Yanshi


Yanshi is a county-level city administered by the prefecture-level city of Luoyang in western Henan province, China. Yanshi lies on the Luo River and is the easternmost county-level division of Luoyang.

History

After the Zhou conquest of Shang in mid-11th century BC, King Wu of Zhou founded a garrison town to the east of modern Yanshi to accommodate some of the campaigning troops. The name "Yanshi" is short of "settling down the Rong army". When Qin annexed Zhou in 256 BC, Yanshi County was established. The county's borders underwent several changes over the course of history. In 1993, Yanshi County became the county-level Yanshi City.

Archaeological sites

There are two important archaeological sites in this area.

Erlitou site

The Erlitou culture was discovered in Yanshi in 1959. Erlitou is the name of the modern village nearby; the traditional name of the settlement was Zhenxun.

Yanshi Shang City

In 1983, a walled city dating from 1600 BC was found north-east of the Erlitou site in Yanshi's Shixianggou Township. This city, now known as Yanshi Shang City, had an area of nearly and featured pottery characteristic of the Erligang culture. Some scholarsincluding the Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Projectidentify it with the first Shang dynasty capital, Western Bo which was traditionally credited to King Tang after his defeat of the Xia dynasty.