Liulihe Excavations: Tracing the Birthplace of the Yan State

In the first installment of what will be a two-part feature, we’ll talk about the archaeological discoveries at the Liulihe site, which have unveiled the origins of the Western Zhou Yan capital, revealing its royal tombs, dual city walls, and the influential role of the Duke of Shao in establishing this early urban center.

Transcript

Liulihe Excavations: Tracing the Birthplace of the Yan State

In the first installment of what will be a two-part feature, we’ll talk about the archaeological discoveries at the Liulihe site, which have unveiled the origins of the Western Zhou Yan capital, revealing its royal tombs, dual city walls, and the influential role of the Duke of Shao in establishing this early urban center.

In February of 1046 BCE, the auspicious moment had arrived. King Wu of Zhou, Ji Fa, stood before the ancestral altar. One hundred warriors had led the procession, their cloud-patterned banners raised to the sky, as attending ministers encircled him. On the previous day, the Shang Dynasty had been defeated at the Battle of Muye: it had ruled for nearly 600 years. The last Shang king, Di Xin, had set himself ablaze in the Deer Terrace Pavilion. The great enterprise of toppling Shang was complete. 

Ji Fa, filled with emotion, looked gratefully at the brothers who had assisted him – his younger brother, the Duke of Zhou Dan, held a great ceremonial axe, while his elder half-brother, the Duke of Shao Shi, held a smaller axe. They had followed Ji Fa eastward, crossing the Yellow River, and now stood beside him at this great ritual to the gods and spirits, declaring Di Xin’s crimes to Heaven and the people of Shang.

King Wu of Zhou’s conquest of Shang marked the founding of the Zhou Dynasty, known in history as the Western Zhou. To consolidate his rule, King Wu granted lands to meritorious officials and members of the royal family. The Duke of Shao Shi, one of the Four Sages of early Zhou, was enfeoffed in Northern Yan. There, he helped secure the northern borders of the Western Zhou and defended against nomadic tribes. The State of Yan became the “northern shield” of the Zhou royal court. It was through this enfeoffment that the region of today’s Chinese capital, Beijing, became part of the Western Zhou’s memory for the first time in history – integrated into the governance system of Central Plains civilization, and beginning its process of urbanization and Sinicization.

The State of Yan, a legendary feudal state in ancient Chinese history, was founded in the early Western Zhou and lasted until the late Warring States period when it was annexed by the State of Qin. Over more than 800 years, Yan endured long periods of dormancy, enjoyed brief moments of glory, and ultimately fell into decline. Compared to other major states like Qi, Chu, Qin, and Zhao, Yan lay on the periphery of Central Plains civilization, and historical records about it are relatively scarce. Many details were lost to the sands of time – until the 1940s, when a cement plant was being planned in Liulihe Town, Fangshan District, about 40 kilometers southwest of Beijing. Wu Liangcai, a bank employee and amateur archaeologist, discovered pottery shards scattered across the area. The Liulihe site was thus uncovered, and the once-forgotten State of Yan resurfaced from the pages of history.

Since the 1960s and ‘70s, generations of archaeologists have labored in the fields. The history of Yan, long veiled in obscurity, has finally begun to reveal its secrets – proving that the enfeoffment of the Duke of Shao was no mere legend. On April 24, 2025, the final evaluation of China’s Top 10 New Archaeological Discoveries of 2024 concluded, and the “Liulihe Site in Fangshan, Beijing” was successfully selected.

The Yan capital ruins have thus given Beijing a birthday. New findings – such as the dual inner-and-outer city layout, the first-ever reconstruction of a commoner family tree in Shang-Zhou archaeology, and the scale and structure of high-ranking architectural complexes – have all challenged the traditional understanding of urban complexity during the Western Zhou period. As the longest-excavated, largest, and richest Western Zhou feudal state site discovered so far, the Liulihe site stands as a buried testament to the Zhou Dynasty’s feudal enfeoffment system.

On a sun-scorched afternoon, a gust of wind stirred up a swirl of pale dust from the bare yellow earth. At the Liulihe archaeological site, workers constantly sprinkled water over the excavation squares to soften the soil. Surrounding a pit two to three meters deep lay large cobblestones – remnants of a massive well from 3,000 years ago. The well shaft extended to a depth of 13.2 meters.

To the north of the well was the foundation of a large rammed-earth structure, with another sizable well in its northeast section. The total area of this rammed-earth architectural foundation, from various periods of the Western Zhou, exceeds 2,300 square meters, while each of the two wells covers more than 500 square meters. Wang Jing, head of the excavation team at Liulihe, told The Context, “Structures of this scale are rare throughout the Western Zhou period. The combination of large-scale architecture and giant wells is even rarer. Such massive water wells are unique to the Liulihe site.”

Could such a grand and unique structure have been the palace of the Marquis of Yan? Almost everyone who visits the site hopes to hear a definite “yes” from the archaeologists. However, no conclusive evidence has been unearthed so far. It remains unclear whether the large rammed-earth foundation once supported a magnificent palace hall or was part of a complex composed of multiple buildings. Due to modern construction in the area, ancient stratigraphy has been severely disturbed, exposing the remains near the surface and destroying almost all traces of above-ground structures. Although the major archaeological breakthroughs at the Liulihe site have occurred only in recent years, it has actually been 80 years since the site was first discovered.

The first person to suspect the existence of ruins at Liulihe was Wu Liangcai. In August 1945, while working as a staff member of the Bank of China, he was sent to the Liulihe Cement Plant in Fangshan to conduct business. As he passed a platform noticeably higher than the surrounding terrain, he saw the ground littered with pottery shards. Wu Liangcai – who was the brother of Wu Jinding, the modern Chinese archaeologist who discovered the Longshan culture – also had a keen interest in archaeology. Realizing that the shards were likely significant, he collected a large bundle and brought them to the Institute of Historical Studies at the Beiping Research Institute, where he handed them to Su Bingqi. Upon inspection, Su immediately suspected the pieces were from the Shang or Zhou dynasties – but the chaotic political situation at the time left him unable to pursue the matter further.

In the summer of 1962, Su Bingqi, famed Archaeologist at Peking University, recalled Wu Liangcai’s clues while arranging fieldwork for his students. At his suggestion, Peking University archaeology professor Zou Heng led students in cooperation with the Beijing Municipal Cultural Relics Task Force to conduct small-scale trial excavations in Liulidian and Dongjialin in Fangshan. Based on this investigation, the Beijing Cultural Relics team published the first archaeological report on the Liulihe site in the third issue of Archaeology in 1963. The Dongjialin site was preliminarily dated to the Western Zhou period.

In 1972, Zhao Fusheng entered Peking University as a “worker-peasant-soldier student.” At the time, Peking University followed a spring enrollment system. He recalled to The Context: “I finished my time in the countryside and entered Peking University in May. After studying Paleolithic knowledge for two months, we went on summer break in July. When classes resumed on September 1, all 40-plus students in my class were taken straight to the Liulihe site for fieldwork.”

Learning while doing was the urgent educational approach of that era – and this student fieldwork unexpectedly saved the Liulihe site. Zhao Fusheng recalled: “Not long after we arrived, large-scale farmland and irrigation projects began in various places. In the village of Liulidian, bulldozers started working in shifts.” As soon as the machines dug in, the very platform where Wu Liangcai had once picked up pottery shards was torn open, destroying the cultural layers. “One ash pit after another was suddenly exposed – it was all very clear to see.” Professor Zou Heng was so alarmed that he tried to stop the bulldozers himself, but no one paid him any attention. He rushed back to Peking University that very night and reported the situation through the university to the cultural and education authorities.

Eventually, the bulldozers were halted. “Thanks to Mr. Zou Heng,” Zhao Fusheng reflected. He would later become the deputy director of the Beijing Institute of Cultural Relics. “That’s how the Liulihe site was finally protected.” Though the stratigraphy of Liulidian had been destroyed by the excavation, the artifacts remained. Zou Heng decided to move all the students to excavate the ash pits at Liulidian. There, they uncovered a large number of Western Zhou pottery shards and high-grade roof tiles. 

Zhao said: “Ordinary people’s homes in the Western Zhou period had thatched roofs – they wouldn’t have used tiles.” Based on this excavation, Zou Heng boldly hypothesized that the site was the original enfeoffed land of the Yan state in the Western Zhou. It was the first time that the idea was proposed that the Liulihe site may have been the Yan capital.

If this was indeed the original enfeoffed land of the State of Yan, then there must be a grand tomb belonging to a Marquis of Yan. Zou Heng had heard that in the 1960s, when the Shi family in the village dug a cellar, they had unearthed some bronzeware. He assigned a team to excavate near the Shi family’s cellar, opening a 20-meter-long exploratory trench – but unfortunately, they found nothing. Years later, when the actual tomb of the Marquis of Yan was discovered, Zhao Fusheng realized that it was only a few dozen meters south of the very trench Zou had ordered to be dug back then.

Zou Heng’s hypothesis drew the attention of the Beijing municipal authorities. In the spring of 1973, the Beijing Cultural Relics Administration, the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Fangshan County Bureau of Culture and Education formed a joint archaeological team for Liulihe, launching the site’s first official excavation. To uncover the secrets of this mysterious site as quickly as possible, the team even traveled south to Luoyang in Henan Province to invite the country’s most experienced prospectors. 

Over the course of several years, through extensive drilling and surveying, the archaeologists gradually uncovered 69 tombs and several chariot-and-horse pits. Despite its distance from the Central Plains during the Shang and Zhou periods, so many people were buried in this region of what is now Beijing. In the fill of several tombs, pottery, bronzeware, and jade artifacts were unearthed one after another. The once-mysterious gateway to the capital of the Western Zhou State of Yan was finally beginning to open.

Soon after the joint team began work at Liulihe, road construction began in the village. On the right side of the road south of a railway tunnel, Tombs M251 and M253 were discovered in quick succession. Zhao Fusheng recalled that archaeological conditions at the time were extremely limited. The burial pits were deep, and due to the high water table, they were filled with groundwater. In the countryside, electricity was only available for a few hours during the day. When the electric pumps ran at full capacity to drain the water, the team would put on knee-high rubber boots, climb into the pit, and recover artifacts by hand from beneath the water’s surface. At night, when the power went out, they worked by the dim light of kerosene lamps, sorting and cataloging the day’s finds.

According to Tian Jingdong, a researcher at the Beijing Institute of Cultural Relics, the excavation of Tomb M253 was “much more difficult” than that of M251. Half of M253 was buried under a steep cliff, and the other half lay in a ditch. The team had already dug quite deep without uncovering any artifacts. Groundwater kept seeping in, and morale was low – everyone was a bit discouraged. Still, unwilling to give up, they decided to try probing deeper with a shovel. As they drove the spade downward, something suddenly changed.

“As archaeologists, we’re trained to feel it – when the spade touches something, the resistance is different,” Tian recalled. He still remembers the thrill of that moment. “We’ve hit something!” The team’s energy surged. They continued digging and feeling their way through the water – and soon realized they had touched a large bronze ding, the ritual cauldron. But its three legs were stuck deep in the sticky mud. Even two people pulling together couldn’t lift it out. In the end, they had to use a chain hoist, tying ropes around the ding’s two handles. Someone pulled from above while others pushed from below.

What emerged was the largest and heaviest bronze ritual vessel ever unearthed in the Beijing region – the Jin Ding.

With flared square lips and a slightly closed mouth, the Jin Ding has a commanding and majestic shape. But even more significant is the inscription cast inside the vessel – four lines of 26 characters, remarkably clear after more than 3,000 years. According to expert analysis, the inscription tells a complete story: “Jin,” under orders from the Marquis of Yan, traveled to the Zhou capital to offer food to the Duke of Shao. In return, the Grand Protector rewarded Jin with money, which Jin then used to cast the bronze ding.

This inscription on the Jin Ding not only confirms that the Liulihe site was indeed the capital of the Yan State over 3,000 years ago, but also confirms a historical detail recorded in Commentary on the Records of the Grand Historian: “The eldest son was enfeoffed, while the second son remained at the Zhou court to serve in place of the Duke of Shao.” Although the Duke of Shao Shi was enfeoffed in Yan, he himself stayed in the Zhou capital to assist the king, while his eldest son was dispatched to govern Yan – just as the inscription implies.

Well, that’s the end of part one of our podcast on archaeological discoveries at the Liulihe site. And we hope you’ll tune in next time for part 2. Our theme music is by the famous film score composer Roc Chen. We want to thank our writer Li Jing, translator Wang Yuyan, and copy editor Pu Ren. And thank you for listening. We hope you enjoyed it, and if you did, please tell a friend so they, too, can understand The Context.