Capital of State of Yan, Warring States Period (475-221BC)

Location: Yixian County,HebeiProvince

Period: 4th century- 226 BC

Excavated in 1929

Gold sculpture of human head: ornament (up, height 5.1 cm); Rectangular pottery ding (a three-legged or four-legged cauldron) with bird-shaped, column legs and painted in red: funerary object (bottom, height 15.2 cm)

Significance

It has clarified the layout of the capital of State of Yan in Warring States Period.

Introduction

Site of the Second Capital of State of Yan, or Yan Xiadu, is the ruins of capital ofYanStateduring the Warring States Period.XiaduCity, the biggest in area of all the capitals in that period, was designed in the shape of a rectangle. Large quantities of production tools and daily facilities have been unearthed, such as copper and iron wares, pottery and stone articles.

XiaduCitywas 8 kilometers long from east to west, and 4 kilometers wide from south to north, comprised of the eastern and western cities with a wall in between as the division.

The eastern part of Xiadu had five districts, respectively for the palace, workshops, residential areas, graveyards and rivers. This part of the city ruins contains a large variety of cultural relics that are well preserved. The western part was mainly for defensive purposes with few relics remained.