Speaking of ancient cities, this witness to the history of ancient urban changes, carrying the cultural heritage of human history and civilization, aside from its research value, for today's rapid development of tourism, these ancient cities with strong national style and local characteristics are of great ornamental value, and countless tourists come to visit every year, just to see the external expression of this historical and cultural feature. There are many ancient cities in China, such as the famous four ancient cities of Pingyao, Lijiang, Huizhou, and Langzhong, the ancient city of Xiangyang, which is said to be the first city in China, the ancient city of Taizhou, which is known as the "teacher" and "blueprint" of the Great Wall in Badaling and other places in Beijing, the ancient city of Shouxian, which has the dual functions of military defense and flood prevention and flood control, and so on. And today we want to talk about the shangqiu ancient city that was rated as the first most potential ancient city in the country.
"The Source of the Three Merchants, the Capital of Chinese Merchants", we know that Henan Shangqiu is one of the important birthplaces of Chinese civilization and the Chinese nation, and is also the birthplace of the earliest city in China, and is a famous historical and cultural city in China. For more than 4,000 years, many dynasties, including the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, have built their capital here, and it is also the birthplace of merchants, commodities and commerce, known as the "source of Chinese merchants" and "the land of Hanxing".
As the center of the historical development of Shangqiu City, the ancient city of Shangqiu, which has witnessed more than 4,000 years of urban history, is not only a national key cultural relics protection unit listed in the follow-up project of the Grand Canal of the World Cultural Heritage, but also the only existing large-scale ancient city ruins in the world today that integrates bagua city, water city and stacked city, and is one of the punch card attractions that tourists must visit when they come to Shangqiu.
Shangqiu Ancient City, also known as Guide Ancient City, is located in the territory of Suiyang District, Shangqiu, Henan, and in the visible history, it is the famous capital of the dynasties and dynasties, such as "Shang", "Qiu Shang", "Dayi Shang", "Tianyi Shang" and other place names in the oracle bones, all of which refer to this place. The ancient city of Shangqiu that we see now, built in the sixteenth year of the Reign of the Ming Dynasty, has a history of more than 500 years, within a radius of ten miles below the current ancient city, and also stacks the five cities and pools built before, such as the Yuan Dynasty Guidefu City, the Song Dynasty Ying Tianfu Nanjing City, the Sui Tang Song Prefecture Governance Center Song City, the Han Dynasty Liang State Capital Suiyang City and the Western Zhou Song State Ancient City, which have the reputation of "living fossils" and "time and space museum". In 2011, Shangqiu Ancient City was rated as the first place in the "Top Ten Ancient Cities with the Most Potential in China".
As the only well-preserved city in China's "inner city, city lake, and city", the overall pattern of Shangqiu Ancient City can be described as a model of ancient cities and pools, and it is the most unique existence among the existing ancient cities in China and even in the world, with high historical research value. The ancient city applied the idea of "like heaven and earth, follow the heavens and the earth, take the law of nature", using 93 streets to divide the whole city into more than 200 meters square blocks like a chessboard, plus the outer earthen circular outline and the inner square brick wall, so that it looks down, in the shape of a bronze coin on the outside and inside, implying the round place of heaven, in order to pray for the eternal stability of the city.
Moreover, the four arched gates of the ancient city, east, west, south and north, are still well preserved, and due to the adherence to the theory of the five elements of symbiosis, the four city gates are not in the middle of the four squares that we usually find, but are slightly offset, resulting in the two corners of the north-south axis intersecting, which also creates the most special pattern shape of the ancient city of Shangqiu.
In addition to the world's unparalleled pattern shape, many cultural relics and monuments in the ancient city are also very attractive. Founded in the second year of the Northern Song Dynasty (1009), Shangqiu Yingtian Academy was the first of the four major academies in the Northern Song Dynasty, and the only ancient Chinese academy to be upgraded to Guozijian, and was rated as one of the four major academies in ancient China.
Located on the eight-sided stone building of the seventh year of the Tang Dynasty calendar, the eight-sided stone building of the seventh year of the Tang Dynasty is carved with the thousand-character inscription written by the Tang Dynasty calligrapher Yan Zhenqing himself, "There are Tang and Song Prefecture Officials Eight Guanzhai Hui Dezhi Record", which is praised by countless Chinese and foreign calligraphy enthusiasts as a divine work. Originally built in the early Yuan Dynasty, the Guidefu Confucian Temple is the largest surviving Confucian Temple building in Henan Province, and it is also the only Confucian Temple in China where the school is built on the right side of the main hall. In addition, there are Zhang Tour ancestral hall commemorating the martyred heroes in the "Anshi Rebellion", the Kaiyuan Temple, which is known as the famous temple in eastern Henan, and the Hall of Great Repentance built by Hou Fangyu, one of the four great talents of the late Ming Dynasty and the protagonist of the legendary drama "Peach Blossom Fan", etc., which are all unmissable attractions.