Yongning gate

Yongning gate is the South Gate of Xi'an city wall. It was built in the early Sui Dynasty. At that time, it was the east gate of the three gates in the south of the imperial city. It was originally called anmen gate. In the late Tang Dynasty, it was left as the south gate when the new city was built in Han Dynasty, and changed to Yongning gate in Ming Dynasty. Now yongningmen is a traffic around the island. There is Nanmen square outside, Nandajie inside and nanguanzheng street outside.

Yongning gate

Yongning gate, the South Gate of Xi'an city wall, is located in the west of the middle of the south wall. It was originally the "anmen gate" in the South and east of Chang'an Imperial City in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, but it was reserved in the late Tang Dynasty when Han built and rebuilt the new city. From the 7th to the 11th year of Hongwu (1374 to 1378) in Ming Dynasty, Xi'an city was expanded. This gate was still used as the south gate and changed its name to "Yongning gate". But in Sui and Tang Dynasties, the lintel type three door opening was changed into brick arch type single door opening. After the Qing Dynasty, the Republic of China, followed up to now. In June of the first year of the Republic of China (1912), Zhang Fengdan, the governor of Shaanxi Province, once wrote lintels for Yongning gate.

Today, Yongning gate completely retains the shape of "three gates and three towers" in Ming Dynasty.

Yongning gate building was built in the ninth year of Chongzhen (1636). In 1643, Li Zicheng attacked Xi'an and destroyed the gate building. In 1656, Chen Jixin, governor of Shaanxi Province, presided over the reconstruction. In the early years of the Republic of China, the gate building was demolished, and the moon city and suspension bridge were also destroyed. In September 1990, the moon city, gate building and suspension bridge were rebuilt.

The archery tower of Yongning gate was built in 1378, the 11th year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty. In 1926, Zhensong army besieged Xi'an and was destroyed in the war. In April 2014, Jianlou was rebuilt.

The main building of Yongning gate, which used to be a gate tower, was rebuilt in 1378, the 11th year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty. Later, it was repaired in 1526, the Qing Dynasty, the Republic of China and the Republic of China.

Yongning gate is no longer responsible for urban traffic. In 1956, three ticket holes were opened on both sides of the gate for vehicles and pedestrians.

Historical evolution

In 1369, when Ming Dynasty General Xu Da entered Shaanxi from Shanxi, he changed the original Fengyuan road to Xi'an mansion, which means "long-term stability in the west", thus starting the rule of the Ming Dynasty in Xi'an and the prelude of the Ming Dynasty building the city wall in Xi'an.

As early as before the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, when Zhu Yuanzhang conquered Huizhou, a hermit named Zhu Sheng told him that he should "build walls high, accumulate grain widely and become king slowly". Zhu Yuanzhang adopted these suggestions. When the whole country was unified, he ordered all prefectures and counties to build cities. Because Xi'an had a very high political and military position in history, the Ming Dynasty paid more attention to the construction of Xi'an city wall in the process of building the city wall all over the country.

Zhu Yuanzhang thought that "in the mountains and rivers of the world, only the middle name of Qin Dynasty is dangerous and solid.". The ancient city wall of Xi'an was built on the basis of the old city of Tang Dynasty under the leadership of Pu Ying, the governor of Xi'an. It took eight years from 1370 to 1378 to complete the construction of Xi'an city wall. Xi'an city wall is a grand building with well-designed functions and a rectangular city.

Completely around the "defense" strategic system, the thickness of the wall is greater than the height, and it is as stable as a mountain. The top of the wall can be used for sports and training. The city wall includes a series of military facilities, such as moat, suspension bridge, gate tower, arrow tower, main tower, turret, enemy tower, female wall, crenel, etc.

The repaired Xi'an city wall is 2590 meters long in the East, 2631.2 meters long in the west, 3441.1 meters long in the south, 3241 meters long in the north and 13.75 kilometers long in the circumference. It is a rectangle with a height of 12 meters, a width of 12-14 meters at the top and a width of 15-18 meters at the bottom. Each corner of the city wall has a corner wall, and there are moats outside the city wall. Every 120 meters of the city wall, an enemy platform is built, protruding outside the city wall, with the top level with the wall. This is designed for shooting enemies who climb the city. Half of the distance between the enemy platforms is just within the effective range of the bow and arrow, so it is convenient to shoot the enemy attacking the city from the side. There are 98 enemy towers on the wall, on which there are garrison towers.

There are four gates: Changle in the East, Anding in the west, Yongning in the South and Anyuan in the north. Each gate has three towers: Gate Tower, arrow tower and main tower. The main building is 32 meters high and more than 40 meters long. It's a hilltop style with four corners and three double eaves. The bottom floor is surrounded by an ambulatory. It's ancient and magnificent.

Yongning gate is the South Gate of Xi'an city wall. It was built in the early Sui Dynasty. At that time, it was the east gate of the three gates in the south of the imperial city. It was originally called anmen gate. In the late Tang Dynasty, it was left as the south gate when the new city was built in Han Dynasty, and changed to Yongning gate in Ming Dynasty. Now yongningmen is a traffic around the island. There is Nanmen square outside, Nandajie inside and nanguanzheng street outside.

Rebuilding city building

After the construction around the city began, the first thing to do was to repair and reinforce the city towers and arrow towers at the north and East gates. In September 1983, the underground air raid shelter in the south of beimenjianlou was reinforced, so that the building sank from 8-9 mm to 1 mm every day. After that, the East Gate Tower and arrow tower were repaired.

Enemy tower

From April 1983 to the end of 1987, 12 enemy towers were rebuilt on the city wall. According to the schematic diagram of the late Qing Dynasty and relevant data, the enemy towers were designed with double eaves, three rooms and two floors on the surface and covered with porch columns on the lower layer. The foundation is 14.3 meters long, 9.1 meters wide and 8.8 meters high.

Kuixing Building

According to the existing frame foundation design, a Kuixing building is built in the original site of the south city wall 607 meters away from the South Gate Tower. It has four slopes, two eaves, a square, and a side length of 9.4 meters.

Horse road

Most of the gatehouses are antique archways, with 14 new gatehouses. The antique management room is the working place of the city wall management personnel. It is close to the entrance of the horse road inside the city wall. The room is simple and beautiful, and has become a scenic spot along the inner ring road.

Gate building

The gate building was rebuilt in May 1989 at the same time as the South Gate moon city. Based on the cover photo of Xi'an miracle compiled and published by Zhang Junqing in 1932. The building is equipped with the hoisting facilities of suspension bridge, and the antique winch type is built according to the records of Wubei. The main project was completed at the end of 1989 and completed in September 1990.

Restoration of city walls

According to the principle of "repair the old as the old" and "do not change the original state of cultural relics", the wall maintenance and reinforcement works were carried out according to the structural specifications of the wall in the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. By the end of 1990, the following projects have been completed: ① measuring rammed earth and brick inside the wall; ② plugging the cave; ③ helping and repairing the outside of the wall; ④ repairing the top of the wall by sea; ⑤ repairing the buttress wall and parapet; ⑥ repairing 144 water channels inside the wall; ⑦ building and repairing 13 horse roads (or steps); and Ⅷ rebuilding the moon city of yongningmen (dananmen) (9) repair the gap. By the end of 1990, there were four openings to be repaired: the railway station opening from Jiefang Road square to the east of Shangjian road opening to the east of Shangqin road opening; the opening of Dongwu road; the opening of Yuxiang gate; the opening of Xiaobei gate. The total length is about 1100 meters.

Repair information

the Qing dynasty

In the early Qing Dynasty, successive governors of Shaanxi Province repaired the city walls of Xi'an many times and dredged the moats for many times in order to consolidate the city defense equipment

In 1656, Chen Jixin, governor of Shaanxi Province, rebuilt the city wall of Xi'an, rebuilt the main building of the east gate and the Yuecheng building of the south gate which were destroyed in the late Ming Dynasty, and dredged the moat, which was 4500 feet long, 2 feet deep and 8 feet wide.

In the first year of Kangxi (1662), governor Bai Rumei and governor Jia Hanfu repaired the city walls of Xi'an. On Thursday, they were 332 feet high, 3 feet high, 4 feet thick, 6 feet thick, 3 feet thick and 8 feet thick, and dredged the city trenches to 3 feet deep.

In September of 1737, the second year of Qianlong reign, Cui Jixing, the governor of Shaanxi Province, dredged the Longshou canal and Tongji canal to lead into the water trench because there was a trench in Xi'an city without water.

In the 28th year of Qianlong (1763), the governor of Shaanxi Province, e Bi, continued to repair the walls of Xi'an and dredge the moats.

In 1781, Bi Yuan, governor of Shaanxi Province, renovated Xi'an city wall. The main works include repairing the city wall, strengthening the wall with stone bricks, rebuilding the enemy tower, repairing the gutter, repairing the tower and dredging the moat. This is the second comprehensive maintenance of Xi'an city wall since the Ming Dynasty.

In the late Qing Dynasty, Xi'an city walls and moats were still repaired and dredged many times.

In the first year of tongzhi (1862), the Qing army built Xi'an Xiguan and Beiguan, and added Donglu pier.

In the second year of tongzhi (1863), general muteng azuo dug and dredged the moat of Xi'an.

In the fourth year of tongzhi (1865), Yuan Baoheng, who was in charge of the western grain levy, repaired the city walls of Xi'an.

In the 22nd year of Guangxu (1896), the Longshou canal was destroyed and the moat of Xi'an city was dried up. The Qing army knew that Wang Wa dredged the Longshou canal and diverted water into the moat, so that "the water in the pond was unblocked.".

Wei Guangtao, the governor of Shaanxi Province in 1898, and Shengyun, the governor of Shaanxi Province in 1903, dredged Tongji canal and channeled water into trench for many times.

Many times of reinforcement and repair in the Qing Dynasty made Xi'an city more solid, neat in appearance, wide and deep in trench, tight in defense and magnificent on the basis of the Ming Dynasty. The large-scale repair from 1781 to 1786 (1) Bi Yuan, governor of Shaanxi Province, put forward the motion of wall maintenance. Xi'an, as the largest regional central city in the west of China, is safe in the northwest

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