Taizicheng ( zh, s= , p=Tàizǐchéng) is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in Sitaizui (),

Chongli District Chongli District (; ) is a district of Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, China. By road, it is from Beijing. 2022 Winter Olympics Chongli District had been the stage of most of the skiing events during the 2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winte ...

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 southwest ...

in the northwest of

Hebei Province Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

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

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

excavations carried out between May and November 2017 uncovered the remains of an imperial palace of the

Jin dynasty Jin may refer to: States Jìn 晉 * Jin (Chinese state) (晉國), major state of the Zhou dynasty, existing from the 11th century BC to 376 BC * Jin dynasty (266–420) (晉朝), also known as Liang Jin and Sima Jin * Jin (Later Tang precursor) ...

(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 ...

''.

Imperial palace

In preparation for developing the Taizicheng area as a

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International S ...

venue for the

2022 Winter Olympic Games The 2022 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), were an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beijing, China, and surrounding areas wit ...

, 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 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 Ding ware, Ting ware () or Dingyao are Chinese ceramics, mostly porcelain, that were produced in the prefecture of Dingzhou ( formerly romanized as "Ting-chou") in Hebei in northern China. The main kilns were at Jiancicun or Jianci in Quyang C ...

. Some of the bricks were marked as ( zh, labels=no, p=nèi , l=internal), ( zh, labels=no, p=gōng , l=palace), and ( zh, labels=no, p=guān , l=official), which are similar to marks on bricks found at the Liao dynasty Upper Palace at

Bairin Left Banner Baarin Left Banner ( Mongolian: ; zh, c=巴林左旗), 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 as of 2018, ...

. 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 (r. 1189–1208). It is probable that this site is the Tai He Palace ( zh, s=泰和宫, p=tàihé gōng) recorded in the ''

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

Venue for 2022 Winter Olympic Games

Taizicheng was a

venue A 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 conce ...

for the

. All skiing events other than alpine skiing were held in the Taizicheng area.

Transport

* Taizicheng railway station

References

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