In autumn 1950, Han Weizhou found rope-pattern pottery sherds and polished stone tools near Erligang. The find drew attention to an ancient city beneath Zhengzhou. In 1955, archaeologists confirmed the inner wall, nearly seven kilometres long; that milestone concerns the wall, not a single act of identifying every part of the site.
From the journal
Zhengzhou Shang City: Pottery, Walls and a Bronze Ding
Pottery sherds found near Erligang in 1950 led archaeologists toward Zhengzhou’s Shang city. Its inner wall extends nearly seven kilometres, while the site now lies within the modern city.
In the same city · Zhengzhou ↗
Pottery at Erligang
An Ancient City in a Modern City
The archaeological area extends across roughly 25 square kilometres of present-day Zhengzhou. The nearly seven-kilometre inner wall gives the scale a physical outline, while the square ding from Duling is among the bronze objects associated with the site. Streets and buildings of the modern city now occupy the same broad landscape.
The Museum and the Site
Opened in July 2022, Zhengzhou Shang City Site Museum sits within the archaeological park. Its setting connects objects such as the Duling square ding with the wider remains spread through the city. The museum offers a place to encounter the Shang-period site without suggesting that the ancient walls survive as one uninterrupted monument.