Huiyuan Ancient City
3 min readHuiyuan Ancient City, located at the north bank of today’s lli River,7km away from the southeast of Huocheng County and 38km away from Yining City, is one of the Nine Cities of lli built by the Qing Dynasty with one old city and one new city. Huiyuan City was the site of the lli General Mansion of the Qing Dynasty as well as the military and political center of Xinjiang at that time.
Huiyuan Old City was built in Qianlong Twenty-eighth Year (1763 AD), close to the north bank of lli River and then invaded by river water. In Tongzhi Tenth Year(1871 AD), it was pulled down after Russia invaded lli. In Guangxu Eighth Year(1882 AD), after lli was recovered,a new city was built 7.5km awayfrom the north of the old one and was commonly known as Ili Big City because the Xinjiang highest military officer of the Qing Dynasty, the lli General, stationed here. The old city was built to be magnificent with a wall of about 5m and a perimeter of 5.6km, after which, the Qing Government also built 8 cities, which were Huining, Xichun, Gong Chen, Suiding, Ningyuan, Zhande, Guangren and Tallec around the Huiyuan Old City, collectively known as “Nine Cities of lli”. But they were destroyed when Russia invaded lli in 1871.
Huiyuan New City is located 15km away from the north of old one with same regulations, adopting the Bell-Drum Tower as the center in the city and four streets leading to four gates respectively. The Bell-Drum Tower is a Chinese traditional post and panel structure of three layers and three eaves gablet roof with carved beams, painted rafters and firm foundation, which seems extraordinary. In history, many famous persons created brilliant achievements here, such as Hong Liangji, Qi Yunshi, Lin Zexu, Deng Tingzhen and Xu Song. Lin Zexu, taking the lead to open water conservancy and consolidate frontier defense for the benefits of people, was respected and trusted by the lli General and people of all nationalities. Lin Zexu only spent two years in Huiyuan, but many of his diaries, copied poems and letters were retained.
The lli General Mansion Relic is located in Huiyuan Village of Huocheng County on the north bank of the lli River, the same place with the Bell-Drum Tower. The lli General Mansion Relic, built in the Guangxu Year, was a political and military center of the Qing government to rule Xinjiang. In 1996, the lli General Mansion Relic was approved as the national relic protection site. Thelli General Mansion is oriented north and facing south. Old trees in the yard reach up towards the sky, and there are halls, terraced buildings, devious paths and ambulatories. People can image how gorgeous the building was at that time according to these objects. Fort barbettes and loopholes still remained in the courtyard wall. In the General Mansion, there are flowers and trees. The small”General Pavilion”has been renovated, shaded among green pine trees. Lifelike and mighty stone lions without losing sedateness are respectively arranged on both the left and the right below the stone steps behind the second hall. The stone lions are different from mainland ordinary stone lions, and they have distinctive local characteristics of Xinjiang.
