EXIT

Taiping gate is at the end of Yingxiu street, which means peace in the world and peace all the year round. The photos taken from any angle here are of great style.

EXIT

Taiping gate is one of the thirteen gates of Ming Dynasty Capital in Nanjing Ming city wall. It is located at the south end of Longpan Road, Xuanwu District, Nanjing city. It faces north from south. It is the north gate of yingtianfu capital in Ming Dynasty. Outside is sanfasi. The city wall on the east side of the gate is called "dragon neck", so it is the only section of Nanjing city wall without moat.

Taiping gate is a single hole gate, with a gate ticket. The two wings of the city wall are built according to the mountain. Zhoushan is surrounded in the west, Fugui mountain is surrounded in the East, and the gate is between the two mountains. According to the danger of mountain and lake, it is located at the junction of Xuanwu Lake and Zijin Mountain, which is the nearest channel to guard Zijin Mountain and lead to the city. After reconstruction, the emergency gate was changed into a three hole city gate to facilitate traffic. Four lanes were set in the main gate opening, and two lanes were set in each of the two auxiliary gate openings. The width of the city gate was about 72 meters.

Taipingmen was built in the early years of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty. Because the gate is the seat of sanfasi, the central punishment Department of sanfasi often heard the cry of prisoners, so it was named Taipingmen in order to hope for peace and harmony in the city. In 1911, Xu Shaozhen led the Soviet and Zhejiang allied forces to recover Nanjing, and the city building was destroyed. In 1928, the capital plan of the national government proposed to change its name to FreeGate, but it was not implemented. From 1955 to 1958, the nationwide city demolition movement spread to Nanjing. The Nanjing municipal government successively demolished the Taipingmen section of the city wall, a total of 360 meters. In 2014, in order to reconnect the longneck section and the Jiuhuashan section of the city wall, the Taiping gate was rebuilt after the approval of the State Administration of cultural relics.

Historical evolution

In the early years of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty, Taipingmen was built. Taiping gate is located in the Northeast wall of the southern capital of Ming Dynasty. It is the main gate to the north of Nanjing City, Chaoyang Gate to the South and Shence gate to the northwest. Because the Guansuo, which represents the prison, is located in tianshiyuan, not taiweiyuan, which represents Tianting, the prison of Nanjing Ministry of punishment, duchayuan and Dalisi (the synthetic "sanfasi") is located outside guanchengfang in Ming Dynasty. The folk saying is that the cries of prisoners are often heard in the prison, and the common people call this place "Taiping" for peace of mind.

According to historical records, Zhu Yuanzhang built the capital of Nanjing and built the city wall. At that time, people believed that the thirteen gates in the capital should go up to the stars. Taipingmen, which belongs to the "Tianquan" star in the Big Dipper, is located at the junction of the dipper and the dipper. Taipingmen is called "Guansuo" - one of Ziwei Doushu Xingyao. Its main theme is to fight a lawsuit. As a result, the prison of the Ministry of punishment, duchayuan and Dali temple were set outside Taiping gate. Zhu Yuanzhang also set up a memorial archway outside the Taiping gate and wrote "Guancheng". He warned the officials in the court that if there were no other stars in the star ring surrounded by "Guansuo" at night, it would mean that the government was simple and the punishment was clear; otherwise, it would mean that there was a case of injustice.

In 1851, Hong Xiuquan launched an uprising in Jintian, Guangxi. Two years later, the Taiping army conquered Nanjing and renamed it "Tianjing", becoming the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. That year, Zeng Guofan, 42, was ordered to train his troops and resist the Taiping army. The Hunan army was the only military force that could resist the Taiping army.

In 1856, Zeng Guoquan, the younger brother of Zeng Guofan, recruited 3000 soldiers from Hunan to reinforce Ji'an, Jiangxi Province. In 1861, he captured Anqing.

In the first year of tongzhi (1862) of the Qing Dynasty, Zeng Guoquan's army arrived in the suburbs of Tianjing. Zeng Guoquan was good at besieging the city, and was good at long trench warfare, known as "Zeng Tietong". Two years of bloody siege day, Zijin West foot, located in the "dragon neck" area of the city was captured by the Xiang army, the Taiping army only left the last barrier - Taipingmen city wall. The Hunan army decided to dig a tunnel near the "dragon neck" and install explosives. The Xiang army built dozens of cannons to bombard the city. Under the cover of gunfire, the tunnel was finally completed, and more than 600 bags of gunpowder were filled under the wall. Before the fire, Zeng Guoquan held a military meeting to recommend the vanguard officers to attack the city. A total of 9 people are willing to make military orders, and Zhu Hongzhang, the named chief of the army, ranks first. They are known as "the first nine generals". On July 19, the gunpowder was ignited, and with a bang, the heaven and earth fell apart, and the Taiping gate wall collapsed. Under the fierce battle, the Taiping Army gradually lost. That night, Tianjing fell. After the city wall of Taipingmen was blasted open, historical records show that "more than 20 Zhang of the city wall were blasted open" at that time.

In 1886, the Qing government had the financial resources to repair the gap of the wall and set up a monument to record the events. Today's Taipingmen section of the city wall is obviously different from that on both sides - the color difference is obvious, which is related to the war.

In 1892, the destroyed Taipingmen tower was rebuilt.

In the third year of Xuantong (1911) of the Qing Dynasty, the Jiangsu Zhejiang allied forces during the 1911 revolution also occupied Tianbao city and then Nanjing.

In 1955, the Taipingmen section of the city wall began to be demolished.

In 1958, the Taiping gate was demolished and the city wall was demolished by 260 meters. In the following year, another 100 meters were added, and the 360 meter long city wall was demolished successively.

In 2014, in order to reconnect the longneck section and the Jiuhuashan section of the city wall, the Taiping gate was rebuilt after the approval of the State Administration of cultural relics.

Layout structure

The Taiping gate was originally a single hole gate with a gate ticket. The two wings of the city walls were built along the mountain. It is the nearest passage to the city from Zijin Mountain. It has always been a place for military strategists. Zijin Mountain to the east of Taiping gate is called "Panlong", and this section of the city wall is called "dragon neck". The Taiping gate guarding Zijin Mountain is very important to control the northern part of Nanjing, and the longneck area is the only city wall without water protection. Therefore, when the Qing army attacked the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Japanese army besieged Nanjing, this area was the main attack direction. During the period of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Tianbao city was built on the mountain and at the foot of Zijin Mountain outside the gate. After the fall of the two fortresses, the Qing army used tunnels to blast open the city wall and invade Nanjing.

The reconstructed emergency exit is a three hole gate, 72.6m wide, 18m wide and 18m high. The middle gate is 16m high and 12.5m high, and the two side gates are 11.2m high and 13.4m wide. It is the traffic condition of two-way 8-strand motor vehicle lane. The middle gate runs through 4-strand motor vehicle lanes, and the arch openings on both sides correspond to 2-strand motor vehicle lanes, 1-strand slow lane and 1-strand sidewalk. Among them, three straight lanes are near the west side of the gate; five out of town lanes include three straight lanes and one left and one right turn lane.

Anti Japanese war years

In November 1937, after the Japanese army captured Shanghai, they surrounded the capital Nanjing. On November 16, Chiang Kai Shek held a defense conference. He Yingqin, Bai Chongxi, Xu Yongchang and other generals believed that after the battle of Songhu, our army lost too much, and Nanjing was a Jedi tactically, so it could be listed as an "undefended city". But Tang Shengzhi volunteered to defend Nanjing. Therefore, Chiang Kai Shek appointed Tang Shengzhi as the commander of Nanjing garrison. At the critical moment, Chiang Kai Shek wrote in his diary: "Nanjing is a lonely city, but it is hard not to keep it. It is very difficult for the country and the people to cherish it." Even before he left, Chiang Kai Shek inspected the Zijinshan position and thought that he could hold it for two months. In accordance with the deployment of troops, the front line of Zijin Mountain and Taiping gate is defended by the general training team, with its chief GUI Yongqing and chief of staff Qiu Qingquan. The command post is located in the basement of Fugui mountain nearby. On December 1, the Nanjing defense war began. A few days later, the Japanese artillery fire was fierce, Zijinshan, Yuhuatai and other peripheral positions were all collapsed, and our army withdrew to the front line of the city wall. On December 12, Tang Shengzhi held a military meeting and decided to withdraw because he thought that Nanjing could not be defended by the city walls alone. After the meeting, Tang Shengzhi got on the car, drove straight to Xiaguan, and crossed the river by ship. After retreating from Taipingmen to the city, the Training Corps rushed to Xiaguan to cross the river along the South Bank of Xuanwu Lake. They were seriously injured. The witness recalled that after GUI Yongqing gave the order to withdraw, he left his troops and took the lead in running to Xiaguan. Chief of staff Qiu Qingquan lit a cigarette in the underground command post, holding a revolver in his left hand, loaded the bullet and stayed at the end.

When the officers and men of the teaching Corps came into the city from Taipingmen, they found a well-organized unit, with neat steps, walking silently towards the gate of the city, disappearing in the shadow of the north east of Zijin. "They are all Guangdong soldiers." Memories of those who have experienced it. This retreating army is the 66th army. The 66th army and the 83rd army belong to the Guangdong army. In the Nanjing defense war, the 66th army defended Jurong and Tangshan and gradually retreated to Taipingmen. After receiving the order to withdraw, commander Ye Zhao decided to lead the 159th and 160th divisions of the 66th army to break through from the north foot of Zijin Mountain. The officers and men of the 66th army fought bravely on the northern front line of Zijin Shandong Province, killing a bloody road. Luo Cequn, acting division commander of the 159th division, led the troops in advance. On the night of December 12, in order to cover the 83rd army, he personally led the troops to charge, chanting "you can't be a loser if you are too big to be a loser". He was shot and died. Si tufei, chief of staff of the 160th division, fought fiercely with the Japanese army in Jurong for three days to protect the large army. Huang Jifu, deputy brigade commander of the 477 brigade of the 159th division, broke through Taipingmen with his department, Sacrifice in battle However, the remaining troops forced to highlight the Japanese defense line and transferred to Anhui. On December 13, Nanjing fell, and the Japanese army massacred the unarmed Chinese soldiers and civilians. The peace gate has also become a place of killing. Today, there is a memorial to the victims outside the gate of Taiping. The inscription says that there are more than 1300 Chinese officers and soldiers who laid down their arms

Chinese PinYin : Tai Ping Men