Liye ancient town

Liye, together with Wangcun, Pushi and Chadong, is known as the four ancient towns in Western Hunan and one of the birthplaces of Tujia nationality. The ancient city of Liye in the Warring States period, which was once rated as one of the "six archaeological discoveries in China", is highly praised for its "terracotta warriors and horses in the north and Qin Bamboo Slips in the South". The ancient city of Qin Dynasty with a long history was built in the Warring States period and abandoned in the early Western Han Dynasty. The present Liye ancient town was rebuilt in the Qing Dynasty, and it still retains the style of that year.

Liye ancient town

Liye ancient town is located in the hinterland of Wuling Mountain, Hunan Province, at the junction of Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing and Guizhou provinces. It belongs to Longshan County, Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture of Western Hunan, and is known as the four ancient towns of Western Hunan together with Wangcun, Pushi and Chadong. "Liye" means to open up this land in Tujia language.

history

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 30000 bamboo slips of Qin Dynasty 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.

material culture

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.

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 were unearthed from the No.1 ancient well in Liye, with the characters in seal script style; some in Li script style, and some with 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.

Address: Liye Town, Longshan County

Longitude: 109.291963

Latitude: 28.78035

Tel: 0743-6613086; 0743-66

Official website: http://www.lyqjbwg.com/

Tour time: 2-3 hours

Transportation information: 1. Bus: take a shuttle bus from Jishou bus station to Liye ancient city

2. Self driving routes: Zhangjiajie Sangzhi Longshan Liye ancient city; Yongshun Baojing Huayuan Liye ancient city; Fenghuang Jishou Huayuan Liye; Enshi Hubei Laifeng Longshan Liye

Admission information: the admission fee of Liye ancient city ruins park is 60 yuan per person (half price for students, 60-70 years old people, free for people over 70 years old); Qinjian museum is open for free

Opening hours: all day