A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications such as curtain walls with towers , bastions and gates for access to the city. From ancient to modern times, they were used to enclose settlements. Generally, these are referred to as city walls or town walls , although there were also walls, such as the Great Wall of China , Walls of Benin , Hadrian's Wall , Anastasian Wall , and the Atlantic Wall , which extended far beyond the borders of a city and were used to enclose regions or mark territorial boundaries. In mountainous terrain, defensive walls such as letzis were used in combination with castles to seal valleys from potential attack. Beyond their defensive utility, many walls also had important symbolic functions – representing the status and independence of the communities they embraced.
184-527: The Beijing city fortifications were a series of walls with towers and gates constructed in the city of Beijing , China in the early 1400s until they were partially demolished in 1965 for the construction of the 2nd Ring Road and Line 2 of the Beijing Subway . The original walls were preserved in the southeastern part of the city, just south of the Beijing railway station . The entire perimeter of
368-545: A Qing incursion in 1638. By 1641, there were ten bastion forts in the county. Before bastion forts could spread any further, the Ming dynasty fell in 1644, and they were largely forgotten as the Qing dynasty was on the offensive most of the time and had no use for them. In the wake of city growth and the ensuing change of defensive strategy, focusing more on the defense of forts around cities, many city walls were demolished. Also,
552-467: A province . It has also been awarded the title of 2008 Habitat Scroll of Honor of China, Special UN Habitat Scroll of Honor Award and National Civilized City. Nanjing is also considered a Beta (global second-tier) city classification, together with Chongqing , Hangzhou and Tianjin by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network , and ranked as one of the world's top 100 cities in
736-719: A 1671 account by a French missionary. The commoners and officials in Beijing and Nanjing were waiting to support whichever side won. An official from Qing Beijing sent letters to family and another official in Nanjing, telling them all communication and news from Nanjing to Beijing had been cut off, that the Qing were considering abandoning Beijing and moving their capital far away to a remote location for safety since Koxinga's iron troops were rumored to be invincible. Koxinga's forces intercepted these letters and after reading them Koxinga may have started to regret his deliberate delays allowing
920-889: A Japanese-collaborationist government known as the " Nanjing Regime " or "Reorganized National Government of China" led by Wang Jingwei was established in Nanjing as a rival to Chiang Kai-shek 's government in Chongqing. In 1946, after the Surrender of Japan , the KMT relocated its central government back to Nanjing. In April 1949, Communist forces crossed the Yangtze River and the Communist People's Liberation Army (PLA) captured Nanjing. The KMT government retreated to Canton ( Guangzhou ) until October 15, Chongqing until November 25, and then Chengdu before retreating to
1104-509: A bit more than a third the width of a major wall in China. According to Philo the width of a wall had to be 4.5 metres (15 ft) thick to be able to withstand ancient (non-gunpowder) siege engines. European walls of the 1200s and 1300s could reach the Roman equivalents but rarely exceeded them in length, width, and height, remaining around 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) thick. When referring to
1288-590: A city fully enclosed by walls was not fully developed in Southeast Asia until the arrival of Europeans. However, Burma serves an exception, as they had a longer tradition of fortified walled towns; towns in Burma had city walls by 1566. Besides that, Rangoon in 1755 had stockades made of teak logs on a ground rampart . The city was fortified with six city gates with each gate flanked by massive brick towers. In other areas of Southeast Asia, city walls spread in
1472-490: A cost benefit hypothesis, where the Ming recognized the highly resistant nature of their walls to structural damage, and could not imagine any affordable development of the guns available to them at the time to be capable of breaching said walls. Even as late as the 1490s a Florentine diplomat considered the French claim that "their artillery is capable of creating a breach in a wall of eight feet in thickness" to be ridiculous and
1656-662: A decisive, single grand showdown as his father successfully did against the Dutch at the Battle of Liaoluo Bay , throwing away the surprise and initiative which led to its failure. Koxinga's attack on Qing held Nanjing which would interrupt the supply route of the Grand Canal leading to possible starvation in Beijing caused such fear that the Manchus (Tartares) considered returning to Manchuria (Tartary) and abandoning China according to
1840-440: A different floor plan. The gate tower at Zhengyangmen was the tallest and the most imposing Inner city gate tower. Chongwenmen and Xuanwumen were slightly smaller than Zhengyangmen. Dongzhimen and Xizhimen were smaller still, and Deshengmen, Andingmen, Chaoyangmen, are Fuchengmen were the smallest. Each gate tower had two floors. Soldiers could climb to the upper level to have a better view of approaching enemies. Each gate tower had
2024-511: A flat instrument that produced a "tang" sound. Thus arose the saying that of "nine gates, eight tangs, one old bell". This story is a possible etymological origin of zhongdian to refer to the hour in the Beijing dialect. In the past there were many distilleries in the southern Daxing District . Carts would carry newly brewed spirits through Chongwenmen. This is the origin of the saying, "Chongwenmen has carts carrying spirits entering; Xuanwumen has carts carrying prisoners leaving". When Chongwenmen
SECTION 10
#17327731852632208-427: A gap in the wall at Dongzhimen and Chaoyangmen, but failed because the soldiers could not get close enough to light the fuse without being shot. The barbicans, enemy sight towers, and corner guard towers proved to be quite effective at deterring enemy attacks. For example, on the night of 13 August, Russian troops succeeded in invading Dongbianmen's watchtower, but suffered heavy casualties in the barbican. It wasn't until
2392-579: A history 2595 years long. In 541, Wu built Laizhu Town in Gaochun—because of its strong city, it was also called Gucheng. Fuchai , King of the State of Wu , founded a fort named Yecheng in today's Nanjing area in 495 BC. Wu was conquered by the State of Yue in 473 BC, and the city was rebuilt at the mouth of the Qinhuai River in the following year. Later it was called Yuecheng ( 越城 ) on
2576-434: A large section of the city for the bannermen 's cantonment, and occupied the former imperial Ming Palace , but otherwise the city was spared the mass murders and destruction that befell Yangzhou . Despite capturing many counties in his initial attack due to surprise and having the initiative, Koxinga announced the final battle in Nanjing in 1659 ahead of time giving plenty of time for the Qing to prepare because he wanted
2760-743: A maximum thickness of 43 metres and an average thickness of 20–30 metres. Ming prefectural and provincial capital walls were 10 to 20 metres (33 to 66 ft) thick at the base and 5 to 10 metres (16 to 33 ft) at the top. In Europe the height of wall construction was reached under the Roman Empire , whose walls often reached 10 metres (33 ft) in height, the same as many Chinese city walls, but were only 1.5 to 2.5 metres (4 ft 11 in to 8 ft 2 in) thick. Rome's Servian Walls reached 3.6 and 4 metres (12 and 13 ft) in thickness and 6 to 10 metres (20 to 33 ft) in height. Other fortifications also reached these specifications across
2944-526: A moat system. It had the most extensive defense system in Imperial China . After the collapse of the Qing dynasty in 1911, Beijing's fortifications were gradually dismantled. The Forbidden City has remained largely intact, and has become the Palace Museum . Some fortifications remain intact, including Tiananmen , the gate tower and watchtower at Zhengyangmen , the watchtower at Deshengmen ,
3128-401: A move of his capital from Nanjing to Beijing. At that time, Beijing was just the capital of the dependency of the kingdom of Yan ; therefore it did not have very extensive fortifications. Extensive expansion and reconstruction work would be needed to meet the defence requirements of the new capital for it to withstand the sporadic Mongol incursions from the north. This marked the beginning of
3312-462: A new Ming Palace complex, and government halls. It took 200,000 laborers 21 years to finish the wall, which was intended to defend the city and its surrounding region from coastal pirates. The present-day City Wall of Nanjing was mainly built during that time and today it remains in good condition and has been well preserved. It is among the longest surviving city walls in China. The Jianwen Emperor ruled from Yingtian from 1398 to 1402. It
3496-590: A number of other names, and some historical names are now used as names of districts of the city. The city was known as Yuecheng and Jinling or "Ginling" ( 金陵 ) from the Warring States Era. Jianye ( 建业 ; Chien-yeh ), which means 'build an empire', was officially designated for the city during the Eastern Wu dynasty . The city first became a Chinese national capital as early as the Jin dynasty and
3680-423: A purely military and defensive purpose, towers also played a representative and artistic role in the conception of a fortified complex. The architecture of the city thus competed with that of the castle of the noblemen and city walls were often a manifestation of the pride of a particular city. Urban areas outside the city walls, so-called Vorstädte , were often enclosed by their own set of walls and integrated into
3864-422: A response to gunpowder artillery, European fortifications began displaying architectural principles such as lower and thicker walls in the mid-1400s. Cannon towers were built with artillery rooms where cannons could discharge fire from slits in the walls. However, this proved problematic as the slow rate of fire, reverberating concussions, and noxious fumes produced greatly hindered defenders. Gun towers also limited
SECTION 20
#17327731852634048-406: A second city wall of rammed earth to the south of the original northern city wall. The new wall was later covered with stones and bricks. In 1372 the original northern city wall was completely dismantled and the materials used to reinforce the new wall. The perimeter of the original Imperial city was measured at that time as 1,206 zhang (approximately 4,020 metres). The perimeter of the southern city
4232-502: A single "embassy district", enclosed by a fortified complex with walls and towers – this usually occurs in regions where the embassies run a high risk of being target of attacks. An early example of such a compound was the Legation Quarter in Beijing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Most of these modern city walls are made of steel and concrete. Vertical concrete plates are put together so as to allow
4416-476: A single missing brick—was swiftly reported to the authorities and repaired. Much damage was done to the fortifications during the Boxer Rebellion (1898–1901). The Righteous Harmony Society burned down the gate tower at Zhengyangmen , and its watchtower was destroyed by Indian troops . The watchtowers at Chaoyangmen and Chongwenmen were destroyed by artillery fire from Japanese and British forces, and
4600-741: A thousand years, is recognized as one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China . It has been one of the world's largest cities , enjoying peace and prosperity despite various wars and disasters. Nanjing served as the capital of Eastern Wu (229–280), one of the three major states in the Three Kingdoms period; the Eastern Jin and each of the Southern dynasties ( Liu Song , Southern Qi , Liang and Chen ), which successively ruled southern China from 317 to 589;
4784-477: A very thick wall in medieval Europe, what is usually meant is a wall of 2.5 metres (8 ft 2 in) in width, which would have been considered thin in a Chinese context. There are some exceptions such as the Hillfort of Otzenhausen , a Celtic ringfort with a thickness of 40 metres (130 ft) in some parts, but Celtic fort-building practices died out in the early medieval period. Andrade goes on to note that
4968-431: A watchtower directly in front of it. They were all unique. The watchtower at Zhengyangmen was 38 metres high, 52 metres wide, and 32 metres deep, constructed on a raised platform 12 metres high. This gate, named "Qianmen", was for the exclusive use of the emperor. Built in multi-eaved Xieshanding style, it had grey tubed roof tiles with green glazed tiles at the top. The southern side had seven rooms with 52 arrow slits , and
5152-459: Is a collective term for six Chinese dynasties mentioned above which all maintained national capitals at Jiankang. The six dynasties were: Eastern Wu (222–280), Eastern Jin dynasty (317–420) and four southern dynasties (420–589). At the end of the Eastern Han dynasty , the warlord Sun Quan , who ruled Jiangdong , moved his ruling office to Moling in 211 AD. The following year, he built
5336-651: Is believed that Nanjing was the largest city in the world from 1358 to 1425 with a population of 487,000 in 1400. Having usurped power from his nephew and uncertain of the loyalty of the region's officials, the Yongle Emperor relocated the capital in 1421 to Beijing, where he had long served as the regional governor as the Prince of Yan . Because the new status of Yingtian was included in the Hongwu Emperor's " ancestral injunctions " for his dynasty, however,
5520-763: Is now Qixia . In the Jiangning district, ruins of primitive villages from the Neolithic Age were discovered. About 4000 years ago, dense Bronze Age primitive settlements appeared in the Qinhuai River Basin, labeled as the Hushu culture. The earliest cities in Nanjing were formed around these settlements. Due to the volume of archeological finds in the area related to the Taowu and Hushu cultures, many historians, anthropologists, and archeologists frequent
5704-754: Is the Romanian Bran Castle , which was intended to protect nearby Kronstadt (today's Braşov ). The city walls were often connected to the fortifications of hill castles via additional walls. Thus the defenses were made up of city and castle fortifications taken together. Several examples of this are preserved, for example in Germany Hirschhorn on the Neckar, Königsberg and Pappenheim , Franken, Burghausen in Oberbayern and many more. A few castles were more directly incorporated into
Beijing city fortifications - Misplaced Pages Continue
5888-603: Is the capital of Jiangsu province in eastern China . The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of 6,600 km (2,500 sq mi), and as of 2021 a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yangtze River Delta region, Nanjing has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture , having served as the capital of various Chinese dynasties , kingdoms and republican governments dating from
6072-543: The First Opium War , was signed in the city harbor on Royal Navy warships. As the capital of the brief-lived rebel Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the mid-19th century, Nanjing was known as Tianjing ( 天京 ; 'Heavenly Capital" or "Capital of Heaven'). The rebellion destroyed most of the former Ming imperial buildings in the city, including the Porcelain Tower , considered up to that time as one of
6256-596: The Global Financial Centres Index . As of 2021, Nanjing has 68 institutions of higher learning, including 13 double-first-class universities , ten 111-plan universities, eight 211 universities , and 97 academies. Nanjing University , which has a long history, is among the world's top 20 universities ranked by the Nature Index . The ratio of college students to the total population ranks No.1 among large cities nationwide. Nanjing has
6440-537: The Hongwu (1368–1398) and Yongle (1402–1424) eras. The walls were formed from rammed earth covered with rocks and a finishing layer of bricks on both the interior and exterior. The average height was 12 to 15 metres. The northern and southern sections, built in the early Ming dynasty, were thicker than the eastern and western sections, built during the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368). The thicker sections averaged 19 to 20 metres at
6624-512: The Indus floodplain. Many of these settlements had fortifications and planned streets. The stone and mud brick houses of Kot Diji were clustered behind massive stone flood dykes and defensive walls, for neighboring communities quarreled constantly about the control of prime agricultural land. Mundigak ( c. 2500 BC ) in present-day south-east Afghanistan has defensive walls and square bastions of sun dried bricks. The concept of
6808-759: The International Military Tribunal for the Far East and the Nanjing War Crimes Tribunal after the atomic bombings, was between 300,000 and 350,000. The city itself was also severely damaged during the massacre. The Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall was built in 1985 to commemorate this event. A few days before the fall of the city, the National Government of China was relocated to the southwestern city Chongqing and resumed Chinese resistance. In 1940,
6992-721: The Japanese puppet regime of Wang Jingwei (1940–45) during the Second Sino-Japanese War . It suffered many notable devastating atrocities in both conflicts, most notably the Nanjing Massacre from late 1937 to early 1938. Nanjing became the capital city of Jiangsu province in 1952, after serving as a Direct-administered Municipality from 1949 to 1952 following the establishment of the People's Republic of China. It has many important heritage sites, including
7176-486: The Ming dynasty captured the city from the last Yuan emperor, Emperor Shun . Xu Da decided that Dadu's fortification system was too large to defend during a siege, so he ordered the city's northern walls rebuilt 2.8 kilometres (1.7 miles) to the south of the original location. This construction pre-empted the planned northern expansion of the city. The new wall was constructed with an extra layer of bricks, further strengthening
7360-564: The Mongols . In 1476 construction of an outer city was proposed. In 1553, a large rectangular outer city wall and moat system was completed to the south of the original city, forming a shape similar to the "凸" character. This defensive perimeter was maintained for nearly 400 years. The wall and moat defense system was retained unchanged by the Qing dynasty (1644–1912). However, the Imperial city
7544-524: The Northern and Southern dynasties period. After the Eastern Jin fell in 420, it continued to serve as the capital for the Southern dynasties of Liu Song , Southern Qi , Liang and Chen . During this time, Jiankang was the international hub of East Asia. Based on historical documents, the city had 280,000 registered households. Assuming an average Nanjing household consisted of about 5.1 people,
Beijing city fortifications - Misplaced Pages Continue
7728-464: The People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, the majority of the moats and gate towers were extant, albeit in a dilapidated state. In 1949 Beijing became the capital of the newly founded Communist government. Government-sponsored city planning studies showed that the remaining wall and moat structures were hindering traffic flow and were a barrier to expansion and development. The Outer city wall
7912-553: The Presidential Palace , Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum and Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum . Nanjing is famous for human historical landscapes, mountains and waters such as Fuzimiao , Ming Palace , Chaotian Palace , Porcelain Tower , Drum Tower , Stone City , City Wall , Qinhuai River , Xuanwu Lake and Purple Mountain . Key cultural facilities include Nanjing Library , Nanjing Museum and Jiangsu Art Museum. The city has
8096-589: The Qianlong Emperor , Jiangnan was fully divided into the present provinces of Anhui and Jiangsu . Separately, however, these provinces were reunited under the supervision of a new Viceroy of Liangjiang after 1723, whose seat was based in Jiangning. It was the site of a Qing Army garrison. It had been visited by the Kangxi and Qianlong emperors a number of times on their tours of the southern provinces. The 1842 Treaty of Nanking , which put an end to
8280-522: The Qianmen area. Arches for trains were cut in the city walls near Hepingmen , Jianguomen , Fuxingmen and several other minor gates. The walls of the Imperial city were fully dismantled, except for the south to southwest section. The gate towers, watchtowers, and corner towers of the major gates of both the Inner city and Outer city were dismantled over time due to lack of funds for maintenance. But when
8464-523: The Republic of China (1912–49) , jing ( 京 ; 'capital') was adopted as the abbreviation of Nanjing. Archaeological discovery shows that the so-called " Nanjing Man " lived more than 500,000 years ago. Zun , a kind of wine vessel, were found to exist in Beiyinyangying culture of Nanjing about 5000 years ago. About 7000 years ago, there was an agricultural civilization in the area that
8648-522: The Siege of Peking ; it was completely dismantled in 1920. The barbican was dismantled in 1950 and the gate tower in 1966. Chongwenmen was a "sighting gate", with the connotation of "a bright and prosperous future". Its symbol was the Chongwen iron turtle. Due to its close proximity to the busy Tonghui river, it was the busiest gate in Beijing. Entry and departure taxes were charged at Chongwenmen throughout
8832-594: The Southern Tang (937–75), one of the Ten Kingdoms ; the Ming dynasty when, for the first time, all of China was ruled from the city (1368–1421); and the Republic of China under the nationalist Kuomintang (1927–37, 1946–49) before its flight to Taiwan by Chiang Kai-Shek during the Chinese Civil War . The city also served as the seat of the rebel Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (1853–64) and
9016-531: The Stone City at the site of Jinling Yi, and renamed Moling to Jianye. Jianye later became the capital of the Eastern Wu dynasty during the Three Kingdoms period, after Sun Quan proclaimed himself emperor in 229, opening Nanjing's history as a state capital. By the time Wu was conquered by the Western Jin dynasty in 280, Jianye and its neighboring areas had been well cultivated, developing into one of
9200-709: The Tang dynasty (618–907 AD). Sections of the Great Wall had been built prior to the Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and subsequently connected and fortified during the Qin dynasty, although its present form was mostly an engineering feat and remodeling of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644 AD). The large walls of Pingyao serve as one example. Likewise, the walls of the Forbidden City in Beijing were established in
9384-455: The Temple of Earth and Xiannong Temple were built in what was then the southern suburbs. Some sources indicate that the central axis of the city was moved eastwards to subdue the previous dynasty's Qi (new Qi comes from the east, where the sun rises daily). A second expansion of the city occurred between 1436 and 1445, on the orders of Emperor Ying of the Ming dynasty. Major works included
SECTION 50
#17327731852639568-535: The Yongle era (1402–1424), they were organized into three groups, called Wujunying (consisting of the majority of the army), Sanqianying (consisting of mercenary and allied Mongol troops), and Shenjiying (consisting of troops using firearms). The three ying were further divided into 72 wei, organised into five groups named Zhongjun (centre), Zuoyejun (left middle), Youyejun (right middle), Zuoshaojun (left guard), and Youshaojun (right guard); these were collectively known as
9752-411: The fifth-largest scientific research output of any city in the world. As of 2024, it has been ranked as the world's second most prolific scientific research center in earth and environmental sciences and the world's third most prolific scientific research center in chemistry and physical sciences , according to the Nature Index . Nanjing, one of the nation's most important cities for over
9936-582: The guard tower at the southeast corner of the Inner city was spared, because the metro line veered towards the Beijing railway station . The tops of the walls were dismantled, making it no longer possible to walk along the top of them. Beginning in 1972, in order to pave the 2nd Ring Road above the Metro, and to serve high-rise apartments and hotels in the Qianmen area, Beijing's eastern, southern, and western moats were covered and converted to sewers. In 1979,
10120-518: The proto-city of Jericho in the West Bank had a wall surrounding it as early as the 8th millennium BC. The earliest known town wall in Europe is of Solnitsata , built in the 6th or 5th millennium BC. The Assyrians deployed large labour forces to build new palaces, temples and defensive walls. Babylon was one of the most famous cities of the ancient world, especially as a result of
10304-401: The 10-battalion supergroup. This was raised to 12 battalions during the reign of Emperor Xian of the Ming dynasty. These were commanded from within the Inner city at Dongguanting and Xiguanting. Drilling and training fields outside of the city walls could also be used as temporary encampments. The original Wujunying, Sanqianying, and Shenjiying were converted to guard units in charge of protecting
10488-446: The 16th and 17th century along with the rapid growth of cities in this period as a need to defend against European naval attack. Ayutthaya built its walls in 1550 and Banten , Jepara , Tuban and Surabaya all had theirs by 1600; while Makassar had theirs by 1634. A sea wall was the main defense for Gelgel . For cities that did not have city walls, the least it would have had was a stockaded citadel . This wooden walled area housed
10672-570: The 16th century. The bastion and star fort was developed in Italy, where the Florentine engineer Giuliano da Sangallo (1445–1516) compiled a comprehensive defensive plan using the geometric bastion and full trace italienne that became widespread in Europe. The main distinguishing features of the star fort were its angle bastions, each placed to support their neighbor with lethal crossfire, covering all angles, making them extremely difficult to engage with and attack. Angle bastions consisted of two faces and two flanks. Artillery positions positioned at
10856-399: The 1960s, relations between China and the Soviet Union soured. After the Sino-Soviet split , people felt that war with the Soviet Union was inevitable. Underground bomb shelters, underground "supply cities", and an underground railway—the Beijing Metro —were commissioned. Work on the Metro began on 1 July 1965. The construction technique used was cut-and-cover : wherever the path of the metro
11040-423: The 19th century, less emphasis was placed on preserving the fortifications for the sake of their architectural or historical value – on the one hand, complete fortifications were restored ( Carcassonne ), on the other hand many structures were demolished in an effort to modernize the cities. One exception to this is the "monument preservation" law by the Bavarian King Ludwig I of Bavaria , which led to
11224-411: The 3rd century to 1949, and has thus long been a major center of culture, education, research, politics, economy, transport networks and tourism, being the home to one of the world's largest inland ports . The city is also one of the fifteen sub-provincial cities in the People's Republic of China's administrative structure , enjoying jurisdictional and economic autonomy only slightly less than that of
SECTION 60
#173277318526311408-416: The Beijing circum-city railway was built in 1915, the sight towers at the northeast and southeast corners were dismantled and the side walls of the guard towers at these corners had arches built as passageways for trains. The barbican and sluice gates at Deshengmen , Andingmen , Chaoyangmen, and Dongzhimen were dismantled for the passage of trains. The barbican at Zhengyangmen was dismantled to ease traffic in
11592-421: The Boxer Rebellion and Eight-Nations Alliance attack during the Qing dynasty. All but the Eight-Nations Alliance were successfully defended against. After the collapse of the Qing dynasty in 1911, the barbicans at Zhengyangmen, Chaoyangmen, Xuanwemen , Dongzhimen, and Andingmen were dismantled, along with Dong'anmen and the city walls of the Imperial city, to improve traffic flow and to allow for construction of
11776-420: The Dongsi Shitiao archway), North Bell Tower Avenue archway, Xinjiekou archway, West Guanyuan archway, and Songhe'an alley archway. Beijing's Inner city wall had gate towers that sat atop rectangular platforms 12 to 13 metres high integrated into the city walls. Each gate entranceway, centred under the middle of its gate tower platform, had two giant red wooden gates that opened outwards. Iron bulbs were fitted on
11960-413: The Drum Tower Hospital and the boys' school would be expanded by later missionaries to become the University of Nanking and Medical School. The old mission property became the No. 13 Middle School, the oldest continually-used school grounds in the city. The Xinhai Revolution led to the founding of the Republic of China in January 1912 with Sun Yat-sen as the first provisional president and Nanjing
12144-513: The French "braggarts by nature". Very rarely did cannons blast breaches in city walls in Chinese warfare. This may have been partly due to cultural tradition. Famous military commanders such as Sun Tzu and Zheng Zhilong recommended not to directly attack cities and storm their walls. Even when direct assaults were made with cannons, it was usually by focusing on the gates rather than the walls. There were instances where cannons were used against walled fortifications, such as by Koxinga , but only in
12328-404: The Imperial city and the Forbidden city. Later the Imperial guards were joined by the Jinyiwei and the Tengxiangwei, whose commanders included "Mianyiwei Dahan General", "Hongkui General", "Mingjia General", "Bazong Director", and several others. A guard post in the Imperial city called "Hongpu" was formed. The city gates were closed at night and no one was allowed in or out unless special permission
12512-614: The Inner and Outer city walls stretched for approximately 60 kilometres (37 mi). Beijing was the capital of China for the majority of the Yuan , Ming , and Qing dynasties, as well as a secondary capital of the Liao and Jin dynasties. As such, the city required an extensive fortification system around the Forbidden City , the Imperial City , the Inner city, and the Outer city. Fortifications included gate towers , gates, archways, watchtowers, barbicans , barbican towers, barbican gates, barbican archways, sluice gates, sluice gate towers, enemy sighting towers, corner guard towers , and
12696-403: The Inner city had a perimeter of 24 kilometres. It was roughly square, with the east and west walls slightly longer due to the north and south walls being moved from their original positions. The northwestern section lacked a vertex; on a map it looks as if the corner had been bitten off. In the Chinese mythological story of Nüwa mending the heavens, "the heavens were missing in the northwest, and
12880-426: The Inner city walls, 106 of which were for military equipment such as direction flags, cannons, gunpowder, and guns. In 1835, 241 houses of three rooms each were added to the nine gates of the Inner city, as the original straw and earthen barracks were deteriorating. Twenty-eight store rooms were added, as well as 3,616 Outer city barracks. During the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), the Xiaoqiying soldiers usually lived outside
13064-407: The Manchus in late May 1645, the Hongguang Emperor fled Nanjing, and the imperial Ming Palace was looted by local residents. On June 6, Dodo's troops approached Nanjing, and the commander of the city's garrison, Zhao the Earl of Xincheng, promptly surrendered the city to them. The Manchus soon ordered all male residents of the city to shave their heads in the Manchu queue way . They requisitioned
13248-477: The Ming and Qing dynasties included city walls, moats, gate towers, barbicans, watchtowers, corner guard towers, enemy sight towers, and military encampments both outside and inside the city. The mountains immediately north of the city and the interior Great Wall sections on those mountain ranges also acted as a defensive perimeter. During the Ming dynasty, troops under permanent encampment in and around Beijing were called Jingjun or Jingying ("capital troops"). During
13432-415: The Ming dynasty, Qing dynasty, and early Republican eras. The Empress Dowager Cixi 's "cosmetic spending" and the early Republican China president 's annual salary came directly from taxes levied at this gate. In 1924, Feng Yu xiang initiated a coup, after which the taxation at Chongwenmen was stopped. Only Chongwenmen had bells announcing the closure of the gates at the end of the day. The other gates used
13616-507: The Nanjing area. Hushu culture developed into Wu culture under the influence of the Shang and Zhou, who encroached from Central Plains. From the traditions, Taibo of Zhou came to Jiangnan and established the state of Wu during the 12th century BC. In 571 BC, the State of Chu established Tangyi in Liuhe. This is the oldest extant administrative establishment in Nanjing; as of 2024 it has
13800-711: The Qianfengying, Hujunying, Bujun Xunbuying, Jianruiying, Huoqiying (in charge of artillery), Shenjiying (first begun in 1862), and the Huqiangying (in charge of guns). From the Yongzheng era (1722–1735) onwards, the Eight Banner guard troops in charge of protecting the imperial leisure parks were camped in the area around the Old Summer Palace and Fragrant Hills . The same system of Eight Banners
13984-513: The Qing to prepare for a final massive battle instead of swiftly attacking Nanjing. Koxinga's Ming loyalists fought against a majority Han Chinese Bannermen Qing army when attacking Nanjing. The siege lasted almost three weeks. Koxinga's forces were unable to maintain a complete encirclement, which enabled the city to obtain supplies and even reinforcements—though cavalry attacks by the city's forces were successful even before reinforcements arrived. Koxinga's forces were defeated and "slipped back" to
14168-601: The Righteous Sun'), completed in 1419, was located at the centre of the southern wall of the Inner city. It was constructed in the triple-eaved Xieshanding style, with green glazed tiles. Originally called Lizhengmen ("Gate of the Beautiful Portal"), the name was changed during the Zhengtong era (1435–1449). Each Inner city barbican contained a temple, and the barbican at Zhengyangmen had two: Guandimiao in
14352-529: The Ten Kings, residences of the imperial princes, residences of the officials and the Drum and Bell Towers were built at this time. The southern city walls were moved south by 0.8 kilometres (0.50 mi) to allow more space for the future Imperial City complex. In 1421 the capital of Ming dynasty China was officially moved from Nanjing ("southern capital") to Beijing ("northern capital"). The Temple of Heaven ,
14536-527: The Terrace empty, and the river flows on. Flourishing flowers of Wu Palace are buried beneath dark trails; Caps and gowns of Jin times all lie in ancient mounds. The Three-peaked Mountain lies half visible under the blue sky, The two-forked stream is separated by the White-Egret Isle in the middle. Clouds always block the sun, Chang'an cannot be seen and I grieve. — About
14720-739: The Wujunying ("five troops"). The majority of the Jingjun were headquartered outside of west Deshengguan. Some camped in the rural districts of the capital area, at Nanyuan, Tonzhou, Lugouqiao, Changping, and the Juyongguan interior Great Wall. During the Tumu Crisis in 1449, the entire Jingjun was destroyed, a loss of some 500,000 men. Yu Qian then changed the organisational structure of the force, bringing approximately 100,000 well-trained troops from several different camps into one supergroup:
14904-593: The Xianghong banner and Yongdingmen the Zhenglan banner. In 1728 permanent barracks were built for the eight banners in the Inner city, excepting Zhengyangmen. Each gate had barracks of 460 rooms for a ying, 90 rooms for a ban, and 15 rooms for a geng, for a total of 3,680 rooms. Outside the city walls were an additional 16,000 rooms, with each banner having 2,000 rooms. Manchu troops were allocated 1,500 rooms and Han troops 500 rooms. There were also 135 storage rooms atop
15088-870: The Xianghuang banner at Andingmen, the Zhenghuang banner at Deshengmen, the Zhengbai banner at Dongzhimen, the Xiangbai banner at Chaoyangmen, the Zhenghong banner at Xizhimen, the Xianghong banner at Fuchengmen , the Zhenglan banner at Chongwenmen and the Xianglan banner at Xuanwumen. Each banner had an office hall, several troop barracks, a patrol station and a warehouse. In addition to the Xiaoqiying, troops permanently encamped in and around Beijing included
15272-554: The Yongle Emperor was obliged to preserve its special status, at least in name. The "northern capital" came to be known as Beijing and the 'southern capital' as Nanjing ( 南京 ). Both controlled territories "directly administered" by the emperor and his staff, Beizhili in the north and Nanzhili in the south. The Hongxi Emperor wanted to restore Nanjing as the sole imperial capital and undertook preparations to do so. On February 24, 1425, he appointed Admiral Zheng He as
15456-485: The Yongle era (1402–1424), the southern, eastern, and western walls were reinforced with stones and bricks. In 1435 construction began on gate towers, watchtowers, barbicans, sluice gates, and corner guard towers for the nine city gates. In 1439 bridges were built leading to the gates. In 1445 the interior walls of the city were reinforced with bricks. The wall and moat system of the Inner city was thus complete. The walls of
15640-419: The Zhenghong banner, Chongwenmen the Xianghuang banner, Xuanwumen the Zhenghuang banner and Zhengyangmen rotated between the eight banners. The Outer city's seven gates were manned by Han troops from the following banners: Dongbianmen the Xianghuang banner, Xibianmen the Zhenghuang banner, Guangqumen the Zhengbai banner, Guang'anmen the Zhenghong banner, Zuo'anmen the Xianglan and Xiangbai banners, You'anmen
15824-445: The Zhengtong era (1435–1449) the gate was called Shunchengmen ('Shun Cheng Gate'), while commoners referred to it as Shunzhimen. The gate tower was completely rebuilt during the Zhengtong era, and a barbican, sluice gate tower, and watchtower were added. The name was changed to Xuanwu ("martial advocacy"), from a quotation from Zhang Heng 's Dongjing Fu : "the martial integrity is to announce 武节是宣 wu jie shi xuan ". The watchtower
16008-457: The addition of an extra layer of bricks on the interior side of the city walls, creating the southern end at Taiye Lake , construction of gate towers, barbicans and watchtowers at nine major city gates, construction of the four corner guard towers, setting up a Paifang on the outside of each major city gate and replacing wooden moat bridges with stone bridges. Sluices were built under the bridges and revetments of stone and brick were added to
16192-745: The ancient site of Mycenae (famous for the huge stone blocks of its ' cyclopean ' walls). In classical era Greece, the city of Athens built a long set of parallel stone walls called the Long Walls that reached their guarded seaport at Piraeus . Exceptions were few, but neither ancient Sparta nor ancient Rome had walls for a long time, choosing to rely on their militaries for defense instead. Initially, these fortifications were simple constructions of wood and earth, which were later replaced by mixed constructions of stones piled on top of each other without mortar . The Romans later fortified their cities with massive, mortar-bound stone walls. Among these are
16376-500: The barbican at Suqingmen is also still visible today. In 1370, Hongwu Emperor granted his fourth son, Zhu Di (later Yongle Emperor ) the title 'King of the Yan dependency', whose capital was at Beiping (present-day Beijing ). In 1379, the new palace was completed, and Zhu Di moved in the subsequent year. In 1403, Zhu Di changed the name of the city from Beiping ("northern peace") to Beijing ("northern capital"). In 1406, he began planning
16560-460: The base and 16 metres at the top, with parapets at the top. The Inner city wall had nine gates and a tower at each corner. There were three sluice gates, 172 enemy sighting towers, and 11,038 battlements . Immediately outside the city walls were deep moats 30 to 60 metres in width. The city walls of Dadu were used as the foundation for the Inner city walls of Beijing. In 1368, after Ming troops entered Dadu, General Xu Da directed Hua Jilong to build
16744-672: The building program of Nebuchadnezzar , who expanded the walls and built the Ishtar Gate . The Persians built defensive walls to protect their territories, notably the Derbent Wall and the Great Wall of Gorgan built on the either sides of the Caspian Sea against nomadic nations. Some settlements in the Indus Valley civilization were also fortified. By about 3500 BC, hundreds of small farming villages dotted
16928-518: The capital of the Republic of China, and this became internationally recognized once KMT forces took Beijing in 1928. The following decade is known as the Nanjing decade . During this decade, Nanjing was of symbolic and strategic importance. The Ming dynasty had made Nanjing a capital, the republic had been established there in 1912, and Sun Yat-sen 's provisional government had been there. Sun's body
17112-546: The case of small villages. During Koxinga's career, there is only one recorded case of capturing a settlement by bombarding its walls: the siege of Taizhou in 1658. In 1662, the Dutch found that bombarding the walls of a town in Fujian Province had no effect and they focused on the gates instead just as in Chinese warfare. In 1841, a 74-gun British warship bombarded a Chinese coastal fort near Guangzhou and found that it
17296-686: The circum-city railway. In 1924 a new gate was created at Hepingmen to improve traffic flow. Many other gates and archways, such as the Qimingmen (the present Jianguomen ) and Chang'anmen (the present Fuxingmen ), were opened during this period. After 1949, the Chinese Communist Party ordered the demolition of the city walls on a giant scale. During the Korean War , in order to ease traffic density, six new archways were built: Dayabao alley archway, Beimencang archway (now called
17480-416: The circumvention of the city, through which many important trade routes passed, thus ensuring that tolls were paid when the caravans passed through the city gates, and that the local market was visited by the trade caravans. Furthermore, additional signaling and observation towers were frequently built outside the city, and were sometimes fortified in a castle-like fashion. The border of the area of influence of
17664-465: The city or from superstitious fear of its geomantic properties . A monument to the huge human cost of some of the gigantic construction projects of the early Ming dynasty is the Yangshan Quarry (located some 15–20 km (9–12 mi) east of the walled city and Ming Xiaoling mausoleum), where a gigantic stele , cut on the orders of the Yongle Emperor, lies abandoned. As the center of
17848-464: The city gates rather than on the city walls. This proved to be easier for defending the city during a siege. Only when the emperor was leaving the city for Yuanmingyuan or the Temple of Heaven did the soldiers station themselves atop the walls. An exception was Xuanwumen; as the only gate that stayed open at night, the top of the wall was continually manned. Cannons were fired at noon atop Xuanwumen to mark
18032-611: The city had more than 1.4 million residents. A number of sculptural ensembles of that era, erected at the tombs of royals and other dignitaries, have survived (in various degrees of preservation) in Nanjing's northeastern and eastern suburbs, primarily in Qixia and Jiangning District . Possibly the best preserved of them is the ensemble of the Tomb of Xiao Xiu (475–518), a brother of Emperor Wu of Liang . The phoenix birds once frolicked on Phoenix Terrace, The birds are gone,
18216-573: The city in 1644, he ordered that the Ming Imperial palace complex and the major city gates be set afire. But in 1960, when the walls were finally dismantled, the workers realized that the Dongzhimen and Chongwenmen towers and gate sections were the Ming originals. The wall and moat systems were well maintained during the Ming and Qing dynasties, right up until 1900. No holes were allowed to be drilled, no arches made. Any damage—even if just
18400-546: The city walls and moats to beautify the environment. Pro-keep supporters included Redologist Yu Pingbo , then Department of Culture Vice Minister Zheng Zhenduo and many Soviet city planners then in the country. The pro-keep contingent was silenced by political pressure, and by the end of the Great Leap Forward (1958–1961), the Outer city wall was completely dismantled and the Inner wall was halved in length. During
18584-475: The city was often partially or fully defended by elaborate ditches, walls and hedges. The crossing points were usually guarded by gates or gate houses. These defenses were regularly checked by riders, who often also served as the gate keepers. Long stretches of these defenses can still be seen to this day, and even some gates are still intact. To further protect their territory, rich cities also established castles in their area of influence. An example of this practice
18768-465: The city's defenses. The original northern walls were abandoned after 1372, but were still used as a secondary defense during the Ming dynasty. During the rebellion of An Da, there were some Ming troops stationed at those gates. Only a small part of the northern and western sections of the Dadu city walls remain, as well as parts of the moat system in those areas. The southern half of the rammed earth wall of
18952-452: The city's fortifications volunteered to participate in the demolition. After construction began on the metro system, troops were brought in to help with the demolition work to increase the speed and efficiency of the process. The first section of walls to be removed were the southern portion of the Inner city wall, Xuanwumen, and Chongwenmen, leaving behind a 23.6 km (14.7 mi) ditch. The second stage began at Beijing railway station in
19136-504: The commercial, cultural and political centers of China. Not long after the unification of China, the Western Jin collapsed under the weight of civil wars by eight princes and rebellions from the so-called " Five Barbarians " in the north. Jianye, renamed to Jiankang in 313 to avoid Emperor Min of Jin's taboo name , was safely isolated from the chaos and became a popular refuge for the northern nobles and wealthy families. In 318,
19320-536: The construction of the "European Rampart" alongside its border with Russia to be able to successfully apply for a visa-free movement with the European Union. At its simplest, a defensive wall consists of a wall enclosure and its gates. For the most part, the top of the walls were accessible, with the outside of the walls having tall parapets with embrasures or merlons . North of the Alps, this passageway at
19504-722: The construction of the Ming sections of Beijing's fortifications. Construction work on the Xinei ("inner west") began in 1406, upon the foundations of the Yan King's Palace. It was finished the following year. In 1409, Jianshouling was completed at Mount Tianshou in the Changping District . In 1416 construction of the Forbidden City complex began, in a style that imitated the original Nanjing Imperial Palace. The Forbidden City's halls, palaces, and pavilions, such as Taimiao , Ancestor Hall, Mount Wansui, Taiye Lake , residences of
19688-539: The defender of Nanjing and ordered him to continue his command over the Ming treasure fleet for the city's defense. Zheng He governed the city with three eunuchs for internal matters and two military noblemen for external matters, awaiting the Hongxi Emperor's return along with the military establishment from the north. The emperor died on May 29, 1425, before this could have taken place. The succeeding Xuande Emperor preferred to remain in Beijing, leaving it
19872-538: The defense of the city. These areas were often inhabited by the poorer population and held the "noxious trades". In many cities, a new wall was built once the city had grown outside of the old wall. This can often still be seen in the layout of the city, for example in Nördlingen , and sometimes even a few of the old gate towers are preserved, such as the white tower in Nuremberg . Additional constructions prevented
20056-429: The defensive strategy of the city (e.g. Nuremberg , Zons , Carcassonne ), or the cities were directly outside the castle as a sort of "pre-castle" (Coucy-le-Chateau, Conwy and others). Larger cities often had multiple stewards – for example Augsburg was divided into a Reichstadt and a clerical city. These different parts were often separated by their own fortifications. Nanjing Nanjing
20240-417: The early Middle Ages also saw the creation of some towns built around castles. These cities were only rarely protected by simple stone walls and more usually by a combination of both walls and ditches . From the 12th century AD hundreds of settlements of all sizes were founded all across Europe, which very often obtained the right of fortification soon afterwards. Several medieval town walls have survived into
20424-402: The early 15th century by the Yongle Emperor . According to Tonio Andrade , the immense thickness of Chinese city walls prevented larger cannons from being developed, since even industrial era artillery had trouble breaching Chinese walls. Eupseongs (Hangul: 읍성), 'city fortresses', which served both military and administrative functions, have been constructed since the time of Silla until
20608-415: The earth was sinking in the southeast". According to scientific investigations done with remote sensing , this area originally had city walls, built in swamps and wetlands. The wall was abandoned in favour of a diagonal connection, placing a small triangle of land outside the city. Beijing's Inner city came under siege many times; for example, the invasions of Anda Khan and Houjin during the Ming dynasty and
20792-432: The embankment of the moat. The newly expanded city wall and moat system was 45 lis (22.5 kilometres (14.0 mi)) around the perimeter, providing formidable defence. The Imperial Tombs were built on the outskirts of the city. Changping city , a supply city, interior sections of the Great Wall and other distant fortifications were built for the protection of Beijing during a siege. The city faced many invasions from
20976-604: The emperor. Additional housing was built in the Inner city for imperial relatives, along with Buddhist temples of the Gelug sect. The "Three Mounts Five Gardens" park in the western suburbs was also built at this time. When the British first arrived Beijing during the Qing dynasty, they recorded the four parts of city on newspaper as: Chinese City (Outer City), Tartar City (Inner City), Imperial City and Forbidden City. Historical records indicate that when Li Zicheng retreated from
21160-455: The empire, but all these paled in comparison to contemporary Chinese walls, which could reach a thickness of 20 metres (66 ft) at the base in extreme cases. Even the walls of Constantinople which have been described as "the most famous and complicated system of defence in the civilized world," could not match up to a major Chinese city wall. Had both the outer and inner walls of Constantinople been combined they would have only reached roughly
21344-573: The empire, early-Ming Nanjing had worldwide connections. It was home of the admiral Zheng He , who went to sail the Pacific and Indian Oceans , and it was visited by foreign dignitaries, such as a king from Borneo ( 渤泥 ; Bóní ), who died during his visit to China in 1408. The Tomb of the King of Boni , with a spirit way and a tortoise stele , was discovered in Yuhuatai District (south of
21528-595: The end of the Joseon dynasty . Throughout the period of the Joseon dynasty eupseongs were modified and renovated, and new eupseongs were built, but in 1910 Japan (the occupying power of Korea) issued an order for their demolition, resulting in most being destroyed. Studies of the ruins and reconstructions of the ancient city walls are currently being undertaken at some sites. In ancient Greece , large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece , such as
21712-627: The energy of artillery shots. Walls were constructed using wooden frameworks which were filled with layers of earth tamped down to a highly compact state, and once that was completed the frameworks were removed for use in the next wall section. Starting from the Song dynasty these walls were improved with an outer layer of bricks or stone to prevent erosion, and during the Ming, earthworks were interspersed with stone and rubble. Most Chinese walls were also sloped rather than vertical to better deflect projectile energy. The defensive response to cannon in Europe
21896-520: The exterior side of the gates and gilt copper bulbs on the interior side. When the gates were closed they were locked with giant tree-trunk-sized wooden beams. The Inner city gate towers were built during the Zhengtong era of the Ming dynasty (1435–1449) in the multi-eaved Xieshanding style. The roofs were covered with grey tubed roof tiles and green glazed tiles. Zhengyangmen's gate tower was seven rooms in length and five rooms in width; Chaoyangmen and Fuchengmen were three rooms in width. Each gate tower had
22080-404: The flanks could fire parallel into the opposite bastion's line of fire, thus providing two lines of cover fire against an armed assault on the wall, and preventing mining parties from finding refuge. Meanwhile, artillery positioned on the bastion platform could fire frontally from the two faces, also providing overlapping fire with the opposite bastion. Overlapping mutually supporting defensive fire
22264-506: The former opulent capital Jinling (present-day Nanjing) in the poem Climbing Phoenix Terrace at Jinling by Li Bai of the Tang dynasty The period of division ended when the Sui dynasty reunified China and almost destroyed the entire city, turning it into a small town. The city was razed after the Sui took it over. It was renamed Shengzhou ( 昇州 ) in the Tang dynasty and resuscitated during
22448-420: The gate tower, forcing them to abandon their plan. Thus even in the modern era of the 1930s and 1940s, the dilapidated fortifications were still useful defensively. Beijing's Inner city is also called Jingcheng ("capital city") or Dacheng ("big city"). The eastern and western sections were originally part of the Yuan city of Dadu, while the northern and southern sections were built during the early Ming dynasty in
22632-452: The gates, thus allowing Alliance troops into the Imperial city. In an incident on 25 July 1937, a battalion of Japanese troops camped at Fengtai District , declaring that they intended "to protect Japanese immigrants" and "to protect Dongjiaomin Street's Embassy district", tried to advance into Beijing. When they began entering Guang'anmen, around twenty Chinese soldiers fired on them from atop
22816-477: The government called off the demolition of the remaining city walls and named them cultural heritage sites. By this time, the only intact sections were the gate tower and watchtower at Zhengyangmen, the watchtower at Deshengmen , the guard tower at the southeast corner, the northern moats of the Inner city, the section of the Inner city wall south of the Beijing railway station, and a small section of Inner city wall near Xibianmen. The defense system of Beijing during
23000-551: The guard tower at the northwest corner of the Inner city was destroyed by Russian cannon. British troops tore down the western section of the Outer City walls at Yongdingmen and the city walls surrounding the Temple of Heaven. They moved the terminus of the Beijing–Fengtian Railway from Majiapu , outside the city, to the grounds of the Temple of Heaven, where the British and American forces were headquartered. This
23184-434: The inner walls and outer walls by a structure called a barbican. The barbicans of Dongzhimen or Xizhimen were square; the ones at Zhengyangmen and Deshengmen were rectangular; at Dongbianmen and Xibianmen they were semicircular. Most of the Inner city barbicans had rounded corners, which provided better sight lines and were more difficult to climb or destroy. Each Inner city barbican had a unique design. Zhengyangmen ('Gate of
23368-436: The invention of gunpowder rendered walls less effective, as siege cannons could then be used to blast through walls, allowing armies to simply march through. Today, the presence of former city fortifications can often only be deduced from the presence of ditches, ring roads or parks. Furthermore, some street names hint at the presence of fortifications in times past, for example when words such as "wall" or "glacis" occur. In
23552-884: The largely extant Aurelian Walls of Rome and the Theodosian Walls of Constantinople , together with partial remains elsewhere. These are mostly city gates, like the Porta Nigra in Trier or Newport Arch in Lincoln . In Central Europe, the Celts built large fortified settlements which the Romans called oppida , whose walls seem partially influenced by those built in the Mediterranean. The fortifications were continuously expanded and improved. Apart from these,
23736-596: The late Tang. It was chosen as the capital and called Jinling ( 金陵 ) during the Southern Tang (937–976), which succeeded the state of Yang Wu . It was renamed Jiangning ( 江寧 , "Pacified Area of the Yangtze ") in the Northern Song and renamed Jiankang in the Southern Song . Jiankang's textile industry burgeoned and thrived during the Song despite the constant threat of foreign invasions from
23920-455: The late morning of 14 August that they conquered the gate tower at Dongbianmen, a mere 50 metres (160 ft) away. Even after the Outer City and Inner City fell to Alliance forces, the Imperial city's defenses still held. On the morning of 15 August, American forces used several guns to try to destroy the Tiananmen gates, but they held. Japanese troops used ladders to scale the wall and open
24104-461: The least space in between them, and are rooted firmly in the ground. The top of the wall is often protruding and beset with barbed wire in order to make climbing them more difficult. These walls are usually built in straight lines and covered by watchtowers at the corners. Double walls with an interstitial "zone of fire", as the former Berlin Wall had, are now rare. In September 2014, Ukraine announced
24288-420: The medieval period and beyond in certain parts of Europe. Simpler defensive walls of earth or stone, thrown up around hillforts , ringworks , early castles and the like, tend to be referred to as ramparts or banks. From very early history to modern times, walls have been a near necessity for every city. Uruk in ancient Sumer ( Mesopotamia ) is one of the world's oldest known walled cities. Before that,
24472-607: The modern age, such as the walled towns of Austria , walls of Tallinn , or the town walls of York and Canterbury in England, as well as Nordlingen , Dinkelsbühl and Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Germany. In Spain, Avila and Tossa del Mar hosts surviving medieval walls while Lugo has an intact Roman wall. The founding of urban centers was an important means of territorial expansion and many cities, especially in central and eastern Europe, were founded for this purpose during
24656-516: The most modern cities in China. In 1937, the Empire of Japan started a full-scale invasion of China after invading Manchuria in 1931, beginning the Second Sino-Japanese War (often considered a theater of World War II ). Their troops occupied Nanjing in December and carried out the systematic and brutal Nanjing Massacre (the "Rape of Nanjing"). The total death toll, including estimates made by
24840-507: The natives experienced great difficulty in uprooting European invaders. In China, Sun Yuanhua advocated for the construction of angled bastion forts in his Xifashenji so that their cannons could better support each other. The officials Han Yun and Han Lin noted that cannons on square forts could not support each side as well as bastion forts. Their efforts to construct bastion forts, and their results, were limited. Ma Weicheng built two bastion forts in his home county, which helped fend off
25024-669: The nearly complete preservation of many monuments such as the Rothenburg ob der Tauber , Nördlingen and Dinkelsbühl . The countless small fortified towns in the Franconia region were also preserved as a consequence of this edict. Walls and fortified wall structures were still built in the modern era. They did not, however, have the original purpose of being a structure able to resist a prolonged siege or bombardment. Modern examples of defensive walls include: Additionally, in some countries, different embassies may be grouped together in
25208-633: The north by the Jurchen -led Jin dynasty . The court of Da Chu , a short-lived puppet state established by the Jurchens, and the court of Song were once in the city. The Southern Song were eventually destroyed by the Mongols ; during their rule as the Yuan dynasty , the city's status as a hub of the textile industry was further consolidated. According to Odoric of Pordenone , Chilenfu (Nanjing) had 360 stone bridges, which were finer than anywhere else in
25392-414: The northern side had five rooms with 21 arrow slits. The eastern and western sides each had 21 arrow slits. The other Inner city watchtowers had exterior designs similar to that of Qianmen, with multi-eaved Xieshanding-style gate towers in the front and a series of five rooms in the back. Both the upper and lower levels of the watchtowers were equipped with arrow slits. The watchtowers were connected to both
25576-536: The northern wall had two gates. The three eastern gates, from north to south, were called Guangximen ( 光熙门 ), Chongrenmen ( 崇仁门 ), and Qihuamen ( 齐化门 ). The three western gates, from north to south, were called Suqingmen ( 肃清门 ), Heyimen ( 和义门 ), and Pingzemen ( 平则门 ). The three southern gates, from west to east, were called Shunchengmen ( 顺承门 ), Lizhengmen ( 丽正门 ), and Wenmingmen ( 文明门 ). The two northern gates, from west to east, were called Jiandemen ( 健德门 ) and Anzhenmen ( 安贞门 ). In August 1368 General Xu Da of
25760-503: The outskirts of the present-day Zhonghua Gate , which was the beginning of the construction of the main city of Nanjing. In 333 BC, Chu defeated Yue and built Jinling Yi ( 金陵邑 ) on in the western part of Nanjing. It was the earliest administrative construction in the main city of Nanjing. The name of Jinling comes from this. In 210 BC, the First Emperor of Qin visited the east and changed Jinling City to Moling ( 秣陵 ). The area
25944-400: The period of Eastern settlement . These cities are easy to recognise due to their regular layout and large market spaces. The fortifications of these settlements were continuously improved to reflect the current level of military development. While gunpowder and cannons were invented in China, China never developed wall breaking artillery to the same extent as other parts of the world. Part of
26128-543: The port city of Tientsin (now Tianjin ) in the event of the need to retreat. British troops also tore down the eastern section of the Outer city wall near Dongbianmen for the construction of the Beijing Dongbianmen-Tongzhou feeder railway. The Imperial government of Qing China collapsed in 1911. Between 1912 and 1949, the Republic of China Beiyang government and Nationalist government all undertook minor deconstruction and adjustment work. When
26312-493: The primary and de facto capital and Nanjing as permanent secondary or reserve capital. Owing to the continuing importance of the ancestral injunctions , however, Nanjing was designated in official documents as the actual capital and Beijing as a temporary capital from 1425 to 1441. In 1441, the Yingzong Emperor ordered the "provisional" ( 行在 ) prefix removed from Beijing's government seals and further ordered that
26496-504: The reason is probably because Chinese walls were already highly resistant to artillery and discouraged increasing the size of cannons. In the mid-twentieth century a European expert in fortification commented on their immensity: "in China ... the principal towns are surrounded to the present day by walls so substantial, lofty, and formidable that the medieval fortifications of Europe are puny in comparison." Chinese walls were thick. The eastern wall of Ancient Linzi , established in 859 BC, had
26680-630: The royal citadel or aristocratic compounds such as in Surakarta and Aceh . Large rammed earth walls were built in ancient China since the Shang dynasty ( c. 1600 –1050 BC), as the capital at ancient Ao had enormous walls built in this fashion (see siege for more info). Although stone walls were built in China during the Warring States (481–221 BC), mass conversion to stone architecture did not begin in earnest until
26864-418: The ruling prince in Jiankang, Sima Rui proclaimed himself the new emperor and reestablished the dynasty as the Eastern Jin dynasty . This marked the first time a Chinese dynastic capital was moved from the north to southern China , as the north came under the rule of the Sixteen Kingdoms . Jiankang was the centre of administration in the south for more than two and a half centuries, even as China entered
27048-432: The ships which had brought them. Under the Qing dynasty from 1645 to 1911, Nanjing returned to its previous name Jiangning . At first, it continued to administer the territory of Nanzhili under the name Jiangnan ("Area South of the Yangtze") but this administration was soon broken up into "Right" and "Left" governments based in Suzhou and Jiangning respectively. After a series of reorganizations, at some point under
27232-427: The size and number of cannon placements because the rooms could only be built so big. Notable surviving artillery towers include a seven layer defensive structure built in 1480 at Fougères in Brittany , and a four layer tower built in 1479 at Querfurth in Saxony. The star fort, also known as the bastion fort, trace italienne , or renaissance fortress, was a style of fortification that became popular in Europe during
27416-410: The southeast corner of the Inner City and passed through the sites of Jianguomen , Andingmen, Xizhimen , and Fuxingmen . Towers and walls were removed and another 16.04 kilometres (9.97 mi) of ditch was created. A section of wall near Xibianmen about 100 metres (330 ft) long was used as a storage area for raw materials, and thus was spared from demolition. Another section from Chongwenmen to
27600-473: The southeastern corner guard tower, and a section of the Inner city wall near Chongwenmen . The latter two components now form the Ming City Wall Relics Park . None of the Outer city remains intact. Yongdingmen was completely reconstructed in 2004. The city of Dadu , the forerunner of Beijing in the Ming and Qing dynasties, was built in 1264 by the Yuan dynasty . Dadu had 11 city gates. The eastern, southern, and western sides had three gates per side, and
27784-400: The southern imperial administration would henceforth be required to prefix "Nanjing" to their own seals to distinguish them. Besides the city wall, other Ming-era structures in the city included the famous Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum and Porcelain Tower , although the latter was destroyed by the Taipings in the 19th century either to prevent a hostile faction from using it to observe and shell
27968-411: The spelling as "Nanjing". During the Qing dynasty , the city was called Jiangning ( 江寧 ; Kiang-ning ), whose first character jiang ( Chinese : 江 ; pinyin : jiāng ; lit. 'river', i.e. the Yangtze ) is the former part of the name Jiangsu and second character ning ( 寧 , simplified form 宁 ; 'peace') is the shortened name of Nanjing. When it was the capital of
28152-411: The time. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the principal defensive weapons were firelocks, cannons, and bows and arrows. In 1629, Houjin troops attacked Beijing, and in 1644, Li Zicheng's troops laid siege to Beijing. Troops atop the city walls used cannons extensively during both sieges. During the Second Opium War (1856–1860), invading troops stationed outside the city walls gave up, because Beijing
28336-546: The top of the walls occasionally had a roof. In addition to this, many different enhancements were made over the course of the centuries: The defensive towers of west and south European fortifications in the Middle Ages were often very regularly and uniformly constructed (cf. Ávila , Provins ), whereas Central European city walls tend to show a variety of different styles. In these cases the gate and wall towers often reach up to considerable heights, and gates equipped with two towers on either side are much rarer. Apart from having
28520-431: The wall is intended to protect, elements of the terrain such as rivers or coastlines may be incorporated in order to make the wall more effective. Walls may only be crossed by entering the appropriate city gate and are often supplemented with towers. The practice of building these massive walls, though having its origins in prehistory, was refined during the rise of city-states , and energetic wall-building continued into
28704-447: The wall. The morning came with most of our unit still behind us, but we were beyond the wall. Behind the gate great heaps of sandbags were piled up. We 'cleared them away, removed the lock, and opened the gates, with a great creaking noise. We'd done it! We'd opened the fortress! All the enemy ran away, so we didn't take any fire. The residents too were gone. When we passed beyond the fortress wall we thought we had occupied this city. As
28888-430: The walled city) in 1958, and has been restored. Over two centuries after the removal of the capital to Beijing, Nanjing was destined to become the capital of a Ming emperor one more time. After the fall of Beijing to Li Zicheng 's rebel forces and then to the Manchu -led Qing dynasty in the spring of 1644, the Ming prince Zhu Yousong was enthroned in Nanjing in June 1644 as the Hongguang Emperor. His short reign
29072-404: The walls of the marketplace of Chang'an were thicker than the walls of major European capitals. Aside from their immense size, Chinese walls were also structurally different from the ones built in medieval Europe. Whereas European walls were mostly constructed of stone interspersed with gravel or rubble filling and bonded by limestone mortar, Chinese walls had tamped earthen cores which absorbed
29256-436: The west and Guanyinmiao in the east. Guandimiao had Ming original statues, including the "three treasures" of Guandimiao: a precious sword, a Guandi painting, and a white jade horse statue. The Qing emperor would visit Guandimiao and light some incense each time he returned from a visit to the Temple of Heaven. The temples of Guandimiao and Guanyinmiao were dismantled during the Cultural Revolution. The watchtower at Zhengyangmen
29440-434: The wonders of the world. Both the Qing viceroy and the Taiping king resided in buildings that would later be known as the Presidential Palace . When Qing forces led by Zeng Guofan retook the city in 1864, a massive slaughter occurred in the city with over 100,000 estimated to have committed suicide or fought to the death. Since the Taiping Rebellion began, Qing forces allowed no rebels speaking its dialect to surrender. This
29624-456: The world. It was well populated and had a large craft industry. After Zhu Yuanzhang (known from his era as the Hongwu Emperor ) overthrew the Yuan and established the Ming dynasty , he renamed the city Yingtian ( 應天 ) , rebuilt it, and made it the dynastic capital in 1368, overseeing the surrounding areas under a special administration. The Hongwu Emperor constructed a 48 km (30 mi) long city wall around Yingtian , as well as
29808-478: Was "almost impervious to the efforts of horizontal fire." In fact twentieth century explosive shells had some difficulty creating a breach in tamped earthen walls. We fought our way to Nanking and joined in the attack on the enemy capital in December. It was our unit which stormed the Chunghua Gate. We attacked continuously for about a week, battering the brick and earth walls with artillery, but they never collapsed. The night of December 11, men in my unit breached
29992-492: Was 5,328 zhang (approximately 17,760 metres). The southern city consisted of the remnants of the Jin dynasty capital, Zhongdu . After the capital was moved to Beijing in 1406, the southern city wall was moved south by 2 li (about a kilometre). The original Dadu city walls were not destroyed, except for a small section that overlapped the planned Ming Imperial city. Nevertheless, Dadu's southern city walls were gradually torn down by people looking for free bricks and stones. During
30176-598: Was brought and placed in a grand mausoleum to cement Chiang's legitimacy. Chiang was born in the neighboring province of Zhejiang and the general area had strong popular support for him. In 1927, the Nationalist government proposed a comprehensive planning proposal, the Capital Plan ( 首都計劃 ), to reconstruct the war-torn city of Nanjing into a modern capital. It was a decade of extraordinary growth with an enormous amount of construction. A lot of government buildings, residential houses, and modern public infrastructures were built. During this boom, Nanjing reputedly became one of
30360-401: Was built in 1419. The name was changed during the Zhengtong era (1435–1449). The new name was taken from Zuo Zhuan : "崇文德也"('It is a virtue to respect civility'). The barbican, sluice gates, and a watchtower were built in the Zhengtong era. The gate tower was built in multi-eaved Xieshanding style, with grey and green glazed tiles. In 1900 the gate tower was destroyed by artillery fire during
30544-438: Was completely dismantled in the 1950s, and the inner walls were torn down starting in 1953. Meanwhile, a debate was raging as to whether to keep or to dismantle the remaining city walls. Architect Liang Sicheng was a leading advocate for keeping the walls. He recommended cutting more arches to accommodate new roads that would serve increased traffic needs, and suggested building a giant circum-city public park immediately outside
30728-427: Was completely redesigned. Many houses that had been used as residences by Ming dynasty inner cabinet officials were converted into housing for commoners, as were many imperial official's offices, servant's quarters, warehouses, and hay storage barns. The Han Chinese were forced to live in the Outer city or outside the city, as the Inner city residences became exclusively homes for the Eight Banners — Manchus related to
30912-434: Was damaged by fire in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion . The Hui and Dongxiang Muslim Kansu Braves under Muslim General Ma Fulu engaged in fierce fighting during the Battle of Peking (1900) at Zhengyangmen against the Eight-Nation Alliance . Ma Fulu and 100 of his fellow Hui and Dongxiang soldiers from his home village died in that battle. Indian soldiers used wood from the damaged tower as firewood that winter. The gate
31096-473: Was danger of enemy attack were soldiers stationed atop the city walls. During the Ming dynasty, Beijing was often under siege by Mongol and Manchu forces. The city of Beijing was totally closed many times, with commoners forbidden entrance into the city. During the Qing dynasty, Beijing's defense forces mainly relied on the Xiaoqiying, who were scattered in encampments within the Inner city, then mainly inhabited by Manchus. They were organized into Eight Banners:
31280-411: Was described by later historians as the first reign of the so-called Southern Ming dynasty . Zhu Yousong, however, fared a lot worse than his ancestor Zhu Yuanzhang three centuries earlier. Beset by factional conflicts, his regime could not offer effective resistance to Qing forces, when the Qing army, led by the Manchu prince Dodo approached Jiangnan the next spring. Days after Yangzhou fell to
31464-416: Was dismantled during the Cultural Revolution, workers discovered that the gate was the original Ming structure, using phoebe puwennensis wood. Some of the recovered wood was used during reconstruction work in the Forbidden city and Tiananmen. Xuanwumen ('Gate of Advocated Martiality') was located on western section of the southern wall. It was built in 1419 when Beijing's southern walls were expanded. Before
31648-411: Was dismantled in 1927. The watchtower platform and the barbican were dismantled in 1930, and the gate tower was dismantled in 1965. The giant cannons on Xuanwumen were fired at noon. Defensive wall Existing ancient walls are almost always masonry structures, although brick and timber-built variants are also known. Depending on the topography of the area surrounding the city or the settlement
31832-432: Was given though one exception was the carts that continually brought spring water from Mount Yuquan. The city streets had guards on constant patrol at night. Some streets had barricades erected at night to keep traffic away. The city walls normally had no soldiers on station, day or night. Most lived under the walls in encampments, with a few doing night shifts at gate towers, watchtowers and enemy sight towers. Only when there
32016-402: Was in place for the nine gates of the Inner city. The troops consisted of an equal distribution of Manchu, Mongol, and Han soldiers. The soldiers of the Chengmenling, in charge of protecting the city gates, came from these banners: Andingmen the Zhenglan banner, Deshengmen the Xianglan banner, Dongzhimen the Xiangbai banner, Xizhimen the Xianghong banner, Chaoyangmen the Zhengbai banner, Fuchengmen
32200-471: Was one of two historically significant instances of systematic civilian massacres in Nanjing, the other one was the Houjing Disturbance of the 6th century. The New York Methodist Mission Society's superintendent Virgil Hart arrived in Nanjing in 1881. After some time, he succeeded in buying land near the city's Southern Gate and Confucian Temple to build the city's first Methodist church, Western hospital and boys' school. The hospital would later be unified with
32384-477: Was reconstructed in the latter years of the Qing dynasty. Internal Affairs minister Zhu Qiqian ordered the barbican dismantled in 1915 to ease traffic congestion. The watchtower and gate tower were saved from demolition in 1965 on the orders of then premier Zhou Enlai . Chongwenmen ('Gate of Respectful Civility'), commonly called "Hademen", was located on the eastern section of the Inner city southern wall. Originally called "Wenmingmen ('The Door of Civilization'), it
32568-404: Was renamed Jiankang . Nanjing is also called Jincheng ( 金城 , Golden City), derived from Jinling City. The name Nanjing , which means "southern capital", was officially designated for the city during the Ming dynasty , about six hundred years later. In English, the spelling Nanking was traditional until pinyin , developed in the 1950s and internationally adopted in the 1980s, standardized
32752-423: Was selected as its new capital. However, the Qing Empire controlled large regions to the north, so the revolutionaries asked Yuan Shikai to replace Sun as president in exchange for the abdication of Puyi , the last emperor. Yuan demanded the capital be moved to Beijing (closer to his power base). In 1927, the Kuomintang (KMT; Nationalist Party) under Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek again established Nanjing as
32936-434: Was successively part of Kuaiji , Zhang and Danyang prefectures in Qin and Han dynasty, and part of Yangzhou region which was established as the nation's 13 supervisory and administrative regions in the 5th year of Yuanfeng in Han dynasty (106 BC). Nanjing was later the capital city of Danyang Prefecture, and had been the capital city of Yangzhou for about 400 years from late Han to early Tang . Six Dynasties
33120-414: Was the first time since the Ming dynasty that the city walls had been breached. In 1901 British troops tore down the eastern section of the Outer city walls at Yongdingmen to allow an extension of the railway eastwards to Zhengyangmen. This enabled the construction of the Zhengyangmen East railway station (the present Qianmen Station ). Here, British embassy and consulate staff could board trains to travel to
33304-431: Was the greatest advantage enjoyed by the star fort. As a result, sieges lasted longer and became more difficult affairs. By the 1530s the bastion fort had become the dominant defensive structure in Italy. Outside Europe, the star fort became an "engine of European expansion," and acted as a force multiplier so that small European garrisons could hold out against numerically superior forces. Wherever star forts were erected
33488-438: Was to build relatively low and thick walls of packed earth, which could both withstand the force of cannon balls and support their own, defensive cannon. Chinese wall-building practice was, by happenstance, extremely resistant to all forms of battering. This held true into the twentieth century, when even modern explosive shells had some difficulty in breaking through tamped earth walls. The Chinese Wall Theory essentially rests on
33672-445: Was to go, everything on the surface had to be demolished. Since demolishing houses and relocating people would have been such a great undertaking, the decision was made to build the metro line where the city walls and moats were located. The demolition work, which began in 1965, was under the supervision of Beijing city government's roads and development department. People and factories that hoped to gain access to building materials from
33856-427: Was too extensively protected. Between 13 August and 15 August 1900, when the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing, the fortifications withstood bombardment by cannon attacks for two full days before being overrun. The Qing forces took full advantage of their higher elevation and the protection of the thick walls to shoot Alliance troops. Russian and Japanese forces attempted several times to use nitrocellulose to blow
#262737