This year's eleventh long holiday, meet with enthusiasts to cross the Yunnan-Tibet Prochacha Highway, and return to the 318 National Highway Sichuan-Tibet South Line. After passing through the Erlangshan Tunnel (Yaye Expressway) into the western edge of the Sichuan Basin, the turnway went to Xingjing County, which is under the jurisdiction of Ya'an City, and the reason why it was here was once the old rule of the Qin and Han "Yandao County", and the existing ruins can still be explored.
Regarding the "Xingjing", the first word is polyphonic. There are currently two county-level political districts in China that begin with the character "荥". In the north, in Henan, the name is "Xingyang", pronounced "xing"; in the south, in Sichuan, the name is "Xingjing", pronounced "ying", both are two tones. A polysyllabic word, applied to local names, is pronounced differently. The character "荥(ying)" in Xingjing County, Sichuan, is literally referred to as "acupuncture point", and uses the situation of qi and blood running in the meridians to the direction of water flow in nature. It also means that the "acupuncture veins" are like rivers, flowing freely in the body. Xingjing County is also at the confluence of the Xinghe river and the Jinghe River in the Tsing yi river system, which seems to have a certain source correspondence.
The ruins of Yandao Ancient City, located about 2 kilometers west of Xingjing County, passed by National Highway 108, and the current political district belongs to "Xingjing County Liuhe Township Ancient City Village". In 316 BC, after the Qin dynasty destroyed the ancient Shu state, "Yandao County" was established at the western edge of Shu and the southwestern thoroughfare, and the name was determined by the ethnic group of the Chu state Yan Wang (芈熊燕) who migrated into Shu (Chu Yan Wang yi said to be the king of MinShanZhuang of the Ran Dynasty, which needs to be examined in detail). Later, he was also knighted as the brother of King Huiwen of Qin, li Li was ill here, so he was called "Yan Jun". Deng Tong, a favorite of Emperor Wen of the Western Han Dynasty, also minted coins here. Built for a long time and with a rich history, Xingjing can be described as a thousand-year-old county on the list of Sichuan.
"Yandao County" was established in the early Qin Dynasty and abolished in the Western Jin Dynasty (HanJia period), which lasted nearly 500 years, and served as an important commercial and trade distribution center on the Southern Silk Road in that year, and realized the integration and trade in terms of ethnicity, customs and materials (such as cloth, silk, salt tea in Shu and horses, yaks, copper mines in Southwest Yi), and the location of Yandao was "Nantong Dianzhu, West Lianzang, East Tianfu", and the city flourished in ancient times. Although "Yandao County" was reinstated in the Sui Dynasty, it was only the same name, and the administrative office was already stationed at another site (present-day Duoying Town, Yucheng District, Ya'an City). At the same time, it set up "Xingjing Shuikou 戌" (present-day county seat), which was changed to a county in the Tang Dynasty. Although the subsequent construction was changed many times, it was stable in the Ming Dynasty and eventually continued.
The main body of the ancient city site is located on the terraced platform on the bank of the Tsingyi River system - Xinghe River, showing a square shape (about 900 meters long from east to west and about 750 meters wide from north to south), so it is also called "Gucheng Ping". The XingHe River turns from the southwest to the northeast, and the meandering flows around the ancient city, forming a natural trench. The north side faces Chenjia Mountain. At present, the ancient city has a vegetable field, gardens and small trees, and some archaeological sites. We only shot briefly at the Wenbao license, unfamiliar with the situation and did not delve deeper. The ruins of Yandao Ancient City are Sichuan provincial cultural protection in 1980 and upgraded to national cultural insurance in 2006. Therefore, there are two cultural protection plates on the scene, the left side is the 2006 national security, and the right side is the 1980 provincial guarantee.
Spatial feature information of the ancient city of Yandao and its vicinity on the image map. National Highway 108 crosses from the south side of the site, passing through the pass between the Xinghe River and Zhongjun Mountain (South). The area around the site is now a manufacturing workshop and sales block of "Xingjing Sandware", and is currently relying on relevant cultural elements to create sightseeing tourism, so demolition and construction are everywhere. Among the Sandware, it is especially famous for its "casserole pot", which is fired with charcoal from local clay and fired at high temperatures. The vessels are diverse, beautiful and practical, and are now intangible cultural heritage and national geographical indication products. Almost everyone on our trip bought a casserole to take home.
Tan Qijun's edition of "Historical Atlas of China, Western Han Dynasty Volume, Yizhou" information labeling.
In some of the works and literature, there is information about the establishment of "Yandao County". According to the text, the specific era of Yan Dao's establishment of counties was in the twenty-fifth year of Qin Shi Huang, that is, in 222 BC, which was the following year after Qin destroyed the Six Kingdoms and unified the hinterland of China, and most of the present-day domestic areas were incorporated into the territory of the Central Dynasty, and the county system that lasted for a thousand years was established, and Yan Dao was born in this context.
Key References —
Pu Xiaorong: "The History of Sichuan Political Districts and the Interpretation of the Present Interpretation of the Governance of the Land"
Gong Xichun: "Sichuan County System"
Ren Naiqiang /Ren Jianxin: "Illustration of the History of Sichuan Prefecture And County Construction"
Nie Xiaofeng: The Origin of Xingjing Ancient Culture and Bashu Culture
Dictionary of Geographical Names of the People's Republic of China, Sichuan Province, Xingjing County
Guoxue Masters Network , Historical Toponymy Column , Xingjing County / Yandao County