Shence gate

Shence gate

Shence gate is one of the thirteen gates of Ming Dynasty Capital in Nanjing Ming city wall, also known as peace gate. It is located to the east of central gate in Xuanwu District of Nanjing city and to the west of Nanjing railway station, facing north and south. It is a relatively complete preserved gate in Nanjing Ming City wall and the only gate with dysprosium building before the Republic of China.

Shence gate is the only outer urn gate in the Ming Dynasty city wall of Nanjing. There is a outer urn with two gate walls. The urn has two left and right gate openings, which are not directly opposite to the gate. The gate is a single hole arch structure. On the gate is a three Bay double eaves qiaolou rebuilt in the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty.

Shence gate was built in the first year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty, and was built in the ninth year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty (1376). In the summer of 1928, the national government changed the name of Shence gate to Heping gate, and changed Shence gate into a large oil depot. In 1956, the Nanjing Military Region took over the area and still used it as an oil depot, forbidding people to visit it. In 2001, the Nanjing Military Region handed over the shencemen oil depot to the Nanjing Municipal People's government and turned it into shencemen park. In November 2012, Nanjing, as the leading city of the project of "Chinese Ming and Qing Dynasty city wall", where Shence gate is located, was included in the preparatory list of China's world cultural heritage.

Historical evolution

In the early years of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty, Shence gate was built. According to the records of Ming history, Shence gate played an important role in military defense. Liu Bowen, the military adviser Prime Minister of Zhu Yuanzhang, personally surveyed and planned the construction of Shence gate, which fully reflected the idea of taking different methods to build the city according to local conditions in different areas and different environmental conditions.

In 1376, Shence gate was built. It was named Shence gate because of the elite forbidden army "Shence guard" stationed there. After its completion, the Ming government stationed thousands of households here.

In June of the 16th year of Shunzhi (1659) of the Qing Dynasty, Zheng Chenggong, a national hero, with the confidence of regaining the power of the Ming Dynasty, marched north to Nanjing. Zheng's army was stationed in the area of Shence gate, ready to attack the city. As a result, when Zheng Chenggong was paralyzed, the Qing army went out of Shence gate at night and defeated Zheng army, but Zheng Chenggong had no choice but to return to Xiamen. Then the Qing government changed the name of Shence gate to "Desheng Gate".

In September of the second year of tongzhi (1863), Shence gate became one of the key areas for the Qing army to attack the Taiping army. At that time, the wall near Shence gate was bombed twice, but the Taiping Army soldiers stuck to the urn and defeated the Qing army. The first siege of the Taiping army took place in Shence gate. Zhang Jigeng of the Taiping Army rebelled several times and was caught. His accomplice, together with the Qing army, was ready to attack Shence gate. However, the Taiping army organized defense in time and strengthened the fortifications of Shence gate with large wooden piles and iron chains. The Qing army had to retreat and set a commercial street outside Shence on fire before retreating. It was not until the third year of Tongzhi that the Taiping army was defeated because of its poor strength. With the fall of the whole capital at the end of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Qing army first attacked the Taiping gate, then divided into several routes, one of which was along the city wall to Shence gate, and finally Shence gate was captured by the Qing army.

In the summer of 1928, the national government thought that the name of zhuchengmen in Nanjing was feudal and superstitious, which did not conform to the social spiritual system of the Republic. Instead, it changed Shence gate into peace gate, and Shence gate urn city into a large oil depot - the oil depot of American Asiatic fire oil company.

In April 1929, Liu Jiwen, the mayor of Nanjing, wrote a letter asking the national government to write a plaque. Hu Hanmin, the president of the Legislative Yuan, wrote the word "peace gate", which is still clearly visible.

During the Anti Japanese War, the Japanese army occupied Nanjing and built the urn outside Shence gate into a Japanese gasoline depot.

In 1956, the Nanjing Military Region took over the area. Shence gate was set up as a military oil depot by the Nanjing Military Region. The function of the oil depot lasted for 70 years. In these 70 years, Shence gate became a mysterious military forbidden zone, and citizens were forbidden to visit.

In 2001, the Nanjing Military Region handed over the shencemen oil depot to the local people's Government of Nanjing city. The relevant cultural relics department of Nanjing city has cleaned up the collapsed, expanded and loosened walls, repaired the earliest preserved city building in Nanjing, and opened up the shencemen park. At the same time, the Nanjing Municipal Bureau of cultural relics has included Shence gate into the Nanjing Ming City Wall History Museum, and the two scenic spots use pass tickets.

In November 2012, Nanjing, as the leading city of the project of "Chinese Ming and Qing Dynasty city wall", where Shence gate is located, was included in the preparatory list of China's world cultural heritage.

Layout structure

Nanjing city gate in Ming Dynasty, the related legend is a folk doggerel: "Thirteen inside, eighteen outside, a bolt outside." This gate, which is described as "the bolt facing out", refers to the Shence gate of Nanjing in Ming Dynasty. The folk doggerel vividly summarizes its special architectural form. Before the construction of the inner city wall of Nanjing in Ming Dynasty, the traditional shape of the urn was set outside the main city gate, that is, the outer urn structure. Urn city is an ancient city attached to the gate, and the city wall as one of the ancillary buildings, mostly semi-circular. When the enemy invades the urn, if the main city gate and the urn gate are closed, the garrison will be able to catch turtles in the urn. During the construction of Nanjing city wall in Ming Dynasty, the urn was generally located in the gate, which was called inner urn, just like Jubao gate (Zhonghua Gate) in Ming Dynasty. Only Shence gate still adopts the ancient outer urn structure, so it has become the most unique structure among the thirteen gates.

The construction of the outer urn at Shence gate is mainly to make the best use of the steep mountains. During the construction of the Ming Dynasty city wall, we tried our best to "make the most of the danger" and go to the dangerous places. Therefore, if the urn city is built in the gate of Shence gate, the hill will be enclosed in the gate and the urn city instead, which is very unfavorable for defensive attack, so the urn city design of Shence gate is built outside the gate.

Of the thirteen inner city gates of the Ming Dynasty city wall in Nanjing, twelve of them have only one door opening, but Shence gate has two left and right door openings. Liu Bowen, the Prime Minister of the Ming Dynasty, believed that this was a place for military strategists to fight for, so they must be able to attack and defend. Usually, only one cave was opened, and the other was closed. It can only be opened when the military situation is urgent and absolutely necessary.

Shence gate is small in scale. The gate is inside and the urn is outside. The urn gate is not facing the gate, but is opened in the northeast corner of the urn. Therefore, Shence gate in Nanjing in Ming Dynasty is also called outer urn gate. Today's Shence gate is a well preserved city gate in Nanjing. There are still one urn gate and one voucher gate. It is a wooden gate with three intermittent towers and a city gate rebuilt in the late Qing Dynasty.

Legends and anecdotes

The "victory" Shence gate of the Qing army

In the 13th year of the Yongli reign of the Southern Ming Dynasty (1659, the 16th year of Shunzhi reign of the Qing Dynasty), general Zheng Chenggong of the Southern Ming Dynasty was ordered to lead the army to attack the Qing army in the southeast coastal areas of China and attack Jiangning prefecture (now Nanjing City), the southeast important town of the Qing government. Zheng Chenggong's 100000 troops camped in 83 companies in Baitushan (today's Mufushan) outside Nanjing City, cutting off the land and water transportation, making Nanjing City (today's old city within the wall of the southern capital) a lonely city with only 10000 Qing troops stationed. Two big battles between Zheng Chenggong's army and the Qing army outside Shence gate killed more than 1000 people of the Qing army. Lang tingzuo, governor of Liangjiang in the Qing Dynasty, ordered that the gate of Shence gate should be closed and not go to war. While asking for help, he tried to delay his time by pretending to surrender. Zheng Chenggong was proud of the enemy in his victory. He agreed to the Qing emissary's request for a month's grace. He stood still and waited for the Qing army to open the door to offer the city. The Qing army found that Zheng's garrison at the foot of Baitu mountain was extremely lax, so they chose this as a breakthrough. On the night of July 21 in the 13th year of Yongli (the 16th year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty, 1659), the Qing army quietly opened the right door of Shence gate, sneaked out of the city, attacked Zheng Jun, and came back with a small victory in the morning. After the victory of the Qing army, their morale was greatly boosted, and they swarmed out of the city from Shence gate to fight. Zheng's army was caught off guard, rushed to the battle, and retreated in chaos. After the battle of Baitushan, more than ten generals and tens of thousands of soldiers were killed in Zheng Chenggong's army. The victory of Zheng Chenggong's Northern Expedition, which was known as the "southeast earthquake", disappeared. In order to celebrate the victory of the Qing army, Emperor Shunzhi of the Qing Dynasty issued an imperial edict to change the name of Shence gate to "Desheng Gate".

Two security doors in Ming Dynasty

Of course, the gate has both the city and the gate. The city gate of Shence gate in Ming Dynasty in Nanjing is two doors made of Chinese fir and iron clad in Ming Dynasty. Now the wooden gate of Shence gate in Nanjing is made in Tongzhi period of Qing Dynasty, not the original one in Ming Dynasty.

Two or three meters behind the gate, there is a stone trough about 15 cm wide. This stone trough is where the Qianjin gate was put in the past. The function of the Qianjin gate in the ancient city wall is equivalent to the anti-theft door in today's families. The Qianjin gate goes straight to the top of the city wall. When the gate is opened in the daytime, the Qianjin gate is received to the top of the city wall. Now there is a slot on the top of the city wall through which the Qianjin gate passes. Starting the Qianjin gate requires at least four people to operate synchronously. The soldiers need to turn the capstan on the two wooden pillars in the gate building on the city platform. The capstan is round and made of wood. The capstan is connected with the wooden pillars by four wooden poles, which can play the role of transmitting strength. When the wooden column rotates, it is connected with the wooden door through the rope at the lower end of the wooden column, and finally the Qianjin gate is lifted up.

In the Ming Dynasty, the management of the city gate in the capital and even in the middle and late Ming Dynasty was very strict. There was a system called "point gate", that is, every night gate

Chinese PinYin : Shen Ce Men