Heicheng Site is located at 25 kilometers southeast of Dalaihubu
Town of Ejin Banner. Itis the most complete protected ancient city
along the "Silk Road".
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Heicheng was built in the Western Xia Dynasty and expanded in the
Yuan Dynasty and became an important post house along the road from
the Gansu Corridor to the north of Yunling. It was abandonedat the
beginning of the Ming Dynasty. Heicheng has a rectangular shape
with a perimeter ofabout two li. With a total length of470 meters
from the east to the west and 384 meters from the north to the
south, the totalarea of the city is 180,500 square meters. There
are five pagodas made of original adobe on the 10 meter-high city
wall foundations at the northwestcorner. The ruins of pagoda shaped
like an overturned bowl still stand at a height of 12 meters. The
pagoda can be seen fromadistance of over 10 kilometers. It is very
magnificent and is a symbolic building of Heicheng. A great number
of rare relics have been found in the ruins of the city, including
the earliest moveable-type print and the earliest currencyof China
-- Jiaozi.