Bohai Shangjing National Archaeological Site Park

Bohai Shangjing National Archaeological Site Park
黑龙江渤海上京国家考古遗址公园

Location: 1 Zhongzhou Avenue, Bohai town, Ning’an city, Heilongjiang province
Hours: 9 am – 5 pm (No entry after 4 pm, except for national holidays)
General admission: 50 yuan ($7.71)
Tel: (+86-453) 7912789

The Shangjing Longquan Prefecture Site of the Bohai Kingdom (a minority regime in northeastern China from 698 to 926 established by the ancient Mohe people) is located in today’s Ning’an county, Heilongjiang province. One of the five capitals of the kingdom, the city of Shangjing (literally, the upper capital) was named after its northerly location and was the seat of Longquan Prefecture. Longquan Prefecture boasts the best-preserved medieval capital site in the world, with distinctive historical features and regional and national characteristics.

Built according to the layout of Chang’an, the capital city of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Longquan Prefecture has a rectangular plan – around 4.68 kilometers from east to west and 3.47 km from south to north, with a perimeter of nearly 16.3 km. It was composed of inner and outer parts and an imperial palace. The imperial palace is home to five great halls arranged on a central axis, of which the second one from the south was the centerpiece with the largest scale and the most crucial role of all.

Protection of the Shangjing site began in the 1960s and the site museum was established in 1985. In 2013, it was included in the second group of national archaeological site parks.