The third stop - Rammed Earth: The Longshan Stone Wall Site

       Records of this can be found as far back as the oldest extant local gazetteer in China, Yuejue Shu (The Book of Yue), in the chapter on Wu. It states, “During the time of Helu (Lv), …the stone city of Xing Le was built.” Today, the remaining stone wall ruins we see are only about 10 to 150 centimeters high and 50 to 120 centimeters wide, weathered remnants stretching about 10 kilometers in length.

       As a structure built during the same period as Helu City, it is also 2500 years old. Built into the mountainside, it was a massive undertaking; with walls and platforms, its commanding vantage point overlooked Taihu Lake and dominated the region. For Helu, the King of Wu, a master of naval warfare and one of the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn period, the stone walls represented a vital defensive mission of that era, and bear witness to the great achievements and rise and fall of this powerful ruler and the Wu kingdom. They leave behind stories that span millennia, and represent the earliest section of the ‘Great Wall of Wu’, one of the earliest Great Walls in the south of China.