Xiurong Ancient City of the Northern Wei Dynasty

The ancient city site lies in Gucheng Village and Xicun Village of Dongcun Town, Lan County, 500 metres south of the county seat. The city takes on a rectangular layout, stretching 1.25 kilometres from east to west and 1 kilometre from north to south, covering a total area of 1.25 million square metres.

According to Records of Lan County, the city was first built in the third year of Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty (204 BC). In the second year of the Yongxing reign of Emperor Mingyuan of the Northern Wei Dynasty (410 AD), it was expanded on the foundation of the Han city. The city was burned down by troops led by Gao Huan in the second year of the Yongxi reign (533 AD) and gradually fell into ruin afterwards.

The city walls remain well preserved. The base is 24 to 36 metres wide, the top 8 to 30 metres wide, and the remaining height ranges from 3.3 to 13 metres. The surviving wall stretches 3,690 metres in total, while more than 800 metres were damaged by floods. The walls were rammed with loess, with each rammed layer measuring 0.07 to 0.14 metres in thickness.

Gates once stood on the eastern, western and southern sides, though all the gate structures have been destroyed. A moat surrounded the city, and large amounts of silt were dredged from it during farmland capital construction in the 1960s.

In 410 AD, during the southward migration of the Xianbei people of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Erzhu Yude, chieftain of the Xiurong tribe, was enfeoffed and established Xiurong Commandery within the county territory. His grandson Erzhu Rong earned outstanding military merits and was appointed Grand General of Heavenly Pillar and Marshal of the Army, holding all state power in his hands. In 533 AD, Gao Huan defeated the Erzhu clan and set fire to the whole city.

The ancient city served as the seat of commandery, prefecture and county governments for more than 730 years. In 1996, the People's Government of Shanxi Province designated this site as a Provincial Major Cultural Relic Protection Unit.