History

Shicheng was established as an administrative centre of She County in 621 AD during the Tang Dynasty, when the valleys of Zhejiang were being settled and organised under the new imperial system. For over 1,300 years it served as a local centre of commerce, education, and governance, its main streets lined with shops and residences, its great ceremonial arches — paifang — marking the achievements of distinguished officials and celebrated families. The city walls, rebuilt substantially during the Ming Dynasty, enclosed an area of about 62 square kilometres. Its eastern gateway opened onto the Xin’an River, the city’s commercial lifeline.

The decision to flood the valley was made in the context of China’s first Five-Year Plan. The Xin’an River Hydroelectric Power Plant, designed with Soviet technical assistance, required a reservoir of approximately 580 square kilometres. Shicheng sat directly in the flood zone. In 1959, after a relocation programme that moved more than 300,000 people — the largest civilian resettlement in Chinese history at that time — the dam was closed and the valley filled over a period of several months. The lake submerged not only Shicheng but also a second, smaller county seat, Wencheng, along with 27 towns and nearly 1,000 villages.

The city was largely forgotten until the early 2000s, when Chinese diving enthusiasts began to explore the lake. The discovery of intact paifang, gateway towers, and carved stone decorations at depths of 26–40 metres attracted international media attention. In 2012, a series of Chinese government-sponsored dive surveys documented the site comprehensively, leading to its designation as a protected national heritage site and the development of a formal dive tourism programme managed by the Qiandao Lake administration.