The Zhengzhou Shang Dynasty Ruins (郑州商城遗址), discovered in the autumn of 1950, boast a history dating back approximately 3,500 years. Within the ruins, expansive layers of Shang Dynasty cultural relics, including house foundations, water wells, and various other remnants, are distributed across the site. In the northeastern part of the city, on a relatively high plateau covering nearly 400,000 square meters, large and medium-sized rammed earth platform buildings have been unearthed, likely representing the palace district where high-ranking Shang Dynasty nobles resided.
Surrounding the Shang Dynasty city, archaeologists have also unearthed four workshops contemporaneous with the city, engaged in bronze casting, pottery making, and bone crafting, as well as two bronze ware storage pits and over 100 small to medium-sized tombs.
Among the unearthed artifacts, pottery is the most abundant, followed by bronze ware, stone implements, and bone artifacts. Additionally, discoveries include shell artifacts, jade artifacts, primitive porcelain, stamped hard pottery, white pottery, and ivory artifacts. Notably, a square tripod vessel unearthed from the Duling bronze ware storage pit, standing 100 centimeters tall and weighing 86.4 kilograms, has become a symbol of Zhengzhou city.
Table of Contents
- Basic Information
- Location and Transportation
- Highlights of Shang Dynasty Ruins
- Vlog about Shang Dynasty City Ruins Museum
- Attractions near the Shang Dynasty Ruins
Basic Information
| Estimated Length of Tour | 1 – 2 hours |
| Ticket Price | 3 RMB |
| Opening Hours | 9.00 – 17.00; Last admission: 16.00 Closed on Mondays |
| Telephone Number | 0086-0371-61778575 |
Location and Transportation
The Shang Dynasty City Ruins are located at the intersection of Shangcheng Road and Renmin Road in Guancheng Hui Autonomous District, Zhengzhou City, Henan Province, China. The specific address is 21 Shuncheng Street. To get there, you can choose one of the following ways:
Bus: Take bus 206, S162, or S602 Eastward and get off at Shangcheng Yizhi Stop (商城遗址站).
Metro: The closest metro station to the Shang Dynasty City Ruins is Zhengzhou Wenmiao (郑州文庙站) on line 3. After getting out of the station from Exit B, walk about 300 meters to the west to reach the north entrance of the site.
Highlights of Shang Dynasty Ruins
City Wall Ruins
The city wall ruins are situated in the central part of the Zhengzhou Shang Dynasty site and represent a rammed earth wall from the early Shang Dynasty period. The eastern wall stretches approximately 1700 meters, the northern wall about 1690 meters, the western wall around 1870 meters, and the southern wall about 1700 meters, totaling 6960 meters in length. Constructed entirely of rammed earth, sections of the north wall’s eastern segment, the east wall, the western part of the south wall, and a small portion of the west wall still remain visible above ground, while the rest lies buried beneath the present surface. The base of the walls measures 20 to 30 meters wide, with remnants reaching 1 to 2 meters in height and peaking at around 4 to 5 meters in some areas.
Palace District Ruins
The palace district ruins are located in the central to north, central to east, and northeast parts of the city within the Shang Dynasty ruins. They consist of dozens of rammed earth building foundations, some of which still bear traces of pillar holes or bases and stone column foundations on their surfaces. The total area of various large and medium-sized rammed earth platforms exceeds 400,000 square meters, with the largest platforms covering over 2,000 square meters and the smallest over 100 square meters. These platforms were constructed using red and yellow clay. Many of them are rectangular in shape and feature neatly arranged pillar holes spaced approximately 2 meters apart, with most having stone column bases at their bottoms. Some platforms have hardened “white lime surfaces” or yellow clay floors. Artefacts unearthed near the palace foundations include bronze hairpins, jade hairpins, and jade fragments.
Bronze Casting Workshop Sites
Located on the outskirts of the Shang Dynasty city ruins, the bronze casting workshop sites feature excavated flooring where production activities took place. Numerous crucible fragments, red-fired clay pieces, slag, charcoal, and thousands of pottery molds used for casting various bronze objects have been found. Among the abundant pottery molds are those for casting tools such as chisels, shovels, axes, knives, and chisels, as well as molds for weapons like daggers and spears, and containers like square and round tripods, li vessels, gu vessels, jue vessels, guang vessels, and zun vessels. These discoveries indicate a significant scale of production activity.
