Maicheng City Site

Maicheng is located in Lianghe Town, Dangyang City, Hubei Province. It was an important city of Chu State in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty and the seat of Zhaoqiu County in the 18th year of Kaihuang of Sui Dynasty (AD 593). Qing Tongzhi "Dangyang County Chronicle" records: "Maicheng is fifty miles southeast of the county, between Juzhang and two rivers, and it is said that it was built by King Zhao of Chu. During the Three Kingdoms period, Guan Yu was attacked by Sun Quan, and Maicheng was located in the west." In the 14th year of King Zhou Jing (506 BC), the people of Wu attacked Chu. In order to attack the city, Wu Zixu built a donkey and a mill around it. Therefore, there is a proverb that "the east donkey is milled in the west, and the wheat city is self-destructed". Hence the name of the city. In the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an in the Eastern Han Dynasty (219 years), Guan Yu, the general of Shu, was attacked by Wu and retreated here. Therefore, there is a legend that "Guan Yun was defeated and went to Maicheng". For thousands of years, the city has been eroded by floods, covered with quicksand and submerged. Now there are only ruins and broken walls left in Maicheng. It is 600 meters long from north to south, 100 meters wide and 30 meters high, like a hill, lying on the riverside of Jushui.