Aerial view of the ruins of Prince Edward City after the snow. Photo by Yang Dongwu
(Beijing Winter Olympics) Visit the ruins of Chongli Prince City: The fusion of history and the Winter Olympics bear witness to the progress of Chinese civilization
Zhangjiakou, China, January 28 (Hao Ye NiuLin) Red wall gray tiles, snow falling palace wall, the traditional "three crosses and six trees" pattern and snowflake pattern dotted among them, beautiful and romantic. The ruins of Prince Edward City have become the focus of the world's attention because they are located in the core area of the Olympic Games in Zhangjiakou. The reporter recently walked into the ruins of Prince Edward City to explore how this site, which was covered in ice and snow 800 years ago, collided with Olympic culture.
The "Lost City" shines again
Prince City was originally just a lonely and nameless small village in the quiet valley of Sitaizui Township, Chongli District, Zhangjiakou, with the southern arch of The Beijing Division and the northern control of Shuo Desert, which is connected with the Yanjing landscape, humanities and blood. Because of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the past and present lives of this small "city" have once again been explored by the world.
Located in the core area of the Zhangjiakou Winter Olympics, the ruins of Prince City are about 417.53 meters long from north to south, 343.05 meters wide from east to west, and about 143,200 square meters. It is 140 kilometers away from Downtown Beijing in the southeast and 20 kilometers away from Chongli City in the west.
Yang Dongwu, director of the Cultural Relics Protection and Management Institute of Chongli District, Zhangjiakou City, said that in order to cooperate with the infrastructure project of the Beijing Winter Olympics, since 2017, Hebei Province has organized a joint archaeological team of provinces and municipalities to carry out archaeological excavations on the ruins of Prince Edward City, and finally determined that this place is the "Taihe Palace" where Jin Zhangzong finished Yan Jingxia bowl.
The ruins of Prince City are the first ruins of the Jin Dynasty Palace that have undergone archaeological excavations, are an important city site second only to the capital city of the Jin Dynasty, and are also the high-grade city sites of the Jin Dynasty with the largest excavation area in recent years, which is of great significance to the study of the Jin Dynasty bowl system and the site selection and construction of the palace, especially for the study of the capital city of the Jin Dynasty.
Based on the important discovery and status of the prince city site, with the joint efforts of governments at all levels and cultural relics departments, the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee and the Hebei Provincial Government finally adjusted the original plan, preserved the ruins of the prince city intact, and built the prince city archaeological site park, which once again unveiled the mystery to the world.
The western courtyard of the ruins of Prince Edward City. Photo courtesy of the Archeological Team of the Ruins of Prince Edward City
The oriental charm bears witness to the progress of Chinese civilization
Approaching the ruins of Prince Edward City, architectural elements such as red wall gray tiles, snow falling palace walls, and "three crosses and six trees" all highlight the temperament of the royal palace here.
As the "Chinese cultural business card" of the core area of the Winter Olympics, the local government is committed to turning the Prince Edward City Archaeological Site Park into a Winter Olympic Plaza with Chinese cultural heritage. During the race, the park will assume the function of the Olympic Plaza in Zhangjiakou, and after the game, it can also provide tourists with services such as the traditional sports experience of Liaojin Bowl.
Huang Xin, vice president of the Hebei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, said that as the only archaeological site park in China to display the ruins of the Jin Dynasty Palace, the central axis is first displayed here. This is a "axis of kings", reflecting that the palace (the ruins of princely city) is a satellite city of the capital (Beijing city), which fully expresses the blood ties and ancestral worship characteristics of the nomadic regime of the Jin Dynasty, and is a typical embodiment of the Shangzu system. At the same time, the institutional embodiment of the creation of the French style is also based on this axis.
Looking to the west of the Prince Edward City Archaeological Site Park, the curtain wall with red as the main tone comes into view, which is another focus of the display - the west courtyard.
Huang Xin said that the outer wall of the exhibition hall of the West Courtyard uses the color of the palace wall found in the ruins - red, but not the ancient dark red, but represents the contemporary positive red, that is, "Chinese red"; in addition, in the five rings of the Olympic Games, red represents the vitality. The upper part of the red wall is designed with a hexagonal pattern, which is the style of the ancient Chinese imperial palace pane, which is a royal symbol and a snowflake shape, creating the oriental charm of "snow falling palace wall".
In addition, as the only indoor display in the park, the west courtyard with the richest remains, 4,600 square meters of overall coverage protection facilities are planned and built. The eastern half of the exhibition hall will be a live display of the site, and the western half will display the cultural relics excavated from the site, including the cultural relics and literature introduction related to the Jin Dynasty bowl.
At the same time, in line with the concept of combining site culture, history and culture with Olympic culture, "Four Time Bowls" and "Winter Olympic Taihe" have become the two major themes highlighted by the design language of Prince Edward City Archaeological Site Park.
Huang Xin said that the ruins of Prince Edward City injected the royal cultural heritage of 820 years ago into the Beijing Winter Olympics, and showed the world the breadth and depth of Chinese civilization and its long history. Olympic culture will also be more abundant, diverse, open and inclusive because of the integration of Chinese royal culture.
Exhibition hall of the west courtyard of the Prince Edward City Archaeological Site Park. Photo by Jia Tianyong
Meet the Five Rings to tell the story of China
The footsteps of the Winter Olympics are approaching, and the reporter saw that on the east and south sides of the ruins of Prince Edward City, Zhangjiakou Winter Olympic Village (Winter Paralympic Village) and Prince Edward City Ice and Snow Town are waiting for guests, and the ruins of Prince Edward City, which carries a heavy history and culture, and modern Olympic venues have achieved organic combination with the "Winter Olympics".
Zhang Lifang, director of the Hebei Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics, previously told the media that in recent years, they have continued to comprehensively promote the protection and display project of the ruins of Prince Edward City, displaying the latest archaeological achievements to the world in the form of archaeological site parks and showing the charm of China's excellent traditional culture.
The first principle of the protection of the Ruins of Prince City is "overall protection", that is, to truly and completely protect the immovable cultural relics and movable cultural relics of the Prince City ruins, protect the overall pattern of the ruins surrounded by mountains and rivers, and maintain a broad field of vision and spatial characteristics. On this basis, the site itself and the surrounding related historical environment are fully displayed, and the comprehensive values of the history, art and science of the site are fully revealed and disseminated.
In addition, the cultural protection department also uses multidisciplinary integrated innovative technology to combine on-site excavation and protection with the museum's high-tech virtual display, vividly showing the historical process of Chinese civilization and providing fresh materials for telling Chinese stories.
On December 31, 2021, a theme exhibition entitled "Ice and Snow, Twin Cities, And Grand Event – From 1202 to 2022" was held in the newly built Exhibition Hall of the West Courtyard of Prince Edward City Archaeological Site Park, which is a key cultural activity of the Beijing Winter Olympics and the first large-scale cultural display activity in Chongli Competition Area.
Today, the close connection between the Jin Dynasty Palace and the capital has lasted for more than 800 years and is still continuing: on March 24, 2021, the passenger terminal of the Prince Edward High-speed Railway Station was officially opened; and the previous opening and operation of the Beijing-Zhang high-speed railway has included Chongli into the "Beijing 1-hour life circle"...
Looking around, the Prince Edward High-Speed Railway Station adjacent to the Ruins of Prince Edward City is in good order, and the award square between the Prince Edward City Ruins and the Prince Edward High-Speed Rail Station will also serve as a window to showcase the traditional civilization of the Chinese nation during the Winter Olympics. Located in the core area of the Zhangjiakou Winter Olympics, this Jin Dynasty site was destroyed in the history of war and is now a "sacred fire".
As Zhang Lifang said in a previous interview with the media: The archaeology of the Prince City site not only finds the "living fossils" of the ancient capital city construction and establishment, makes up for the historical gap, takes a solid step to open up new research fields, and further confirms the formation and development process of the overall pattern of the Chinese nation and the chinese civilization, reflecting the tenacity, cohesion and centripetal force of Chinese civilization. (End)