The Ancient Town of Liye
When traveling in western Hunan, one must not miss Liye. Where is Liye? It lies west of western Hunan, on the banks of the Youshui River at the border of Longshan and Baojing counties. From Jishou, the capital of Xiangxi Prefecture, via Huayuan to Liye takes just over three hours by car. Liye has a folk rhyme: "Above, carp sink in the pool; below, old trees block the rapids; before, jade-like rock slabs; behind, eight-faced..."
This article is compiled from the original travel notes on the "Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network" (33519.com); it is a record of trips from earlier years. Time-sensitive information such as ticket prices, schedules, and accommodation prices is subject to the latest announcements from scenic areas and transportation authorities; the itinerary ideas and attraction introductions still have reference value.
When traveling around Xiangxi, one cannot fail to visit Liye.
Where is Liye? It is located in the west of Xiangxi, on the banks of the Youshui River at the border between Longshan County and Baojing County. If one goes from Jishou, the seat of Xiangxi Prefecture, through Huayuan to Liye, it takes only a little more than 3 hours by car to arrive.
Liye has a folk rhyme: "Above there is Carp Sinking Pool, below there is Old Woman Tree Blocking the Shoal, in front there is Jade Rock Slab, behind there is Bamian Mountain as a support." This folk rhyme also explains Liye's location. Carp Sinking Pool refers to a deep pool in the Youshui River three li above Liye town. Legend says that in ancient times a carp spirit stirred up wind and waves here, causing floods and chaos. The Tujia young warrior Tian Dali went to the Dragon King of the East Sea to borrow a precious sword and fought the carp spirit for seven days and seven nights, finally killing the carp spirit and ridding the people of a calamity. That place was then called Carp Pool. Old Woman Tree Blocking the Shoal refers to Shadagou, about five li downstream from Liye town, where the river channel is very narrow. A tree on the east bank and a tree on the west bank extend their branches across the river to each other, like a pair of lover trees, forming a tree bridge for travelers. This place is called Old Woman Tree Shoal. Jade Rock Slab refers to a flat, smooth slanting rock slab at the lower wharf of Huanglian Township in Baojing County opposite Liye. It is more than six zhang long and wide, and from afar looks like a piece of jade, hence the name Jade Rock Slab. Bamian Mountain refers to a great mountain behind Liye town, more than 1,400 meters high, and also a famous mountain dominating the Hunan-Sichuan border. Because this town backs onto the great mountain, faces the Youshui River in front, and has spacious flat land on both banks of the river, its feng shui is uniquely favored. Only then did the local people call this place "Liye." According to expert research, the full name of Liye should be "Meicha Liye," meaning "the creation of heaven and earth."
According to another textual study, the existing ancient town buildings of Liye were formed during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, only more than 300 years ago. At that time Liye was under the jurisdiction of the Baiyandong Zhangguan Office of Yongshun Ting in the Chenyuan Yongjing Dao of Hunan. After the replacement of native officials with appointed officials in the seventh year of Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty (1729), this place was placed under the jurisdiction of Longshan County. In the first year of the Republic of China, Liye was called Sanjiali Township; in the twenty-sixth year of the Republic of China, it began to be called Liye Town. After the founding of New China, Liye has always been the seat of a district and town in Longshan.
Since the formation of a market town during the Kangxi period, market transactions in Liye have always been very active. By the 1930s, the town had a resident population of more than 4,000 and more than 400 various shops. In peak season, the number of people at the market could reach more than 20,000, making it one of the four famous towns of Xiangxi at that time. After Liberation, Liye developed even faster. In particular, after the archaeological world excavated more than 36,000 Qin bamboo slips here in 2002, the whole world was shocked. The writing recorded on these Qin slips not only may change the history of China's Qin Dynasty and Warring States period, but also gave people a completely new understanding of the history of this ancient town of Liye. In further excavation at Liye, three major ancient cities were discovered. The first is a square ancient city of the Warring States and Qin Dynasty, located within the original Liye Primary School. It covers an area of 40,000 square meters. The second is the Han city at Weijiazhai, with a castle area of 5,760 square meters. The third is the ancient city at Daban E River Bend, covering an area of more than 60,000 square meters, with a city age from the early Western and Eastern Han to the end of Eastern Han, lasting more than 400 years. These three major ancient city sites, together with the newly discovered Leijiabao Beacon Tower, cover an area of about 20 square kilometers. With such a large urban scale, one can imagine how prosperous Liye was before the Han Dynasty.
However, in our existing Chinese history and local historical records, the history of Liye before the Qin and Han dynasties is not mentioned at all. Even for the history after the Han and before the Kangxi reign of the Qing, there are almost no records about Liye. Without the discoveries of the archaeological world, no one could have recognized Liye's past history. Now with the Qin bamboo slips and many other cultural relics excavated locally, we can preliminarily determine Liye's true history, but to clarify the detailed historical appearance of the Liye area still seems far from enough. For example, what was Liye like before the Warring States period? What was Liye like during the more than one thousand years from after the Eastern Han to before the Qing Dynasty? Why did it disappear without a trace during this period? Are there still undiscovered ancient cities? Obviously these are still mysteries, awaiting continued excavation and solving by the archaeological world.
What is gratifying is that after the Qin bamboo slips were unearthed at Liye, their archaeological value has attracted the attention and importance of senior national leaders. The Liye Qin bamboo slips have been listed as a major historical and cultural site protected at the national level. Liye Town is also undergoing large-scale construction according to a completely new plan. In the near future, this place is very likely to be built into China's number one ancient town and accepted as a World Heritage site.
Will the Qin bamboo slips unearthed at Liye really rewrite Chinese history? What other precious cultural relics still lie hidden underground at Liye? What will the future ancient town of Liye be built into? People are concerned about these questions and are waiting to see brand-new answers.