The Xuanrenmen Gate is the only city gate in the eastern wall of the east of Sui and Tang Luoyang city. During 1996- 1997, in the course of capital construction within the old city of Luoyang, it was excavated by the Tang Luoyang City Archaeological Team, IA, CASS. Limited by the work site, the excavation covered only the southern gateway and a part of the eastern one. The remains are in rather a good condition and can be divided into two phases. The early city-gate was used from the full Tang to the end of this dynasty, and had the southern, middle and northern gateways; the late city-gate was used from the Five Dynasties period the mid Northern Song dynasty, and had only one gateway, i.e. the middle gateway of the early city-gate. On the site, stone and wooden structural members of the Tang city-gate remain in a great number and variety. The revelation of the ruined Xuanrenmen Gate is of great importance to the inquiry into the layout of the east of the Sui and Tang eastern capital; and the discovery of plentiful structural members of the gate provides significant material for studying the architectural features of city gates in the Tang period.
In August, 1997, a city-gate site was excavated by the Tang Luoyang City Archaeological Team, IA, CASS, in cooperation with capital construction. It lies in the west-east city wail between the Yuanbi and Yaoyi sub-cities in the northern part of the palace city of the Sui-Tang period Luoyang. The remains include city-gate platforms and their foundation-trenches. Besides, ruins of city wails were discovered stretching away from the western and eastern sides of the platforms.
In 1999, the Tang Luoyang City Archaeological Team, IA, CASS, discovered and excavated vestiges of a defensive ditch of the Northern Song period and the remaining city-wall and protecting slope related to them in the old-city area of Luoyang. The excavation covered an area of about 935 sq m. The ditch runs in the north-south direction, has an inverted trapezoidal section and contains mainly alluvial deposits. The protecting slope lies on the western side of the ditch and is built of rammed earth.The city-wall is constructed from the foundation trench surviving from the eastern wall of the East City of Luoyang. The unearthed objects include pottery, porcelain, coppers and bronzes and iron artifacts, with copper coins, bronze mirrors and porcelain articles of the Northern Song period as the main part. The excavation provided material data for understanding the location of and spatial distance between the city-wall and the moat in ancient China, as well as the building method and characteristic features of the moat.
