The Yecheng ruins in Linzhang County, about 40 kilometres southeast of Handan, are one of the more substantial archaeological sites in northern China. The city was successively the capital of Cao Wei, the Former Zhao, Eastern Wei, and Northern Qi dynasties, and at its peak in the third to sixth centuries it was among the largest cities in the world. Today, substantial sections of the rammed-earth city walls survive above ground, and ongoing excavations continue to uncover palace foundations, drainage systems, and artefacts from the various dynasties that used the site.
The Yecheng Museum on site interprets the archaeology with models, maps, and excavated objects. The scale of the surviving earthworks is impressive even to a non-specialist: the walls stand several metres high in places and stretch for kilometres. Walking the perimeter gives a concrete sense of what a major early medieval Chinese capital looked like on the ground.
The site is less polished than comparable locations closer to Beijing, which is part of its appeal. Active excavation continues, and on weekdays you may encounter archaeologists at work.