Tungchingcheng

a city in northeastern China on the Mutan River, near which are located the ruins of the ancient city of Huhan, the upper (and most important) capital of the Pohai government. Tungchingch’eng was founded in 755 and destroyed by the Kidan in 926. The city is almost a perfect square with an area of 16 sq km, surrounded by a moat and a formidable earthen wall topped with stone which has ten gates. The straight streets, intersecting at right angles, delimit over 80 blocks. The main street, 87 m in width, led from the central southern gate to the north, where the residence of the governor, surrounded by stone walls, was situated. Excavations done here in 1931 and 1933-34 revealed six palaces, six Buddhist temples, a garden with a pond, and two islands with stone summerhouses. The framed buildings’ walls of smooth or decorative brick were ornamented with white or colored plaster and frescoes, and the roofs were covered with gray or green glazed tiles. The earthen stylobates, studded with stone, were decorated with granite lion heads. A lamp or censer made of cut basalt in the form of an eight-sided summerhouse, sitting on the capital of a column with a stone lotus flower as its base, was also found. Millstones, grinding stones, iron helmets, arrowheads, sculptures of Buddha made from terracotta, casts from a foundry, horsemen made from bronze, and clay and china dishes, as well as other artifacts, were discovered.