Linzi, the Capital of Qi

Linzi was the capital of the state of Qi in the Western Zhou, Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, and was named a national historical and cultural city in 1994. King Wu enfeoffed the leading minister Jiang Ziya there after the fall of the Shang, and the place took its present name because it stood beside the Zi river. The capital lasted more than eight hundred years until Qin destroyed it. Its site divides into a great city for the people and a small city for the ruler, joined together, with a circuit of 21 kilometres, an area of 15 square kilometres and thirteen gates, streets laid out in a grid, and water supply and drainage systems. Outside the walls lie the tombs of the Tian Qi kings.