There are hundreds of ancient city walls in China, among which Beijing, Nanjing and Xi 'an have the largest ancient city walls. However, the ancient city walls of Beijing and Nanjing have been demolished or seriously damaged, while the Xi 'an ancient city wall built in 1370 is still intact. When the Japanese Emperor visited China, he came to An, instead of looking at the "eighth wonder of the world" Qin figurine pit, but boarded the Ximending Tower, which was built more than 600 years ago, and enjoyed the majestic appearance of this ancient city wall. Please come with me to visit the ancient city wall of Xi.
The origin of the city wall
Dear tourists, these days, we have enjoyed the colorful, simple and profound ancient city walls in the sunrise or sunset in the garage. Now we come to the foot of the city wall, please walk on the city wall for sightseeing.
Everyone must want to know what the true meaning of the city wall is. The word "city wall" originally came from the word "city". According to Shuowen, the word "city" is a general term for "sheng" and "sheng" is for the people, so the original meaning of the word "city" is that the land surrounds the people and becomes a country, which leads to the meaning of the city wall. Known as the backbone of the Chinese nation, the "city" of the Great Wall in Wan Li means the city wall. Only later, with the development of society, the word "city" contains the interpretation of today's city. The word "city" first appeared in Zhou Jin's writings, which vividly reflected the military use of the ancient city wall from the font. The military function of the city wall is to defend private ownership. Ideologically, the size of the city wall is a strict embodiment of the hierarchical patriarchal clan system. Obviously, the ruler built the city wall to protect himself and declare the state power. The Xi city wall we see now is one of the most famous city wall buildings in the history of China. It took eight years from the third year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty (AD 1370), when Zhu Yuanzhang wrote a letter to repair the city, to the eleventh year of Hongwu (AD 1378). It was built on the basis of the imperial city, the capital of Sui and Tang Dynasties. After successive repairs, the appearance of the feudal city wall building has been basically maintained, which embodies the outstanding achievements of China ancient urban construction technology.
The scale and structural facilities of the city wall
Dear tourists, how big is the wall of Xi? What is its structure? According to the calculation, the circumference of Xi 'an city wall is 1 1.9 km, including 2590 m for the east wall, 263 1.2 m for the west wall, 344 1.6 m for the south wall and 324 1 m for the north wall. Such a scale is relatively rare at home and abroad.
You see a small town, and there is a guard door called urn outside the four doors of the city wall. The so-called urn means that once the enemy enters, they will be attacked from all directions on the wall of the urn, just like turtles in an urn, and they can't escape. Outside the urn, there is a small town guarding the urn, which was called Ma Yang Town in ancient times. In ancient times, gates were opened and closed at specific times. Those who haven't returned to the city after closing the city gate can take their own sheep and horses into Mayang City and Huancheng Park to rest and wait until the city gate is opened before entering the city. Mayangcheng in Xi was completely destroyed in the late Qing Dynasty. I remember that in 1986, about 17.5 meters outside the north gate of the barbican in Andingmen (West Gate), Xi City, the north side door of Ma Yang City was found, with a length of 5.5 meters and a width of 2.4 meters. Now you can see the restored Ma Yang Town outside Nanmen Wengcheng, with a wall length of198m and a height of 9.5m. ..
Outside the moat, there used to be four rammed earth cities guarding four gates, named Guo Cheng. According to Volume 9 of Xi An Zhou Zhi, during Tang Tianyou's reign, North Korea built Dongguo Town and Xiguo Town. Song, Jin and Yuan were all caused by it. When the city was expanded during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, most of the small towns in Dongguo were wrapped by big cities, and the new town in Dongguo was left outside the city. Records of Xiguo Town in the late Ming Dynasty. At present, there are only some remnants of the Guo Cheng city wall in the four passes, and its name is only on the place name of the country.
Now we come to the northeast of Xi 'an, which used to be Miyagi in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang named his second son the King of Qin, and ordered him to sit in Xi 'an to strengthen his control over the northwest. The whole city of the king of Qin was divided into two walls. The outer wall is called Xiaoqiang, all made of earth. The inner wall is called brick wall because the outside is made of blue bricks. After the Ming Dynasty, Xiao Qiang was destroyed. During the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, temples were built in Xi 'an, and most of the buildings of the Qin Palace were demolished, and the brick city was changed to the Eight Banners Teaching Ground. At present, there are only a few remains of rammed earth city in Qin Brick City.
When Xi was built in Ming Dynasty, there were four gates: Changle, Yongning, Anding and Anyuan. The name of the gate is engraved on the bluestone door outside Dacheng Gate. The building built at the gate of the big city is called the tower, also called the main building, and it is the command post of the commander of guarding the city. The building built on Wengchengmen Cave is called Arrow Tower, because there is an arrow window on the wall of the building, which was used for archery defense at that time. During the Republic of China, four city gates were opened, commonly known as Xiaosimen: Zhongshan Gate (Xiaodongmen), built to commemorate Sun Yat-sen, located at the eastern end of Dongxin Street; Don't screen the door (small south gate), it's at the southern end of Sifu Street today; Yuxiangmen (Xiaoximen), located at the western end of Lianhu Road, was demolished after liberation. Jiefangmen (small north gate), formerly known as Zhongzhengmen, is located at the northern end of Jiefang Road. It was built in Xi 'an Anlonghai Road when it was opened to traffic, and was demolished on 1952 due to the expansion of the railway station. After liberation, Xi also opened new city gates, with Jianguomen, Heping Gate, Wenchang Men Site Ruins, Zhuquemen and Hanguang Gate on the south wall. There is Suntech Gate on the north wall. There is a Chaoyang gate on the east wall.
As most tourists know, when Xi Ming City Wall was built, there were 98 enemy towers, all of which had enemy towers. However, in 1982, the field investigation of Xi 'an City Wall Management Office found that none of those ancient enemy towers were left, and only some of them still had cornerstones. After that, Xi 'an rebuilt the 12 watchtower, which is a brick-wood structure with two double eaves and cloisters around the ground floor.
The ancient city wall facilities not only have watchtowers and arrow towers for military purposes, but also have Kuixing Tower as a sacrifice to Kuixing, the god who dominates the cultural movement. The Kuixing Tower in Xi 'an was built in the east of the South Gate Tower and was later destroyed by fire. Later, Kuixing Building was rebuilt on the original site, which is worth seeing.
A brand-new ancient city wall.
Ladies and gentlemen, after more than ten years of overall development, Xi 'an, the ancient capital, has transformed the broken Ming Dynasty city wall in the city center into a unique tourist attraction around the city, which is rare at home and abroad. 1983, Xi started the largest-scale cultural relics protection and development since the founding of the People's Republic of China. By the end of 1997, the accumulated investment was 227 million yuan, which not only completely restored the city wall and filled in the cave of 1650, but also rebuilt four enemy towers, two turret towers, South Gate Moon City 1 seat, gatehouse 1 seat and suspension bridge/kloc-. At present, battlements with a length of1334 m and retaining walls with a length of 1 1500 m can be seen from the horse track restored by 14. Standing on the top of the city 12 meters high, there is Zhong Nanshan in the south and Weishui in the north, facing each other from afar; Looking around, you can see the city outside the city. Bow and crossbow is also displayed in the city. Defense tools such as rolling stones, suspension bridges and ladders are set up at the gate for people to use and visit. More than 20 bridges have been built from the city wall to the river around the city. The green belt around the city between the river and the foot of the city has become the largest green park in Xi 'an, with wooden houses, antique pavilions, poems and sculptures.
Dear visitors, the development of Xi 'an ancient city wall has been highly praised by Chinese and foreign people: in the past, the ancient city wall was regarded as a shackle that hindered the development of modern cities, but now it has become a beautiful wreath for the ancient city. Experts also commented that Hunan's excavation of Qin Shihuang's military forces realized the world miracle in one fell swoop; The maintenance of Xi Ming city wall has also attracted worldwide attention. Since then, UNESCO experts have unanimously agreed to recommend it for inclusion in the World Heritage List.