Wuchuan County

Infobox Settlement
name =Wuchuan County
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settlement_type =County
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translit_lang1=Chinese
translit_lang1_type=Simplified Chinese
translit_lang1_info=武川县
translit_lang1_type1=Pinyin
translit_lang1_info1=Wǔchuān Xiàn


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subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = China
subdivision_type1 = Region
subdivision_name1 = Inner Mongolia
subdivision_type2 = Prefecture
subdivision_name2 = Hohhot
seat_type = County seat
seat = Wuchuan Town
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area_total_km2 =4885
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population_as_of =2007
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population_total =171000
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population_blank1_title =Major nationalities
population_blank1 =Han Chinese, Mongolian
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timezone = China Standard
utc_offset = +8
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Wuchuan (zh-cp|c=武川县|p=Wǔchuānxiàn), is a county within Hohhot City, capital of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, in the People's Republic of China. The area of Wuchuan is 4,885 square km with a population of 171,000. It is connected to Hohhot by the Huwu Highway, now only a half an hour drive. It is nearby Zhaohe Grasslands, the closest grasslands tourist site for visitors.

History

The name Wuchuan, from the earliest records, was from the "Book of Zhou"(周书) in 398AD and the "History of the North" (北史). Human activities can be traced back as far as 10,000 years ago.

The archaeology site of Dayao Culture (大窑文化) was discovered at Daqingshan (大青山) village, Wuchuan, and proves that this area was suitable for humans living at that time. Another Paleolithic site at Erdaowa (二道洼) Village in Wuchuan, dated 10,000 years old, where lots of stone tools were found, including stone knives, cutters and axes, indicates that the main human activities at that time were hunting and gathering.

A later site dated 5,000 BC at Jinergou (井儿沟), better stone tools and pottery were widely unearthed, the tools were used for production, harvest and making clothes. These discoveries demonstrate that agriculture was already very common at that time.

In Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors period (五帝时期)，about 2800BC, many tribes settled at Wuchuan, such as Yunzhou (荤粥), Shefang(舌方), Tufang(土方) and Guifang(鬼方). Among them, The Yellow Emperor's war against YunZhou was recorded in the Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Qian. During the Shang and Zhou Dynasty, King Wu of Zhou(武王) also fought against the Guifang tribe many times, and finally won the battle after 3 years according to the book of I Ching.

Around 302BC, Wuchuan was a town belongs to the State of Zhao (赵国) of Warring Sates.The king of Zhao defeated Hulinloufan and built a wall near Daqing Mountain to stop the northern tribes. This event was recorded in "Water Jingzhu" (水经注), the wall now is called South Daqings Mountain Great Wall, located in Wuchuan. The history of Wuchuan could also be found in Qin Dynasty, Han Dynasty, especially the Battle of Changping (长平之战) of Zhao Kuo(赵括). Wuchuan was also an area controlled by the Xiongnu people during this time, they were a normad people famous for their bronzes with animal carvings. A Xiongnu dagger together with some knife-shaped coins of the State of Yan of the Warring States were unearthed at Tuchenzi Villiage in Wuchuan, indicate that the culture exchanges between the Xiongnu and the Han Chinese were very intense at that time. A total of more than 20 ancient tombs of the Qin and Han period were discovered in Wuchuan, too.

Wuchuan was one of the capitals of the Southern and Northern Dynasties. A tomb was found at Tuchenliang village, containing ancient coins, weapons, bronze and iron containers. Scientists states that Wuchuan had been the capital city of Northern Wei, according to the Water Jingzhu. A Rome gold seal was unearthed at Touhao villiage and some Persian silver coins of Sassanid Dynasty were discovered at Baidao Cheng villiage in Wuchuan, indicates that during Northern Wei, Sui and Tang, a north silk road that started from Xi'an to Datong, Huhhot, acrossing Daqing Mountain to Wuchuan then goes to Middle East and finally Rome had been existed.

The famous Emperor Li Shimin of Tang Dynasty was born in Wuchuan in 599 AD, and his father is Li Yuan(李渊). In 916, Wuchan was a town belongs to Qidan(契丹). Archeological sites were also found in the Yuan, Liao and Jin states, some Song Dynasty coins were also unearthed in Wuchuan. For example, eight ancient tombs and 7 ruins of towns of that period were discovered around the area of Dongtucheng along the river of Qiangpan in Wuchuan.