Xiangyu Ancient Castle

|||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!

"The number one ancient castle of the Ming Dynasty in northern China" - Xiangyu Ancient Castle, how is it so impressive? 📍Xiangyu Ancient Castle 📝Attraction: Originally named Xianggu, Xiangyu Ancient Castle is known as the ancient city of Sandu 🚌: Take bus 208 | Get off at Xiangyu Ancient Castle Station ⏰: All day 🎫Ticket: 65RMB (free entry at night) 🅿Parking fee: 10 yuan, no time limit. Xiangyu Ancient Castle consists of city walls, ancient wells, residential houses, temples, and watchtowers. The city walls are tall and solid, with watchtowers and battlements on top, demonstrating the castle's defensive capabilities. The city walls of Xiangyu Ancient Castle are bonded with a mixture of egg whites and glutinous rice juice, making the seams as thin as paper and as solid as rock. The courtyards and houses within the castle are interconnected through a web-like network of winding and dense alleys. The hidden soldier caves on the south city wall combine the functions of defensive works, barracks, and military supply warehouses into one, with multi-level corridors and interconnected soldier tunnels forming a complex and complete defense system. Xiangyu Ancient Castle, with its strong defensive capabilities, has never been breached from the outside since its construction. The tallest building in the castle, the five-story 'Guardian Tower' (also known as the 'Watchtower'), is the tallest surviving building from the Ming Dynasty in China. Xiangyu Ancient Castle is only 6 kilometers away from the imperial mansions and can be visited together.

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.

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.