Ruins of Efang Palace Efang Gong

The ruins of the Palace of Efang lie 15km/9.5mi west of the city. They are the remains of part of a complex of buildings constructed on the orders of the first emperor of the Qin dynasty (221-206 BC). Whenever the emperor defeated an enemy army, in the course of the unification of the empire, he would have a building erected here in the architectural style of the enemy country concerned. There are said to have been more than 270 such buildings; in 206 BC, however, an insurgent general reduced them all to ashes.

Today a few ruins are all that remain of the once magnificent imperial palace - a terrace of compressed clay 20m/66ft high and 31m/100ft round, and a platform, also of compressed clay, 6m/20ft tall and 5m/16ft deep. These were probably the foundations of two of the 270 palace buildings.

An archaeological find made in the 1970s proved very interesting to the experts. In the ruins of Palace No. 3 a row of wall-paintings were uncovered which depict a carriage and pair and soldiers on horseback. The tints of these 2000 year-old representations are incredibly fresh and full of life.