Zhangbi Ancient Castle

Major National Historical And Cultural Site; Fortified Shanxi Village Over A Three Level Military Tunnel System Begun In The 4th Century · Jiexiu, Shanxi

Zhangbi looks, from the road, like an unremarkable walled village on a loess ridge in central Shanxi - a street six hundred metres long, temples at either end, grey brick houses, a few hundred people still living in it. What is underneath is the reason to come. Cut into the loess below the village are something like ten kilometres of military tunnels arranged on three separate levels, begun in the fourth century during the Sixteen Kingdoms wars and extended for centuries afterwards: passages barely wide enough for one person, stables for horses, storage chambers, wells that draw from the village wells above, ventilation shafts, listening posts and spy holes that open into houses. It is a fortress with the fort hidden underground. Above ground the village is stranger still, because its layout is said to have been set out to mirror a constellation, and the temples and gates mark the positions of stars.

Longfeng Town, Jiexiu, Jinzhong, Jiexiu, Shanxi, China

Open daily, generally around 8:00-18:00 in summer and roughly 8:30-17:00 in winter, with THE LAST GUIDED TUNNEL GROUP GOING DOWN WELL BEFORE CLOSING - arrive by mid-afternoon at the latest if the tunnels are the reason you came. Tunnel access is included in the ticket but is by guided group only; ASK WHICH OF THE THREE LEVELS ARE OPEN, as sections close for repair and water. The village above is lived in and its street is walkable at any hour.

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