ANCIENT CITY OF PANLONG - PANLONG GUCHENG

This ancient fortified town of the time Yin and Shang (1500-1027 BC) is the first to have been discovered on the shores of the Blue river (the cradle of the Chinese civilization being the Yellow river). The ruins uncovered testify to a flourishing civilization: 7 m (20 m at the base) of 1 120 m thick in clay walls in the north-east of the city, the palace comprising three buildings on a north-south axis: on the front, the reception room and, on the back, the residential quarters. Around the city was the habitat of the small people scattered over an area of 10 000 km ². More than 2 000 objects were excavated among them many weapons.

Panlong was indeed an important political and military centre of the Shang.