Wujiasi Site

Wujiasi Site is situated on the eastern side of Wuzhuang Village, Sanggu Township. It is now a Major Cultural Relic Protected at the Provincial Level in Henan Province.

The site is located very close to Sanggu Township. According to historical documents, Sanggu was formerly known as "Sanglin Community", the place where King Tang of Shang prayed for rain. King Tang built an altar here piled high with firewood. He offered himself as a sacrifice to heaven, climbed onto the blazing pyre and prayed for rainfall. Suddenly, fierce winds sprang up, dark clouds gathered, and heavy downpours quickly ended the severe drought. Huainanzi · Instructions for the Ruler records: "During Tang’s reign, a seven-year drought struck, and he offered himself in sacrifice at Sanglin to pray for rain", referring to this very event.

Later, the Yin-Shang people and their descendants, the State of Song in the Spring and Autumn Period, regarded this place as sacred and built shrines for worship, keeping up the rituals of "offering sacrifices at Shanglin". An ancient Prayer Altar once stood here, of which only ruins remain today.

The Wujiasi Site stretches 135 metres from north to south, and the explored length from east to west exceeds 240 metres. Its highest point rises 2 to 3 metres above the surrounding ground.

In April 1988, the Cultural Bureau of Shangqiu Prefecture carried out emergency excavation on the tombs at the site. A total of 38 tombs were cleared, yielding a large number of pictorial stones with distinctive local features and unique themes.

Since 1995, Zheng Guang, an archaeologist from the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and the Sino-American Joint Archaeological Team have conducted second-phase surveys here. The Xiayi County Museum and the cultural relics team have also carried out multiple investigations and specimen collection.

Pottery shards from different eras can be found everywhere on the site. The upper stratum contains porcelain fragments and architectural components from the Ming and Qing dynasties. The second stratum holds numerous Han Dynasty hollow-brick tombs and stone outer-coffin tombs. Many hollow bricks are painted with red coloured patterns, and some stone-coffin tombs belong to pictorial stone tombs. Unearthed artefacts include pottery ding cauldrons, jars, stemmed dishes and kettles. The third layer is the Shang and Zhou cultural stratum, dominated by pottery shards of identifiable wares such as li tripods, zun wine vessels, urns and basins. The fourth layer belongs to the Henan Longshan Culture, sharing identical cultural features with the Qingliangshan Site and Matou Site within the county.