China’s Hidden City
In northern China’s Shaanxi Province, the Tuwei River winds its way through the undulating terrain of the Loess Plateau. This Yellow River tributary bisects a stark landscape. To the west are rows of rolling sand dunes that gradually taper off into the Mu Us Desert; to the east are rippling hills and mountain ridges cut by steep gullies and ravines. Even today, this is considered a remote region of China. Scholars have long believed that thousands of years ago, it was not only remote, but also existed at the distant outskirts of the civilized world, far from the Central Plains, where many believe Chinese civilization originated 4,000 years ago.
The region is perhaps best known for a section of the Great Wall that weaves through its landscape. Parts of that 13,000-mile barrier, first built around the third century B.C., pass close to an ancient place called Shimao. For many years, Shimao, which was known for its ruined stone walls and for the jade objects periodically unearthed there, was thought to be a neglected segment of the Great Wall itself. Since the 1950s, though, scholars have suspected that the site had a more significant
