Linzi 齐国故城

About Linzi

Its plan combined a larger city with a smaller palace enclosure, and the raised platform called Huangongtai still marks part of that royal centre. Excavated drainage works and the famous horse-sacrifice pits reveal the city’s engineering and elite rituals. Expect separated remains and protected archaeological areas, rather than a complete walled town with continuous streets to explore.

The walled city divided into a larger city and a smaller city, together covering fifteen square kilometers and pierced by eleven gates, with a moat built outside; the smaller city, which lay southwest of the larger city and served as the palace precinct, held three streets, and numerous further rammed-earth remains survive nearby. The Huangongtai platform (桓公台) is oval, measuring about 86 by 70 meters at its base and standing 14 meters high.

The larger, outer city served as the residential and production quarter, where seven streets and six workshop sites have been identified. Two tombs from the Spring and Autumn period survive within the larger city, and a burial ground in its northeast has identified twenty large and medium tombs, one of which has been excavated. The ruins of ancient Linzi were excavated in 1926 by Japanese archaeologists and again in 1964 by Chinese archaeologists.

What to look for

• Huangongtai, the surviving rammed-earth platform in the former palace area.
• The archaeological evidence for city walls, drainage and sacrificial-horse pits.

Location & getting there

Getting to Linzi

Arrange the final road journey to Qidu Town in Linzi District. Huangongtai lies southeast of Changhu Village; for the wider archaeological park use its signed Guhou Road approach. Check which protected remains are open, as the archaeological area and the modern Qi Culture Museum are separate places.