The ruins of Chu Imperial City

The ruins of Chu Imperial City

Chuhuangcheng is located in Huangcheng village, Zhengji Town, Yicheng city, 7.5km away from Yicheng District. According to Li Fuxin, the capital of the state of Chu in the spring and Autumn period was more than 2000 years ago. The imperial city of Chu is composed of outer city and inner city. The outer city is an irregular rectangle, 1840 meters long from north to south

It is 1720 meters wide from east to west,

The perimeter is 6420 meters,

The total area is 2.2 square kilometers.

There are still enclosed earthen walls around the city. There are six gates in the outer wall, and the gate in the north section of the east wall is the exit of the ancient river. The inner city, also known as the "palace city", is located in the northeast corner of the outer city, covering an area of about 0.38 square kilometers.

History of Chu imperial city site

Baiqi, the well-known general of the Qin Dynasty in ancient and modern times, is a hundred mile long canal that irrigates the capital of Chu. It is like a green silk ribbon, spreading from the northwest and Floating past the west wall of the city site. The city site covers an area of about 2.2 square kilometers. There are tall and towering earth walls around the city wall. There are gates around the city wall, and the beacon tower protrudes at the southeast corner. Now when you climb on it and look at the whole city, you can still see the magnificent scene of the ancient capital of Chu with its magnificent pavilions and crisscrossed streets through the ruins of the Forbidden City, paomadi, sanjinpo, bailongchi and jinyinzhong.

In recent years, there have been unearthed copper square pots in the late Western Zhou Dynasty, large copper chariots and turtle shaped hooks inlaid with jade pieces in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, as well as bronze tripods, ant nose coins, gold coins "Ying AI" and pottery tripods. These exquisite historical relics not only show the wisdom of the ancient Chu people, but also provide valuable material for the study of Chu history and culture. The imperial city of Chu is the ancient city of Chu in the pre Qin period. It is located in Huangcheng village, Zhengji Town, about 8 kilometers south of Yicheng city in Xiangfan, Hubei Province. It is 6 kilometers away from Hanshui River in the East and 4 kilometers away from national highway 207 (originally Xiangsha highway) in the West. Now it is a key cultural relic protection unit in Hubei Province.

The imperial city of Chu, originally known as the old city of Chu, was changed from "city" to "wall" in the Five Dynasties to avoid the taboo of Zhu Cheng, the father of Zhu Quanzhong, the emperor of Liang Dynasty. In Ming and Qing Dynasties, "Guqiang" became "guxiangcheng" because of phonetic errors. Today, it is called Chu Imperial City, which should be taken from the local people, commonly known as "imperial city" and added the word "Chu". For more than two thousand years, although the Chu imperial city has been eroded by wind, rain and war, we can still see the magnificent momentum of the Chu imperial city at that time with the earthen walls and the Forbidden City still standing on the fields.

Structure of Chu imperial city site

The Chu imperial city is an irregular rectangle with a perimeter of 6420 meters. The west wall is 1840 meters long, the south wall is 1500 meters long, the north wall is 1080 meters long, and the east wall is 2000 meters long. The wall is made of earth and rammed. It is still 2 meters above the ground. There are six gaps around the city wall, and four of them are called the city gates, namely the east gate, the south gate and the north gate. The other two are located on the east wall, and one is located at the south end of the east wall. According to the local chronicles, it was defeated by Qin general Bai Qi when he attacked the city. The other is located in the north section of the east city wall, which is called "grain transportation estuary" by local people, namely "water transportation estuary". Looking at its topography, not far from the city is the old riverside (that is, the riverside of the old road of the Han River). After entering the city, there is a depression about 100 meters wide along the East, South and west sides of the Forbidden City. It should be the inner city river, which can also be used for water transportation. Therefore, it seems that there is a certain basis to say that this gap is the mouth of grain transportation. The imperial city of Chu was built with big and small cities, with big city as the outline and small city as the city. The small town is located in the northeast corner of the big city, covering an area of 380000 square meters. Its terrain is about 3 meters higher than the big city. It is called "Forbidden City" by the local people, that is, "palace city". It is said that it is the site of the king of Chu's palace; beacon tower, also known as guanlouzi, is located at the junction of the south wall and the east wall, and the terrain is higher than the south wall of the east wall. It is said that it is the watchtower; gold and silver tomb, in the south of the city, is about 200 meters away from the south wall, and the earth's surface is 6.5 meters high; shaijinpo (also known as sanjinpo), on a high slope to the east of the south of the city, is said to be the place where the king of Chu basks in gold; Bailong Pool in the southwest corner of the city, lower than the surrounding terrain, for a depression.

Address: Yicheng city, Xiangyang City

Longitude: 112.30893707275

Latitude: 31.658311843872