Tongwancheng

Tongwancheng was the capital of the Xiongnu-led Hu Xia dynasty in northern China during the Sixteen Kingdoms period, in the early 5th century. It lies at the southern edge of the Maowusu Sands of the Ordos Desert, in Jingbian County in Shaanxi, near the border with Inner Mongolia, and its name means the city ruling ten thousand. It is the largest urban center of the Southern Xiongnu that has ever been found. Because of worsening desertification the Emperor Taizong ordered the city destroyed in 994 and its residents moved, and it was abandoned by the early Ming dynasty. The ruins were rediscovered in 1845 and identified in 1956, and in 1996 they were listed as a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level.