Xiangyu Ancient Castle - The Fortress on the Qin River

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.