Communication: Visit the "Pompeii of the East" - the ruins of Jining Road in the Yuan Dynasty

Ulanqab, 3 March -- Visiting the "Pompeii of the East" -- the ruins of Jining Road in the Yuan Dynasty

China News Network reporter Li Aiping

In the ruins of the ancient city of Jining Road in the Yuan Dynasty (referred to as the ruins of Jining Road), which is surrounded by iron railings as a whole, Chen Zhongwei, who was walking quickly, accidentally touched a porcelain piece, and he bent down to pick it up and said: "This porcelain piece is also an important cultural relic to witness this site." ”

Chen Zhongwei, director of the Cultural Relics Protection Center for the Right Front Banner in Ulanqab, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, first "literacy" reporters on March 3 when he talked about the ruins of Jining Road, which is not a road.

According to Chen Zhongwei: The ruins of Jining Road were called Jining County in the Jin Dynasty; In the early years of the Yuan Dynasty, it was elevated to Jining Road and was under the jurisdiction of Zhongshu Province.

The Jining Road site really attracted attention from the outside world in May 1958, when the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Cultural Relics Task Force cleaned up and excavated the site in order to cooperate with the construction of the Jizhang (Jining-Zhangjiakou) railway. In November 5, when the archaeological department was cleaning up a silk kiln near the western city wall of the site, important cultural relics such as jacquard aya with the inscription "Jining Road Daru Huachi General Official's Mansion" were unearthed.

At this point, the site of Jining Road is well known to the archaeological community, but the actual large-scale excavation of the site was in May 2002.

The picture shows the ruins of Jining Road in the Yuan Dynasty. Photo by Li Aiping

Chen Zhongwei recalled that in order to cooperate with the construction of the G6 Expressway, the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (now the Inner Mongolia Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology), the Ulanqab Museum and the Chayou Qianqi Cultural Relics Management Institute formed the Jining Road Archaeological Task Force to enter the site to carry out archaeological excavations.

Chen Yongzhi, president of the Inner Mongolia Museum, who was the leader of the Jining Road archaeological task force at the time, recalled: "In the archaeological excavation of the site, a large number of porcelain from the Jin and Yuan periods were found, more than 500 complete porcelain pieces were unearthed, more than 7800,<> recoverable porcelain specimens, and tens of thousands of other precious porcelain specimens, involving seven major kiln systems, including Cizhou kiln, Jingdezhen kiln, Longquan kiln, Jun kiln, Ding kiln, Yaozhou kiln, and Jianyao kiln. ”

In Chen Yongzhi's view, these porcelains are exquisitely made and have excellent appearance, including blue and flower, glaze red, shufu glaze, celadon, black porcelain and other categories, marking the superb porcelain manufacturing technology of the Yuan Dynasty.

Archaeologists believe that the site of Jining Road in the Yuan Dynasty is a combination of grassland nomadic and agricultural farming areas, and its geographical location is very important. According to historical records, between 1368 and 1371, the Ming army and the Yuan army fought two large-scale wars near the ruins of Jining Road, both of which ended in the defeat of the Ming victory and the defeat of the Yuan, and the ruins of Jining Road in the Yuan Dynasty were abandoned.

Chen Zhongwei told reporters that because the history of the Jining Road site is quite similar to the history of Pompeii, the Jining Road site is also known as the "Pompeii of the East" by the outside world.

Pompeii is a historic ancient city in the Campania region in the southwest corner of the Apennine Peninsula, located near Naples in southern Italy, and archaeological excavations have continued since 1748, providing important materials for understanding ancient Roman social life and culture and art. In June 2016, Pompeii was named one of the world's top ten rare tombs.

According to information from the cultural and tourism department of Chayouqianqi, in 2003, the site of Jining Road was ranked as one of the top ten archaeology in the country that year, and in the following 20 years, the site has become a shining local business card.

Leng Heng is a well-known playwright in Ulanqab City and a national first-class screenwriter. In an interview with reporters, he said that in order to remember this history, he spent three years and five drafts to create and complete the newly compiled historical drama "Jade Pot Spring Bottle" on Donglu Duorentai, and was selected for the 2020 Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Stage Art Excellence Project, and at present, the play has completed rehearsals.

Leng Heng said that at the script seminar held previously, experts said that the play took the glazed red jade pot spring bottle unearthed at the site of Jining Road in the Yuan Dynasty as a clue, and carried out a legendary interpretation of the local iconic and excellent historical and cultural resources, which contributed to the publicity and reputation of Ulanqab.

"One of the main works we are currently working on is the digital conservation and utilization project of the Jining Road site." Wang Zhen, director of the Chayou Qianqian Banner Culture and Tourism Bureau, said that the project aims to improve the popularity and reputation of the Jining Road site by using modern information technology to make cultural relics "live".

Wang Zhen said that in the future, the Jining Road site will also appear in the stage play created locally, "As a chapter of the stage play, I hope that tourists at home and abroad can have more understanding and feelings about the Jining Road site, and I sincerely hope that the Jining Road site can be 'fired' in terms of tourism." (End)