Taizicheng () is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

in Sitaizui (), Chongli District of

Zhangjiakou Zhangjiakou (; ; ) also known as Kalgan and by several other names, is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Hebei province in Northern China, bordering Beijing to the southeast, Inner Mongolia to the north and west, and Shanxi to the southw ...

in the northwest of

Hebei Province Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...

, China. Its name means "City of the Crown Prince", and

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

excavations carried out between May and November 2017 uncovered the remains of an imperial palace of the Jin dynasty (1115–1234). It is thought that this was the summer palace for

Emperor Zhangzong of Jin Emperor Zhangzong of Jin (31 August 1168 – 29 December 1208), personal name Madage, sinicized name Wanyan Jing, was the sixth emperor of the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty of China. He reigned from 20 January 1189 to 29 December 1208.Tao, p. 85-86 ...

(r. 1189–1208), which is named Tai He Palace in the ''

History of Jin The ''History of Jin'' (''Jin Shi'') is a Chinese historical text, one of the ''Twenty Four Histories'', which details the history of the Jin dynasty founded by the Jurchens in northern China. It was compiled by the Yuan dynasty historian and mi ...

''.

Imperial palace

In preparation for developing the Taizicheng area as a

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IO ...

venue for the

2022 Winter Olympic Games The 2022 Winter Olympics (2022年冬季奥林匹克运动会), officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), was an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beij ...

, an archaeological survey of the entire village (covering 6,400 square meters), and excavations of sites of interest, were carried out from May to November 2017. The main discovery was a rectangular walled settlement, about 400 metres in length (from north to south) and about 350 metres in width (from east to west), covering 140,000 square metres. The settlement included a network of roads centred on a T-shaped main thoroughfare. 28 buildings were identified within the settlement, the largest of which was located 75 m north of the south gate, and comprised fifteen rooms. Building materials unearthed included bricks, glazed and unglazed roof tiles, ridge tiles, and dragon, phoenix and

Kalaviṅka Kalaviṅka ( sa, कलविङ्क ''kalaviṅka''; Pali: karavika; ''Jiālíngpínqié''; ja, 迦陵頻伽, Karyōbinga, ko, 가릉빈가; vi, Ca Lăng Tần Già; my, ကရဝိက် karawik; th, การเวก, Malay: ''karawe ...

roof ornaments. Other artifacts excavated included a black glazed chicken-leg shaped vase, 15 white glazed porcelain bowls with impressed dragon and fish patterns, and two fragments of a gilt bronze dragon head ornament. The porcelain bowls were marked with the characters () meaning "Bureau of Imperial Cuisine", which are elsewhere associated with Ding ware. Some of the bricks were marked as (), (), and (), which are similar to marks on bricks found at the

Liao dynasty The Liao dynasty (; Khitan: ''Mos Jælud''; ), also known as the Khitan Empire (Khitan: ''Mos diau-d kitai huldʒi gur''), officially the Great Liao (), was an imperial dynasty of China that existed between 916 and 1125, ruled by the Yelü ...

Upper Palace at

Bairin Left Banner Baarin Left Banner ( Mongolian: ''Baɣarin Jegün qosiɣu''; ), or Bairin, is a banner of eastern Inner Mongolia, China, under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Chifeng. The banner spans an area of 6,644 square kilometers, and ...

. Based on the size of the site and an analysis of the various artifacts found there, the archaeologists determined that this must be the remains of an imperial palace of the Jin dynasty, and probably dated to the late middle period of the dynasty, during the reigns of Emperor Shizong (r. 1161–1189) and

Emperor Zhangzong Emperor Zhangzong of Jin (31 August 1168 – 29 December 1208), personal name Madage, Sinicization, sinicized name Wanyan Jing, was the sixth Emperor of China, emperor of the Jurchen people, Jurchen-led Jin dynasty (1115–1234), Jin dynasty of Ch ...

(r. 1189–1208). It is probable that this site is the Tai He Palace () recorded in the ''

'' as being the summer palace where Emperor Zhangzong stayed in 1202 and 1205.

Venue for 2022 Winter Olympic Games

Taizicheng is a

venue Venue is the location at which an event takes place. It may refer to: Locations * Venue (law), the place a case is heard * Financial trading venue, a place or system where financial transactions can occur * Music venue, place used for a concer ...

for the

. All skiing events other than alpine skiing are scheduled to be held at the Taizicheng area.

Transport

Taizicheng railway station Taizicheng railway station (), is a railway station in the Taizicheng, Chongli District, Zhangjiakou, Hebei. This station is the terminal of Chongli railway, and are only 2 km away from the Olympic Village center. The station hall started co ...

References

{{Authority control Populated places in Hebei Palaces in China Villages in China 2017 archaeological discoveries History of Zhangjiakou