Solid Proof for Location of Yecheng City in Fuzhou

Jointly published by Fujian Daily and Fujian Provincial Bureau of Cultural Heritage

Volume 11, 2020

▲Floor lamp decorated with eaves tiles

▲Cirrus Cloud and arrowhead-patterned eaves tile scripted with “Wansui” (Longevity) characters

Diamond-pattern floor tiles of Western Han Dynasty

Iron anchor

The background pictures are rain water splatter, with dragon and phoenix-patterned eaves tile scripted with “Wansui” (Longevity) characters

The urban archaeological exploration activities in Fuzhou since the early 1990s have led to the discovery of large-scale rammed earth stylobates and other architectural relics of the Minyue State of the Western Han Dynasty. A large number of plate tiles, semicircle-shaped tiles and other building components unearthed from the site are solid proof of the close relationship between the historical terms of “Min (Fujian)”, “Minyue State”, “Minzhong Prefecture”, “Ye (Dongye)”, and “Ye County” with Fuzhou the city. They provide strong physical proof for the status of Fuzhou as the administrative center of the Min (Fujian), Minyue, Minzhong Prefecture and Minyue State, display the results of major archaeological explorations and research on the history of Fuzhou, Fujian and even China, as well as occupy a position in China’s archaeological history that can never be easily dismissed.