Atlas
Ye City Site
The Cao-Wei Ye City ruins — the first capital to isolate the ruler's core citadel outside the grid of wards, shattering the Han chaos of mixed officials and commoners, the ancestral template for a thousand years of rigidly compartmentalized imperial city planning.
Prefecture: Handan
Province: HebeiA broad reddish earthen platform rises from the grass, with steps on its right leading to the top, where one large tree stands, and rows of tall poplars behind and on both sides.
Archaeology2
- Yecheng Jinfeng & Bronze Sparrow Terraces Site
After defeating Yuan Shao, Cao Cao made Ye his base and built three terraces, later celebrated in Cao Zhi's Rhapsody on the Bronze Sparrow Terrace and the Jian'an literary movement.
- North Ye City Central Axis City Planning Site
Ye's single palace city, symmetrical axis and zoned layout pioneered a capital plan that later inspired Sui-Tang Chang'an and capitals across East Asia.
Civic Building1
- Yecheng Museum Northern Dynasties Buddha Statues
Nearly three thousand Eastern Wei and Northern Qi Buddhist statues in the Yecheng style, of gilded and painted white marble with openwork, mark a major breakthrough in Chinese Buddhist archaeology.
Infrastructure1
- Zhanghe Ancient Channel & Ye Three Terraces
Ximen Bao's twelve canals drawing on the Zhang River formed an early irrigation system, while the twelve-metre rammed-earth base of the Jinfeng Terrace still stands today.
In its history4
- Lady Zhen183 - 221
Part of Ye City Site's history: Legend of the Luo Goddess. Consort of Emperor Wen and mother of Emperor Ming, posthumously honored as Empress Wenzhao and later associated in literary tradition with the Luo Goddess.
- Cao Pi187–226 CE
Part of Ye City Site's history: Legend of the Luo Goddess. First emperor of Cao Wei, who accepted the Han abdication in 220, adopted the nine-rank system and wrote the critical essay Discourse on Literature
- Cao Zhi192–232 CE
Part of Ye City Site's history: Legend of the Luo Goddess. Cao Wei poet and prince, younger brother of Cao Pi, who lost the succession, was shifted from fief to fief and wrote the Rhapsody on the Goddess of the Luo
- Cao Rui204–239 CE (birth by another account 205)
Part of Ye City Site's history: Legend of the Luo Goddess. Second Wei emperor, son of Cao Pi and Lady Zhen, who held off Zhuge Liang and Sun Quan, sent Sima Yi to conquer Liaodong and rebuilt the Luoyang palaces
Three Kingdoms2
- Legend of the Luo Goddess
Lady Zhen entered the Cao Wei court celebrated for peerless grace, inspiring Cao Zhi's timeless Rhapsody on the Goddess of Luo.
- Cao Pi Marries Lady Zhen Ye204 CE
After Ji Province was pacified in 204, Cao Pi took Lady Zhen at Ye; she later bore Cao Rui.
Han1
- Cao Cao Builds Ye North City204 CE
In 204 Cao Cao took Ye and began building Ye North City, establishing it as a northern political center; Tongque Terrace and literary claims are outside this record.
Jin1
- Ye City's Axial Capital Layout204–577 CE
From Cao Wei through Northern Qi, Ye developed a zoned and axially symmetrical capital layout; this record makes no claim that it was unique, first, or a proven direct influence.