Xiangyu Ancient Castle

The traffic at the Imperial City Mansion deterred us. There are many ancient castles and villages in the Qin River basin of Jincheng. Considering the distance, we gave up on the more niche Chiji City and turned to the closer Xiangyu Ancient Castle. 🚗Transportation Coming out of Haihui Temple, we went straight onto the highway. It took about 10 minutes to get off the highway and then a stretch of county road to reach Xiangyu Ancient Castle. The parking lot 🅿️ is about a 10-minute walk from the entrance of the scenic area. 🛂Tickets The ticket for Xiangyu Ancient Castle 🎫 is 65 per person, and the 🅿️ fee is 10 yuan with no time limit. The overall flow of people is not large, with mostly locals from Jincheng. ⭐Attractions 1⃣️Xiangyu Ancient Castle was the late Ming Dynasty residence of the three Sun brothers, who also served as officials in the same dynasty. Construction began during the Tianqi era and was completed in the Chongzhen era, taking 11 years. The existing buildings are from the Ming, Qing, and Republic of China periods. 2⃣️The castle backs onto a mountain, and the north wall has been recently repaired, looking very new. There are city gates on the east, south, and west sides, forming a honeycomb-style defensive castle. The south side of the castle faces the Qinshui River, which seems to add a lot to the castle. 3⃣️After entering the south gate, there are various defensive works, hidden soldier caves, etc., and then you can walk along the city wall to the highest point to overlook the entire ancient castle. Because there are not too many tourists, it is very quiet all the way around the city wall. Walking in the alleys inside the castle, you can still see some residential houses with signs of habitation. Indeed, after talking with an elderly man, it is known that there are still about a dozen households living in the ancient castle. ⭐Review The castle is backed by mountains and has a stream in front, with a very tranquil environment, known as "China's Northern Ming Dynasty's Number One Ancient Castle." There are also some small museums in the castle where you can learn about the local imperial examination history, the history of the war of resistance, etc. ⭐Dining There is not much commercialization inside the castle, only saw a small stall. If you need to dine, there are a bunch of snack stalls behind the square outside the castle. Talking with the locals, it is known that because of the presence of the Imperial City Mansion, the flow of visitors to other castles is not large, but the standard is not much different.

💥 Xiangyu Ancient Castle is a real old architectural complex, built in the Ming Dynasty. There are few tourists, it's such a treasure! 👍 📍Xiangyu Ancient Castle is located in Xiangyu Village, Zhengcun Town, 50 kilometers southeast of Qinshui County, Jincheng City, Shanxi Province. Originally named Xianggu, it was renamed due to being surrounded by mountains and rivers. 🎈Xiangyu Ancient Castle 🛕Xiangyu City is a honeycomb-style castle, with brick, stone and wood structure, 280 meters long from east to west, 100 to 150 meters wide from north to south, covering an area of about 32,500 square meters. It was built by brothers Sun Juxiang and Sun Dingxiang in the third year of Ming Tianqi and completed in the seventh year of Ming Chongzhen. Sun Dingxiang ranked third and once served as the Deputy Imperial Envoy of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. His mansion was named 'Sandu Hall', and Xiangyu Ancient City was also known as 'Sandu Ancient City'. 😀

Xiangyu Ancient Castle, also known as the Ancient City of Three Capitals, is located in Xiangyu Village, Zhengcun Town, Qinshui County, Jincheng City, Shanxi Province. It is named after Sun Juxiang (a scholar in the 20th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty) and Sun Dingxiang (a scholar in the 12th year of Chongzhen), who were from the same village. It is a castle-style building that combines military defense, residential living, and cultural entertainment. It is known as the 'First Ancient Castle of the Ming Dynasty in Northern China's Countryside'. The Xiangyu Ancient Castle was built in the seventh year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty (1634) and covers an area of 32,500 square meters. The construction of Xiangyu Ancient Castle was presided over by Sun Dingxiang and took four generations to complete. The ancient castle is built according to the terrain, divided into the inner city and the outer city. The inner city is made of brick and soil, and the outer city is made of brick and stone. The existing main buildings of Xiangyu Ancient Castle include the Three Capitals Hall, the Marshal's Mansion, the Ten Major Houses, and various residential buildings such as the large and small male courtyards, as well as public facilities such as temples, ancestral halls, and private schools. The architectural style of Xiangyu Ancient Castle is unique, with high and sturdy city walls, crisscrossing streets in the city, and well-arranged buildings. It is an outstanding representative of the ancient castles of the Ming Dynasty in northern China. Xiangyu Ancient Castle was announced as the sixth batch of national key cultural relics protection units by the State Council on May 25, 2006.

|||How come the "First Ancient Castle of the Ming Dynasty in Northern China", Xiangyu Ancient Castle, is so awesome? Self-driving tour around China: Qingshui County, Shanxi Province In Jincheng, Shanxi, where cultural relics and historic sites are everywhere, the castle that annoys and angers the invading enemies the most, but can only sigh outside the city, is none other than Xiangyu Ancient Castle. Xiangyu, originally named Xianggu, was considered by people at the time to be detrimental to Feng Shui because it "has a valley but no mountains and water", and because it is surrounded by mountains and water, Xianggu was changed to Xiangyu. It is said that at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the peasant rebel army crossed the Yellow River from Shaanxi into Shanxi, passing through all the barriers and killing all the generals without meeting an opponent, until they encountered Xiangyu Ancient Castle. Li Zicheng personally led the army to attack Xiangyu Ancient Castle, and after a fierce attack for seven days and nights, he failed to conquer it. The defeated Li Chuangwang had to retreat with regret and regret, which shows the impregnability of Xiangyu Ancient Castle. Xiangyu Ancient Castle is truly the "First Ancient Castle of the Ming Dynasty in Northern China". At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the politics was corrupt, the society was dark, the people were not living, and the situation was unstable. The Sun brothers, Sun Juxiang, Sun Kexiang, and Sun Dingxiang, who held high positions in the court, were also disheartened. Perhaps they sensed that the Ming court was about to collapse. In order to protect the safety of their family's lives and property, they spent ten years building this brick, stone and earth structure honeycomb-style castle. The city wall of Xiangyu Ancient Castle is bonded with egg white and glutinous rice juice, the wall seam is like paper, and it is as solid as a rock. The houses in each courtyard of the castle communicate with each other through a web-like complex and dense alley. The soldier hiding cave on the south city wall integrates the functions of defense works, barracks, and military warehouses. It is composed of multi-layer corridor-style and serial-style soldier roads, forming a complex and complete defense system. This kind of building with soldier caves connected to the city is called the pinnacle of folk military engineering by experts. With its strong defensive ability, Xiangyu Ancient Castle has never been breached from the outside since the day it was built. The highest building in the castle, the five-story "Home Watching Tower" (also called "Lookout Tower") is the tallest building in the Ming Dynasty that has survived to this day. Walking on the road on the south bank of the moat, you can see that Xiangyu Ancient Castle is backed by mountains and facing water, and the city wall built on the stone wall and steep slope is as high as ten to twenty meters. The extremely tall and majestic city wall is reflected in the water, and the scenery is picturesque. Because the ten mountain ranges on the opposite side of Fan Mountain all point to Xiangyu, there is a saying in the local area that "ten mountains and nine turns, generations of princes". However, times have changed, and the golden age of Xiangyu Ancient Castle has become the past. Today's Xiangyu Ancient City, due to inconvenient external transportation, does not attract many visitors from afar on weekdays. The only national road to Xiangyu Ancient Castle after getting off the highway, the Duanrun line, charges 10 yuan for only a dozen kilometers, which is even more ruthless than the highway toll, just like robbery. When I arrived at Xiangyu Ancient Castle, there were only a few tourists in such a large castle. If this were in the eastern provinces, it would have been crowded with tourists and bustling. How could it be so deserted. It is said that there are still more than ten households living in the city, and it is difficult for us today to imagine how prosperous it was during its heyday. The ancient cities of Xiangyu, Huangcheng Xiangfu, Diji City, Guoyu Ancient City, etc. in the Qingshui River Basin of Jincheng City, Shanxi Province, such a dense and spectacular group of well-preserved ancient buildings, you must go and see if you have time!

Scattered in the unique oriental charm of the Ming and Qing ancient castles in the Qin River system, after hundreds of years of vicissitudes, through glory and decline, they are once again cherished by people, transformed and reborn, shining, and telling the changes of history with the people living in them. Today, let's go together into the Xiangyu Ancient Castle located in Xiangyu Village, Qinshui County, Jincheng City, Shanxi Province (near the Imperial City Xiangfu), and see what different scenery there is here. Xiangyu Ancient Castle, originally named Xianggu, was surrounded by mountains and rivers near the village, so the village name evolved into Xiangyu. Xiangyu City is a brick and stone wooden castle, in a honeycomb shape. Because the city was built by the brothers Sun Juxiang and Sun Dingxiang, and Sun Dingxiang was the third in the Sun's four brothers and had served as the right deputy imperial envoy of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, his mansion was named "Sandu Hall", and Xiangyu Ancient City was also called "Sandu Ancient City". Not only that, but it is also worth mentioning that Shanxi Jincheng Xiangyu Ancient Castle is also known as the first ancient castle in northern China. It is the pinnacle of Ming Dynasty military, and it still stands majestically today! It is said that Li Zicheng led more than 10,000 soldiers and attacked for a whole week, but did not conquer it.

Most of China's ancient buildings are in Shanxi, and most of Shanxi's ancient buildings are in Shangdang, among which Jincheng is particularly prominent. The unique geographical environment, superior climate conditions, and suitable cultural atmosphere have enabled a large number of ancient buildings to survive. There are nearly 20,000 ancient buildings in Jincheng, 46 of which are wooden structures from the Song and Jin periods about a thousand years ago, accounting for one-third of the total in the country. It is a veritable museum of ancient architecture! Below I share with you the travel guide to Jincheng~ D1: Jincheng City Area → Jue Mountain → Qinglian Temple → Jade Emperor Temple → Stay in Jincheng D2: Jincheng City Area → Huangcheng Xiangfu → Xiangyu Ancient Castle . ★Stay, the most convenient or convenient transportation location near the scenic area. ★Eat, Shanxi, a large province of carbohydrates, a variety of pasta is countless. Clear soup Hele is a kind of pasta with the most characteristic of Jincheng. Yangcheng roast liver, Yangcheng meat jar meat, Ba Gong roast garlic, Codonopsis stewed chicken and other delicacies can be seen everywhere. . ★Travel, it takes about an hour and a half from Taiyuan to Jincheng by high-speed rail, which is very convenient. ★Huangcheng Xiangfu, the teacher of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, the chief reviewer of the 'Kangxi Dictionary', and the Grand Secretary of the Wenyuan Pavilion, the Grand Duke of Guanglu, Chen Tingjing, is the owner of this ancient castle. This is a huge ancient castle building complex with a total area of 36,000 square meters. The building complex as a whole integrates official residences, civilian houses, and military defense. There are 16 courtyards and more than 640 rooms, which are deep and winding. . ★Xiangyu Ancient Castle, the former residence of Sun Jufang and Sun Dingxiang, heavy ministers during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. The date of construction is unknown, and it was completed in the seventh year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty in 1634. The ancient castle is not far from Huangcheng Xiangfu. There is a labyrinth-like soldier hiding cave in the ancient castle, which is known as the pinnacle of folk military engineering. . ★Jue Mountain, 'the first wonder of Jinwei River and Mountain', has the reputation of 'Little Huashan' and 'Little Wudang'. 'Jue Mountain Spits Moon' is one of the four famous sights in Jincheng. The main peak is 973 meters above sea level, and there are 360 stone steps in the Second Heaven Gate. . ★Qinglian Temple, originally named 'Xieshi Temple', is named after its terrain, located in the middle of the mountain cliffs. The temple is divided into two parts, the ancient Qinglian Temple and the new Qinglian Temple, the former is below and the latter is above. Because the Sakyamuni in the temple sits on the lotus seat, it is named Qinglian Temple, the third batch of national protection. . ★Jincheng Jade Emperor Temple, the best preserved and most complete Jade Emperor Temple in Jincheng area, the third batch of national protection. Not only is it known as the 'Astronomical Museum' of ancient times, but it also has many innovations and inspirations in the creation of colored sculpture art. The 260 or so Taoist gods and clay sculptures in it form a system on their own, artistically showing the system of Chinese Taoist gods. Especially the clay sculptures of the Twenty-Eight Mansions are unique in the ancient sculpture relics discovered in the country. . ★Some documentaries about Jincheng China in the Intangible Cultural Heritage 230603 (Shanxi) Between the Mountains and Rivers (Shanxi Travel Variety Show Guest Meng Man) Meet You in Shanxi Aerial Photography China Season 3 Shanxi Sanjin Flavor Shanxi Pasta Documentary Eight Hundred Miles Taihang This is Jincheng National Treasure Shanxi