The Site of Taihe City is located at the
foot of Xicang Mountain in Taihe Village of Dali City, Yunnan Province.
Leaning on Xicang Mountain on the
west side and close to the Erhai Lake, the city, strategically located and
difficult to access, guarded the strategic passage from Xiaguan to Dali. The
city was originally the inhabitation place of the Erhe tribe. In 25th
year (737) of the Kaiyuan reign in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the ruler of
Mengshezhao, with the support of the Tang regime, defeated the Erhe people,
united six zhaos (zhao is a minority group in ancient southwest China), and
built the Nanzhao State with the city as its first capital.
The city was built on a large scale. As
described in Tang Fanchuo's Man Book, roads in the Taihe City were built
with stones and were more than one zhang (1 zhang = 3.3 m) high,
stretching several li (1 li = 500 m). The only sites left
were two tampered-earth walls. The north wall of 3,225 meters long stretched
from the mountainside of the Fuding Peak northeastward to the shore of the Erhai
Lake. The south wall of 3,350 meters long stretched from the foot of the Wuzhi
Peak eastward to the village on the shore of the Erhai Lake. The remains of the
city wall were 4-5 meters wide, and 2-4 meters high. The whole city covered an
area of about 3 square kilometers. With surrounding area about 0.3 meters higher
than inside ground, the Fuding Temple was built on the Fuding Peak. The base was
a 4-meter-thick earth platform, covering an area of nearly 3,600 square meters.
It is said that a summer resort and a solid city of the Nanzhao State were
constructed here.
A Nanzhao stone tablet was unearthed in the
Site of Taihe City, about 140 to the west of Taihe Village and on the west side
of the ancient road linking Shangguan and Xiaguan. Erected in 766, the tablet is
3.97 meters high, 2.46 meters wide, and 0.6 meters thick. Taking a rectangular
shape, the tablet has a mortise on its top. The top part of the tablet has
already disappeared.
The inscription on the tablet was badly
damaged. The original text inscribed on the tablet had over 3,800 words, with
only 256 words left. The inscription mainly described a series of historical
events that happened in the early days of Nanzhao regime, such as the
unification of six zhaos by the Mengshe during the reigns of Kaiyuan and Tianbo
in the Tang Dynasty, the three expeditions of the Tang regime against the
Nanzhao, Nanzhao's surrender to the Tubo, the construction of the East City
(today's Kunming City), and the official systems. 41 rows of inscription left on
the back of the tablet provided information on official systems and
participation of various minority groups in the Nanzhao regime.
It is said that the inscription was written
by Zheng Hui, a Nanzhao official, and inscribed by Du Guangting, the censor of
the Tang Dynasty. With stylish wording, the article was tactfully written and
touching. Taking the feature of both the running script and the standard script,
the style of the chirography is vigorous and powerful, resembling the style of
Li Beihai. In the first year (766) of the Dali reign in the Tang Dynasty
(618-907), the tablet was erected outside the Taihe City gate by the ruler of
the Nanzhao regime. In the 53rd year (1788) of Emperor Qianlong's reign, the
tablet was found by epigraphist Wang Chang. In the 3rd year (1798) of the
Jiaqing reign, a pavilion was built by Li Heng to protect the tablet. The tablet
provided valuable material for the study of the history of the Nanzhao regime
and the relations between the Nanzhao and the Tang
Dynasty.