Dynastic relics found in site for 2022 Olympic village in China

SHIJIAZHUANG - Archaeologists have unearthed relics dating back 1,800 years from a site for the Olympic village in Zhangjiakou city in North China's Hebei province.

In 2022, Beijing will co-host the 2022 Winter Olympics with Zhangjiakou city, about 200 kilometers from the capital.

The relics were found at the Taizicheng village in Chongli district where the Olympic village is to be built. A team of experts from the provincial Cultural Relics Institute spent seven months unearthing the relics last year.

Huang Xin, assistant researcher of the institute, said the site was believed to be a summer palace for emperors in the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234).

The site for the summer palace is rectangle-shaped. A large amount of bricks with royal seals, dragon and phoenix-shaped ridges were unearthed. Fifteen plates made of white-glazed porcelain have "royal kitchen" seals at the bottom.

Archaeologists put the period of the palace during the reigns of Emperor Shizong (1161-1189) and Emperor Zhangzong (1190-1208) in the Jin Dynasty.

Chongli will host the skiing events for the Winter Olympics.