Ningcheng County

Ningcheng County (Mongolian: ᠨᠢᠩᠴᠧᠩ ᠰᠢᠶᠠᠨ; Chinese: 宁城县) is a county of southeastern Inner Mongolia, China, bordering Liaoning province to the east. It is under the administration of Chifeng City. The daohugouthallus extinct genus of lichen was found near Daohugou village in Ningcheng County. The county contains the historical site of "Liao Middle Capital" Dading Fu, one of five capitals of Liao. The city was later conquered by the 12th-century Jurchen Jin dynasty, who also named it as their Middle Capital; later they renamed it as the Northern Capital after moving the court to present-day Beijing. Today, all that remains of the historical capital are two pagodas, one built by the Liao dynasty and one built by the Jin dynasty; they are located near Daming Town, about 20 km west of the county government Tianyi Town, and about 120 km south of the prefectural city Chifeng.