Tongwancheng
Coordinates: 37°59′51″N 108°51′46″E / 37.997515°N 108.862839°E Tongwancheng (Chinese: 統萬城; pinyin: Tǒngwànchéng) was the capital city of the Southern Xiongnu, the only city of the Xiongnu that has ever been found. The city is well preserved and is located in Jingbian County, Shaanxi Province, China, close to Inner Mongolia. The city is at the southern edge of the Maowusu Sands of the Ordos Desert, on what was formerly a strategic site in the centre of the Ordos plateau. The city has been surveyed and some elements restored, but not yet excavated.
The city was built by around 100,000 Xiongnu of the Xia dynasty under the command of Helian Bobo (aka: He lian bo bo, Liu Bobo, or Helianbo) in AD 419, the Xiongnu having founded their steppe empire in the 3rd century BC. Helian Bobo died in AD 425, and Helian Chang succeeded him as ruler of the city.
The Great Wall of China was built to contain the Xiongnu threat, and Tongwancheng was the main Xiongnu capital that stood on other side of that wall. The city was largely of wood construction and had very thick outer walls which were made white with white clay earth and powdered rice. From a distance the white city was said to have had the appearance of a giant ship. At its centre the city had a lake. Jin Shu gives us a contemporary eyewitness description of the city...
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