Ruichang Tongling: The 3,000-Year-Old 'Underground Great Wall' – A World-Class Shang-Zhou Mining Wonder
An underground “Great Wall” – not built of brick and stone, but of timber and rock, layer upon layer beneath the earth, constructed three thousand years ago. The Ruichang Tongling Shang-Zhou mining site is located on Tongling Mountain in Xiafan Township, Ruichang City, about 10 kilometers from the city center [1, 2]. This land has a long history of human activity. As early as 783 AD (the fourth year of the Jianzhong era of the Tang Dynasty), the “Chiwu Field” was established here, named after a legend of a red crow appearing as an auspicious omen during General Cheng Pu’s military encampment in the Three Kingdoms period [1, 2]. But the secrets that would truly rewrite history lay buried underground, only to be rediscovered by modern civilization in the 20th century. ...