Protected Sites: Liulihe Site

Liulihe Site is located on the mesa on the banks of the Dashi River, 1.5 kilometers north of Liulihe Town in Fangshan District, Beijing.

As an important site of the early Western Zhou Dynasty (11th century-771 BC), Liulihe was first discovered by Chinese archaeologists in the 1940s. Excavations at the site were carried out in 1973.

The site covers an area of about 500 square meters, with remnants of the north wall topping 800 meters in length and the east and 300 meters along the west walls. The wall, built with solid tampered earth, is about 10 meters wide. Surrounded with an outside moat, the city has a large number of densely distributed foundations inside. A noble burial area stretches across the southeast of the city, covering an area of over 50,000 square meters. To date, over 200 tombs of nobles have been unearthed, including tombs containing bodies that were buried with the dead and pits with vehicles and horses. Also unearthed at the site are various cultural relics, including bonze, jade and bone ware. Most of the bronze ware display carved inscriptions.

The Liulihe Site, as the ruins of the capital of the Yan State in the early Western Zhou Dynasty, provides important material for the study of the early history of the Yan State.