Helinger Tuchengzi Ruins (also known as Shengle Ancient City) is the fifth batch of national key cultural relics protection units, with a scale of 4 square kilometers, and the era of the ruins is the Spring and Autumn Period - Liao, Jin and Yuan periods. In 1964, the Helinger Tuchengzi site was announced by the People's Government of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region as the first batch of key cultural relics protection units in the autonomous region, and in 2001, the Helinger Tuchengzi site was announced by the State Council as the fifth batch of national key cultural relics protection units. In 2011, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage approved the "National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit and Lingle Tuchengzi Site Cultural Relics Protection Plan", in 2013, the People's Government of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region announced and implemented the "National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit and Lingle Tuchengzi Site Cultural Relics Protection Plan", and in 2017, the Helinger Tuchengzi Site was included in the third batch of national archaeological site parks by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage. The site of Helinger Tuchengzi is a large cultural relics site in the "13th Five-Year Plan" and "14th Five-Year Plan" period in the mainland.
At present, our county is gradually promoting the construction of Helinger Tuchengzi National Archaeological Site Park, with this important archaeological site and its background environment as the main body, a series of activities around the protection, display and interpretation of the core value of the site, will be built into a specific public space with scientific research, education, recreation and other functions, and a specific public space with national demonstration significance in the protection and display of archaeological sites.
The Helinger Tuchengzi site includes the city site, tombs and their excavated artifacts, as well as related historical environments.
The city site is mainly composed of the remains of the city wall, the remains of the surface building and the accumulation of underground culture, the plane of the city site is an irregular polygon, about 1450 meters from east to west, 2290 meters from north to south, and the city site of three different periods in the south, north and middle is stacked with each other, with an area of about 4 square kilometers. The ruins of the city wall of the ancient city are well preserved, the residual height of the city wall ranges from 0.5 to 10 meters, and there is a city gate in the center on the northeast and west sides, and the urn city is placed outside.
The south city is located in the southeast of the whole site, most of the southwest is washed away by the river, only part of the remains of the city wall remain, the plane is slightly rectangular, 550 meters long from north to south, 520 meters long from east to west, its northeast corner is broken by the southeast corner of the north city, the northwest corner is stacked by the southeast of the middle city again, the average width of the city wall is 14 meters, the rammed layer is about 15 centimeters, it is the remains of the Spring and Autumn Period, the Warring States Period to the Wei and Jin dynasties. The north city is about three times larger than the south city, 1450 meters long from east to west, 1740 meters from north to south, most of the southwest is washed away by the river, there are four remaining city gates, distributed on all sides of the city wall, and with urn city, there are horse-faced buildings between the city walls, which are the cultural relics of the Sui and Tang dynasties. Zhongcheng is located in the northwest of the southern district, 730 meters long from north to south, 450 meters long from east to west, and the deepest cultural accumulation can reach more than 10 meters, including cultural relics of the Warring States Period, Han Dynasty, Wei and Jin Dynasties, Tang Dynasty, Liao, Jin and Yuan periods. Since 1997, the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has carried out four large-scale archaeological excavations on the city site, with an excavation area of 3,580 square meters. Through archaeological excavations, it is preliminarily determined that the strata of Nancheng are relatively simple, including the cultural relics of the Spring and Autumn Period, the Warring States Period, the Han Dynasty and the Northern Wei Dynasty, which were built in the Spring and Autumn Period and were used by the Warring States Period, the Qin and Han Dynasties, and the Wei and Jin Dynasties; the strata of Zhongcheng are relatively complex, including the cultural relics of different historical periods from the Warring States Period to the Yuan Dynasty, which were built in the Wei Dynasty and used by the Tang and Liao Jin Dynasties; and the strata of Beicheng are relatively simple, mainly the cultural relics of the Sui and Tang dynasties, which were built in the Tang Dynasty.
Since Tuchengzi has been used during the long period from the Warring States period to the Liaojin Yuan, there are a large number of tombs around. From 1959 to 2006, more than 2,100 tombs were excavated in the area around the site, covering an area of 3,600 square meters. The age of the tombs found runs through the history of the site, and more than 10,000 pieces of various utensils such as bronze, iron, jade, pottery, stone, wood, lacquer, and copper coins have been unearthed. The types of these tombs include pit tombs, earthen cave tombs, brick chamber tombs, urn coffin burials, mass graves, etc. Among them, the east side of the ancient city is mostly the tombs of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the south side and the west side are mostly Han tombs, and the north side is mostly the tombs of the Wei Dynasty. The number of tombs is especially large in the Warring States, Qin and Han dynasties and the Tang Dynasty. Among them, the Warring States period accounted for 64% of the total number of excavations, the Qin and Han dynasties accounted for 18% of the total number of excavations, the Wei and Jin dynasties accounted for 3% of the total excavations, the Sui and Tang dynasties accounted for 10% of the total excavations, while the Spring and Autumn Period, Liao, Jin and Yuan accounted for less than 1%, the tombs of the ominous era accounted for 4% of the total number of excavations, and a small number of tombs from the late Spring and Autumn Period to the early Warring States period, which are consistent with the historical development of the Tuchengzi site.
The natural environment elements closely related to the Helinger Tuchengzi site mainly include the Baobao River, the hilly and highland natural topography on the southeast and southwest sides of the city site, and the artificial environment elements closely related to the Helinger Tuchengzi site mainly include the historical road, the agricultural plain on the northwest side of the city site, and the Ming Dynasty Fengsui system.
(The picture shows the map of the Helinger Tuchengzi Site Protection Area)
The historical age spanned by the Helinger Tuchengzi site and the unearthed relics and relics is long, the historical sequence is complete, and it is located in the combination of agricultural civilization and nomadic civilization in northern China, which is a special geographical location, which gives it special historical significance. According to historical records, the site of Tuchengzi was the "Xiang" land where the ruins of Tuchengzi were located from the Shang and Zhou dynasties to the Spring and Autumn Period; during the Warring States Period, Yunzhong County, which belonged to the Zhao State, was called the border city; in the sixth year of Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty separated Dingxiang County from the Yunzhong County of Qin, and the county site was located at the site of the ancient city of Tuchengzi, which was called Chengle County; during the Three Kingdoms period, Tuoba Xianbei went south, and the Yilu Department led the various departments to establish a dynasty, and established the northern capital on the site of Chengle City of the Han Dynasty, and changed its name to Shengle; during the Northern Wei Dynasty, Pingcheng was designated as the national capital, but still took Shengle City as the northern capital. The Tang Dynasty set up the Yunzhou Governor's Mansion here, and later changed it to the Dadu Protectorate; the Liao Dynasty was Fengzhou Zhenwu County, and the Yuan Dynasty was Zhenwu City; the ancient city went through the Spring and Autumn Period, the Warring States Period, the Qin and Han Dynasties, the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the Liao, Jin and Yuan Dynasty and other major historical development stages, the history of the town construction lasted for more than 2,000 years, and the ruins of the city built in different periods of the Warring States Period, the Northern Wei Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty still exist, which is unique in Inner Mongolia and is also very rare in the whole country. The cultural relics of the Spring and Autumn Period, the Warring States Period, the Qin and Han Dynasties, the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and the Liao, Jin and Yuan dynasties unearthed by archaeological excavations are closely connected with each other, and there is no missing link in the middle, which is consistent with the records of historical materials. Therefore, it can be confirmed that the Tuchengzi site is an ancient city site with abundant unearthed cultural relics and the longest history in Inner Mongolia, and it is also a very precious cultural heritage for us to further study the political, economic and cultural relations between the ancient Central Plains Dynasty and the northern nomadic peoples, which fully shows the historical value of the Tuchengzi site in Helinger. A large number of artifacts with Xianbei cultural characteristics have been found in the Tuchengzi site area, such as pottery pots, pottery urns, clay pots and other utensils with open necks and printed patterns found in Nancheng, all of which are made of mud strips. In addition, in Zhongcheng, it was found that there are building components such as black-faced polished cylinder tiles, slab tiles, and lotus petal pattern tiles, which are consistent with similar artifacts unearthed in the Pingcheng area of Shanxi Province and the ruins of Luoyang Ancient City of Han and Wei Dynasties in Henan. The discovery of the early Xianbei pottery in the south of the Tuchengzi site truly reflects the actual situation of the Xianbei people living in the original Chengle City, and illustrates that in 258 AD, the leader of Tuoba Xianbei led his troops to the south and divided the department into three parts, among which the western part led by Yilu used the site of Chengle City in the Han Dynasty as the historical fact of the activity center. A large number of building components of the Northern Wei Dynasty were found in the city in the Tuchengzi site, as well as the discovery of a large number of Xianbei tombs outside the city, which shows the fact that the Xianbei people were born, raised, killed and buried in the Tuchengzi area, and in 386 AD, Tuoba Jue took the throne, established the Yuan Dynasty, changed his name to the King of Wei, and took Tuchengzi as the site of Shengle. The above artifacts and tombs with strong Xianbei cultural characteristics are the important historical relics of the Xianbei people who moved south from the Hulunbuir grassland to the Guyin Mountain area to establish the capital. With the excavation of a large number of tombs around the Tuchengzi site, a large number of different types of precious cultural relics have been unearthed from the Spring and Autumn Period to the Liao, Jin and Yuan dynasties, as well as the cultural accumulation layer sections along the Baobao River, which truly reflect the historical phenomenon of the integration of various cultures in the agricultural and pastoral ecotone of the Tumochuan Plain at the southern foot of Guyin Mountain, and fully reflect the material production, lifestyle, ideological concepts, and concepts of the people in the border area of agricultural civilization and nomadic civilization in these historical periods. Customs and Xi and social customs have become important historical sites for studying the economic and cultural exchanges between the Central Plains and the northern ethnic groups in the border areas of Inner Mongolia.
The site of Tuchengzi is located in the southern mountain pass of the Tumochuan Plain, surrounded by the Baobao River in the south of the city, and the city sites of three different periods in the south, north and middle are superimposed on each other, with a total area of 4 square kilometers, forming its grand ancient city site landscape and historical atmosphere, which is very artistically appealing. Many exquisite cultural relics have been unearthed in the Tuchengzi site and the surrounding area, and these utensils and architectural components have extremely high artistic value in plastic arts, sculpture arts, and decorative arts, showing the characteristics of the integration of various arts in its region.
As one of the longest-used ancient city sites in the northern border region of China, the Helinger Tuchengzi site takes into account the functions of production, living and defense in terms of urban site selection and planning layout, which provides an example for the study of urban construction and planning in the ancient northern agricultural and pastoral transition zone of the mainland. As a border city along the Great Wall in history, the Helinger Tuchengzi site is an important part of the Great Wall defense system, an inseparable part of the understanding of the Great Wall defense system, and also provides a physical example for the study of the scientific connotation of the ancient Great Wall defense system.
As an important cultural heritage of the Tumochuan Plain, the rich historical and cultural information contained in the Helinger Tuchengzi site is not only an important source for understanding the development of local history and culture, as well as an important source for local people to identify with their own cultural characteristics, but also for a wider range of people to understand the regional cultural changes in the connection between mainland farming and nomadic civilization. In the process of historical changes in the Tuchengzi site of Helinger, the history of the Northern Wei Dynasty has special cultural value, although the current archaeological excavations are still further supplementing, but the historical development process of Tuoba Xianbei in the region and the pioneering spirit contained in it have become the symbol and representative of the traditional culture carried forward in the local area today, and have important and profound cultural significance.
(The picture shows the planning map of the National Archaeological Site Park)
The socio-economic value of the site includes four aspects: educational value, social value, functional value and economic value. The educational value of the Tuchengzi site is reflected in the conveyance of the historical information contained in the historical relics to the people inside and outside the region, especially its role in historical and cultural education for college students; the social value of the Tuchengzi site is reflected in the fact that it can improve the work and lifestyle of local residents and promote the harmonious development of the local society in the process of rational use of the heritage; the functional value of the Tuchengzi site is reflected in the convenient conditions of location, transportation and resources of the historical relics. The economic value of Tuchengzi site is reflected in the fact that it plays an active role in the local tertiary industry such as tourism industry and cultural industry as a comprehensive cultural resource of the region.
(Huo Zhiguo, Helinger County Cultural Relics Protection and Archaeological Research Center)