Tongwancheng

Tongwancheng (Chinese: 統萬城; pinyin: Tǒngwànchéng; Wade–Giles: T‘ung3-wan4-chêng2) was the capital of the Xiongnu-led Hu Xia dynasty in northern China during the Sixteen Kingdoms period in the early 5th century.

Tongwancheng, which means the "city ruling ten thousand", is the largest urban center of the Southern Xiongnu that has ever been found.

The city was built by around 100,000 Xiongnu of the Hu Xia dynasty under the command of Helian Bobo (Emperor Wulie) in 419.

Helian Bobo had intended that the city be absolutely impenetrable, so he commissioned his cruel general Chigan Ali (叱干阿利) as the architect and set extremely strict rules for construction.

The Book of Jin gives us a contemporary eyewitness description of the city: At its height the population was around 10,000, likely to have been greatly supplemented by an encircling encampment of nomadic kin groups at certain times of the year.