JOIN US Archaeologists in China have discovered the remains of an ancient city dating back to more than 1,000 years ago in the country's southwest region.
Archaeologists have found the remains of several walls in Yunnan's Midu County, believed to be part of Baiya City, and dating back to the early years of the Tang Dynasty (618-907).
Accounts of the old town of Baiya City first appear in a history book written by military official Fan Chuo during the Tang Dynasty.
Fan said that Baiya City had an old town and a new town, which were closely connected. A previously discovered "old town" was about two kilometres from the confirmed new town, contradictory to the book, historian and archaeologist He Jinlong said.
"From the location of these newly discovered ruins, much closer to the new town, we are pretty confident that it is the authentic old town," he said.
"As excavation continues, we will know more details," he was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency.
Domestic and foreign records about Baiya City are quite limited, and the new discovery will provide valuable evidence for research into the ancient civilisation of west Yunnan, He added.