Shi Cheng – Lion City of Qiandao Lake
Shi Cheng · Lion City · Shicheng · Hecheng
Tang to 1959 (208 CE – 1959, walls 1546–1563 Ming)·Sui/Tang / Ming / Qing Chinese·🇨🇳 Zhejiang, Hangzhou, Chun'an, Qiandao Lake, China
About
About Shi Cheng – Lion City of Qiandao Lake
Ming–Qing walled county seat (Sui 208 CE founded as Sui'an) at the confluence of Xin'an and Mazhuan rivers, of which Li Tang-era stone lions guarding the yamen gave the Lake-era name 'Lion City.' Deliberately drowned 1959 to create Xin'an Hydro Plant reservoir (Qiandao Lake 'Thousand Island Lake'), depth 26–40 m, visibility 5–9 m. Because fresh water, low oxygen, no salt trawling, Ming stone archways, city walls 1,521 m circuit, five gates, 265 Qing courtyard houses, lion sculptures, intact wooden bracket bridges survive with legible steles (Ming Kangxi edict).
State Administration of Cultural Heritage survey 2001 mapped 62 heritage nodes protected as dive-archaeology park. Best-preserved intentionally submerged city globally, now Chinese national dive park and climate archive for Tang canal grain routes.
Why it mattersWorld's best-preserved intentionally submerged historic city; analogue for climate-prompted managed retreat and freshwater site formation preservation.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Whether Hecheng (Canvas) sister city 1 km north also preserves painted timber interiors
- 02Linguistics of She nationality villages displaced 1959
Theories
- 01Intentional flooding kept street grid wholly intact unlike coastal disaster sites
- 02Low dissolved oxygen below thermocline explains wood survival vs saline ports
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- 208 CE (Sui'an county), walls 1546 Jiajing
- Period
- Tang to 1959 (208 CE – 1959, walls 1546–1563 Ming)
- Culture
- Sui/Tang / Ming / Qing Chinese
- Purpose
- County yamen and river port controlling Xin'an Canal grain to Hangzhou
- Abandoned
- 1959 (state-ordered evacuation for Xin'an dam reservoir)
- Rediscovered
- 2011 (Chinese National Geographic dive publication) but always known
- Excavation
- Submerged
208 CE
Sui'an county founded on Xin'an river bend
1546–1563
Ming walls and five gates rebuilt in gray brick vs Wokou raids
July 1959
Xin'an Hydro completion floods Sui'an + Hecheng under Qiandao Lake
2001
State文物局 side-scan maps intact street grid
2011
National Geographic feature opens scientific dive tourism
On the ground
Structures & features
29.5392° N · 119.0412° E · -26 m · 3 mapped features
North Gate paifang (Shi Cheng)
gateMing carved arch1638 still standing 31 m down
29.5395° N · 119.0410° ECounty Yamen lion pair
sculptureTwin Tang-descended stone lions at yamen forecourt
29.5390° N · 119.0415° EHecheng sister city
citySecond flooded county 2.7 km NW, walls at –38 m
29.5580° N · 119.0180° E