It was first built during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, funded by the Chen family, a wealthy family in Jin at that time. After several expansions, it has formed the scale we see today. Xiangyu Castle is not only a defensive project, but also the residence of the Chen family, showing the grandeur of Ming Dynasty folk architecture. 🌈Transportation 50 kilometers from Jincheng city, navigate to Xiangyu Village, Zhengcun Town, Qinshui County. Or you can take the bus to Jincheng Passenger Transport East Station, the fare is 1 yuan 🌈Tickets The ticket for Xiangyu Castle 🎫 is 65 per person, 🅿️ the fee is 10 yuan without time limit. The overall flow of people is not large, and most of them are Jincheng locals. 🌈Attractions Xiangyu Castle is the former residence of the three brothers of the Sun family in the late Ming Dynasty, who also served as officials in the same dynasty. Construction began during the Tianqi period and was completed during the Chongzhen period, taking 11 years. The existing buildings are from the Ming, Qing and Republic of China periods. The castle is backed by a mountain, and the north wall has just been built and looks very new. There are gates on the east, south and west sides, making it a honeycomb-style defensive castle. The castle faces the Qinshui River to the south, which adds a lot of color to the castle. After entering the south gate, there are various fortifications, soldier caves, etc. Then you can go west along the city wall to the highest point to overlook the entire castle. The walk around the city wall was quiet as there weren’t many tourists. Walking in the alleys of the city, you can see some houses with signs of being occupied. Sure enough, after talking to an old man, I learned that there are still more than ten houses in the entire castle occupied by villagers. 🌈Comments The castle is backed by a mountain and has a stream in front of it. The environment is very quiet and it is known as "the first ancient castle in the Ming Dynasty in northern China." There are also some small memorial halls in the ancient castle, where you can learn about Qin County’s local imperial examination history, the history of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, etc. 🌈Dining There is not much commercialization in the castle, only one small stall was seen. If you need to eat, there are a number of snack stands behind the square outside the castle.