The Ruins of Xiao City

Travel 10 kilometres north along the ancient road, and you will see a towering earthen city standing on the wilderness. Although the city wall is jagged and overgrown with brambles, it still retains its magnificent momentum. This is the well-known Ruins of Xiao City.

According to historical records, in the first year of the Jingde reign of Emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty (1004 AD), the ambitious Empress Xiao of the Liao Dynasty held the regency and led her troops southward into the Central Plains. To confront the Song army stationed at Chanyuan, she ordered the construction of this earthen fortress beside the ancient road to garrison large troops.

Legend has it that Liao soldiers filled their helmets with earth and rammed the whole city into shape in a single night, hence its folk name "Helmet City". Inside the city, seventy-two wells for watering horses were dug, and two general reviewing platforms were built on the east and west sides.

However, during the battle, Xiao Talan, the vanguard general and younger brother of Empress Xiao, was shot dead by the Song army using heavy crossbows. The morale of the Liao troops suffered a heavy blow. Realizing that victory was out of reach, Empress Xiao concluded the famous Treaty of Chanyuan with the Song Dynasty. The two monarchs agreed to address each other as brothers and vowed never to wage war again, putting an end to the long-term conflicts between the Song and Liao dynasties. After the Liao army withdrew, Xiao City was abandoned.

Xiao City was built in a square shape with a perimeter of five kilometres. Its area was four times that of Guanshi County seat at that time. After a thousand years of wind and rain as well as repeated flooding from the Wei River, the earthen city remains largely intact. The highest section of the city wall still reaches 13 metres. Arrow towers, turning gates and general reviewing platforms still stand tall. Traces of the horse-watering wells inside the city and the mass burial pit outside can still be found today.

Standing on the city wall and gazing into the distance, you can almost hear the mournful nomad flute and horse neighs of ancient times, and a strong sense of vicissitudes of life will well up spontaneously.

In 1996, an archaeological team from the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences carried out two months of exploration and excavation here and achieved fruitful results. Experts commented: "Among all relics south of the Great Wall, the Ruins of Xiao City are second to none in scale and state of preservation."