Zhangbi Castle Travel Guide

Zhangbi Castle is a Castle village  integrating military, residential, production, astrology and religious activities in China. Zhangbi Castle is built according to the ancient Chinese concept of astrology. The buildings layout corresponds to the 28 constellation in the sky. 

Zhangbi Castle was first built in 16-kingdom period, with 1600 years history, the highlights of the castle is the military installations and astrology concept of construction layout.

The military installations include:
Ancient tunnel
The tunnel is a three-dimensional network structure, divided into upper, middle and lower floors. The lowest floor is more than 30 meters away from the ground, with a total length of about 10000 meters. Now the area that can be visited is about 1500 meters. In the tunnel, there are command kiln, general kiln, storage kiln, ambush kiln, manger, trap, lookout kiln, water well, drainage channel, etc., which are integrated with detecting, defense and strike back. And there are many concealed entrance inside and outside the castle.

South Castle Gate and Wall
The wall uses superb ramming earth technology, it is 13 meters high and 1.6 meters wide on the top. It is a living specimen of the ancient village defense wall and rammed earth construction. The South Castle Gate was built in 1560 AD, with more than 450 years history.

Red Stone Street
The only main street on the castle, both sides of the street are higher than the middle. This kind of paving form can not only resist pressure, but also facilitate drainage. Also the connections of each alley to the main street and the layout of buildings were built for street battle in the time of war.

Khan Temple
Khan Temple is also called "castle in the Zhangbi Castle", it is the commanding height of whole castle, 8 meters higher than the other buildings around it. It is also a commemorative temple for Khan Liu Zhouwu, with more than 600 years history.

And talk about the astrology concept of Zhangbi Castle, we could star from its name "Zhang Bi". "Zhang" means "Zhang Constellation", the South Castle Gate was located on the 5th constellation which is the Zhang constellation. The Zhang constellation represents "Wealthy and Strong Country". And "Bi" means "Bi Constellation", the North Castle Gate was the Bi Constellation of the Castle, and Bi Constellation represents "Morality and Prosperity". So the constellation of the South Gate and the North Gate compose the name of the castle -- Zhang Bi.

And when we aerial photo the Zhangbi Castle, the shape of the castle wall is almost the same as first mirach constellation. And all the water well, 6 old locust trees in the castle, 7 old locust trees outside the castle and all main constructions all have the corresponding constellations; and the layout is according to the Yin and Yang, the Five Elements and Eight Diagrams of Tai Chi.