 26th year of the reign of the king of Qin (Gengchen). There are a lot of them in one year, with detailed records of the sun and the moon. They are the most abundant and precious original official documents of the Qin Dynasty in China. It fills the blank in the history of Qin Dynasty in the form of vivid characters, and its large amount of historical information will build a new historical framework independently.

Ancient tombs

It includes the Western Han Tombs in Daban and the Warring States tombs in Maicha. After the excavation of the ancient Warring States city in Liye, the ancient site of the Western Han Dynasty and the large-scale tombs of the Han Dynasty were found in Daban village, Liye town. Han Tombs cover an area of more than one square kilometer, with dense chambers and rich tombs. Daban, an ancient city in the Western Han Dynasty, is surrounded by water and mountains, occupying a dangerous position and dominating Chu and Shu. The Maicha Warring States tombs are located in the southeast of Maicha village, Liye Town, covering an area of about 4 square kilometers. In 1989, 55 tombs were excavated, all of which are solid cave tombs in earthen pits. The unearthed bronze wares include sword, dagger, seal, mirror, Qing, bell and hook; the pottery wares include Ding, dun, pot, pot, bean, pot, Zhen, spinning wheel, glazed tube stone, jade wall, residual iron ware and stone ornaments. Among them, the BA's willow leaf sword and so on

Chinese PinYin : Hu Nan Sheng Xiang Xi Tu Jia Zu Miao Zu Zi Zhi Zhou Long Shan Xian Li Ye Zhen