Laosicheng 老司城

About Laosicheng

The remains of administrative and residential areas, streets and drainage reveal how a Tusi capital functioned, while surviving religious buildings and the surrounding village add other layers. The site museum is a useful first stop because much of the city survives as foundations and landscape traces rather than intact palace halls. Read the excavated evidence alongside the living Tujia setting, without confusing it with a newly built themed ancient town.

Laosicheng was built in 1135, during the Southern Song dynasty, as the historic capital of the Peng clan Tusi (彭氏土司), who ruled the area for six centuries before the site was abandoned in 1724, during the Qing dynasty. It was originally named Fushicheng (福石城), or Fushi City. In 2015 it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site as one of three Tusi Sites (土司遗址).

The site lies beside the Lingxi River (灵溪河), on the upstream section of the Niulu River (牛路河), a second-level tributary of the You River. It is described as the first world cultural heritage site in Hunan province and the largest, earliest and best-preserved ancient Tusi city in China, covering a total area of 25 square kilometres, with a core zone of more than 250,000 square metres. Relics unearthed there include the Hall of the Patriarch, a Peng-clan patriarch temple, tombs of Tusi chieftains, ancient city walls and memorial arches.

What to look for

• The former Tusi capital’s streets, foundations and drainage layout.
• The museum and surviving religious-cultural landscape beside the Lingxi River.

Location & getting there

Getting to Laosicheng

Go to the Laosicheng visitor and museum area in Sicheng Village, Lingxi Town, Yongshun County. Confirm the current connection between museum, site paths and any river transfer; the archaeological area is outside Yongshun’s town centre.