Xingcheng city wall

Xingcheng city wall

Xingcheng city wall was first built in 1428, the third year of Xuande in Ming Dynasty. Now only Ningyuan inner city is left in Xingcheng city. After many repairs, it basically keeps its original appearance. It is the most complete ancient city of Ming Dynasty in China. The city wall is square with a circumference of 3274 meters. In the center of the four sides of the city wall, there are gates on each side, and arrow towers are built on the gates, which are two-story pavilions. The four corners of the city wall were set with platforms protruding from the corners of the city. In the southeast corner of the city, there is a Kuixing building. Xingcheng city wall is now a national key cultural relics protection unit.

Basic introduction

Xingcheng city walls is a city defense building in Ming and Qing Dynasties. In Xingcheng City, Liaoning Province. Xingcheng was called ningyuanwei in Ming Dynasty and changed to ningyuanzhou in Qing Dynasty. It is an important defensive city in Liaodong Great Wall defense system. The city wall was first built in 1428, the third year of Xuande in the Ming Dynasty, and then it was built and reinforced in succession in the early Qing Dynasty. Yuan Chonghuan, the general of Ming Dynasty, once fought against Nurhachi and Huangtaiji. In 1988, the State Council of the people's Republic of China announced it as a national key cultural relics protection unit.

Layout of city walls

The ancient city of Xingcheng was the Acropolis of Ningyuan in Ming Dynasty, which was changed into the state city of Ningyuan in Qing Dynasty. The city was first built in 1428, the third year of Xuande in Ming Dynasty. It is surrounded by five li and ninety-six steps, three Zhang high, four gates, Chunhe in the East, Yanhui in the south, Yongning in the west, Weiyuan in the north, and Zhonggulou in the middle street. In the fifth year of Xuande (1430), the outer city was built, which was as high as the inner city. Men4: Yuanan in the East, Yongqing in the south, Yingen in the West and Dading in the north. There are four gates with buildings, four corners with platforms, and a moat between the city walls. At the end of Ming Dynasty, yuan Chonghuan guarded Ningyuan. In order to resist the military attack of Nuerhachi, he spent two years to repair Ningyuan city. The city wall was "three Zhang and two feet high, pheasant six feet high, site three Zhang wide, two Zhang and four feet high". At the end of Ming Dynasty, it became the front of fighting against Nuzhen people. Xingcheng is the most intact ancient city wall in China.

City wall structure

The plane of the ancient city is square, 844 meters from north to South and 830 meters from east to west. The city wall is 8.5 meters high, with three layers of stone masonry at the base, 6.8 meters wide at the base and 4.5 meters wide at the top. The wall is made of brick outside and rough stone inside, with crenels outside, women's wall inside and rammed earth in the middle. The top of the wall is equipped with a layer of water nozzle for sea plastering brick. The fort is set at the four corners of the city wall, and the Kuixing tower added in the Qing Dynasty is on the southeast corner of the fort. The city wall is square with a circumference of 3274 meters. In the center of the four sides of the city wall, there are gates on each side, and arrow towers are built on the gates, which are two-story pavilions. The four corners of the city wall were set with platforms protruding from the corners of the city. In the southeast corner of the city, there is a Kuixing building. Xingcheng city wall is now a national key cultural relics protection unit. Xingcheng, an ancient coastal cultural city in Northeast China, occupies the throat of Liaoxi corridor with well-developed transportation. It has always been a place for military strategists. Xingcheng city wall is well preserved. Since 1984, the state has allocated funds for the comprehensive maintenance of the ancient city wall, and established a cultural relics storage center.

The city has four gates. Chunhe in the East, Yongning in the west, Yanhui in the South and Weiyuan in the north. The gate seat is 12.17 meters long and 13 meters wide. The four gates are all built with double eaves on the top of the mountain. They are three in width and one in depth. Outside the gate, there is a semicircle urn, 32 meters in outer diameter, both inside and outside of which are made of bricks. On the left side of the gate, there is a raceway, 21 meters long and 3.1 meters wide.

In the center of Shizi street in the city, there is a bell and Drum Tower, a square terrace and a cross ticket hole. The building has two floors, double eaves and Xieshan rolling shed roof. In the South Street, there are two high stone archways named by Zhu Youjian, the Ming emperor Sizong, for zudashou and zudali. There is a Qingjian Confucian temple in the southeast of the city. The layout of neighborhoods in the city basically maintained the system of the late Qing Dynasty. Xingcheng city wall is well preserved. Since 1984, the state has allocated funds for the comprehensive maintenance of the ancient city wall, and established a cultural relics storage center.

History of the city wall

Xingcheng has a long history. It has a history of more than 1000 years since the establishment of Xingcheng County in Liao Dynasty. In order to consolidate the rule of Northeast China and defend against the invasion of Mongolian tribes and nvzhenren, the Ming Dynasty set up 25 guards outside Shanhaiguan, one of which was ningyuanwei. In 1428, the third year of Xuande in Ming Dynasty, Wu Kai, the commander of Liaodong garrison, Bao Huaide, the imperial censor, and Wang Yan, the eunuch of Liaodong garrison, jointly invited the imperial court to build Ningyuan city. Two years later, the project was completed, which was called Ningyuan Acropolis at that time. There are 5600 garrisons in Ningyuan garrison. The garrison soldiers go out to battle in wartime and work in the fields in peacetime. Their families also come to settle down with the sergeants from all over the country, and their descendants gradually multiply. The commander of the Wei is called the commander of the Wei. He is not only the military commander of the Yi Wei, but also responsible for hearing civil cases in the area under his jurisdiction. This special military and political system adds mystery to Ningyuan city. After the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, Wei Jianzhou was withdrawn, and Ningyuan Acropolis was also renamed Ningyuan city. Ningyuan Prefecture governed the vast area from the east of Shanhaiguan to the west of Jinzhou. After the founding of the Republic of China, in 1914, because Ningyuan had the same name as Ningyuan Prefecture in Hunan, Shanxi, Yunnan and other provinces, the Ministry of internal affairs of the State Council of the Republic of China at that time submitted the approval of Yuan Shikai, the president of the Republic of China, to resume the use of the name of Xingcheng County in the Liao Dynasty, Ningyuan city was also called the ancient city of Xingcheng. Xingcheng city wall is the main building of Xingcheng ancient city.

Historical witness

After more than 570 years of ups and downs, Xingcheng city wall is still standing tall. It is one of the few ancient city wall buildings of Ming and Qing Dynasties in China today. It is a specimen of military defensive city of Ming Dynasty. Together with Pingyao City wall, Xi'an city wall and Jingzhou city wall, Xingcheng city wall is known as the four most complete ancient city walls preserved in China. It is also the only existing square city wall in China, which is protected by the cultural heritage of the United Nations and the European Union Industrial protection experts and a large number of Chinese and foreign tourists favor and concern. Scholars believe that the study of ancient Chinese wall, Xingcheng wall is essential. Xingcheng city wall as a whole is square. The foundation of the wall is made of stone, the outer wall is made of green brick, the inner wall is made of irregular stone, and the middle is made of rammed earth. The outer edge of the top of the city wall is built with crenels, which can be used by the garrison officers and soldiers to protect themselves, look out and shoot arrows; the inner edge is built with parapets, which are lower than the crenels, and play the role of strengthening the city wall. The brick surface used for walking is called "Haipeng", which is paved with green bricks, convex in the middle and low in the outside, so as to facilitate drainage and reduce the bearing pressure of rammed earth of the city wall. In March 1644, the peasant army led by Li Zicheng forced Beijing. Emperor Chongzhen hastily ordered Wu Sangui, the commander of Ningyuan, to abandon Ningyuan city and enter Guanqin. In this way, the Qing army occupied Ningyuan.

On September 28, 1948, the first division of the fourth column of the Northeast Field Army, led by Hu Qicai, the deputy commander of the column, liberated the ancient city of Xingcheng. At that time, PLA officers and soldiers broke through the city wall and entered the ancient city. However, in order to protect cultural relics and historic sites, they tried to avoid shooting at the city wall. More than 30 years later, General Hu Qicai returned to the ancient city and happily wrote: "the ancient city is back in the hands of the people.". So far, this inscription is still hanging on the bell and Drum Tower of the ancient city.

With the promotion of the popularity of Xingcheng city wall, tourism development has been booming, Chinese and foreign tourists come in droves, and the protection of cultural relics has also made remarkable progress. With the attention of the people's government, the crenels, parapets and sea plaques of some sections of the city wall damaged by the war have been restored, and Kuixing tower has reappeared its former style. The protection and maintenance of Xingcheng city wall has brought new vitality. On January 13, 1988, Xingcheng city wall was announced by the State Council as a national key cultural relic protection unit. The comprehensive research and cultural arrangement of the city wall also followed Step by step, a number of books or research papers on the Xingcheng city wall have been published; famous scholars from Tianjin University, Shanghai Tongji University and other universities have carefully prepared the protection plan for the Xingcheng city wall; films and TV plays such as "three enters the mountain city", "plain guerrillas", "Jinan campaign", "yuan Chonghuan", "Far East conspiracy" and "Sino Japanese land war" have been filmed in Xingcheng city wall Location: in 2001, the protection and development project of the ancient city of Xingcheng was started, and the city wall of Xingcheng was planned as a "city wall thinking of the ancient" tourist area. Visitors can not only marvel at the exquisite art of ancient Chinese architecture, but also go through the time and space of history, and recall the scenes of war in the late Ming Dynasty.

Construction art

In the center of the four sides of the city wall are gates, Chunhe gate in the East, Yanhui gate in the south, Yongning gate in the West and Weiyuan gate in the north. The archery tower, commonly known as the gate tower and the tower, was built on the gate. It is a two-story pavilion with high eaves and towering momentum. Beside the city gate, there are slope shaped horse paths for people to go up and down the city wall. Outside the city gate, there are semicircular urn cities, which are connected with the city wall. There is a Kuixing tower on the southeast corner of Xingcheng city wall, and there are turrets at the other three corners. During the war of Ming and Qing Dynasties, guns were set up on the turrets, and soldiers were stationed on the turrets to strengthen the defense of the city wall. At the bottom of the city wall not far from Kuixing tower, there is a water gate cave, which was built in the Ming Dynasty and is still well preserved. It is an ancient drainage facility.

The four main streets in the ancient city are the main roads of the ancient city. They are named Chunhe street, Yanhui street, Yongning Street and Weiyuan street because they follow the four gates. The people in the city are called East Street, South Street, West Street and North Street according to their location. There are many time-honored shops on both sides of the street, among which the South Street is the most concentrated, so it has the reputation of "a street in the Ming Dynasty". The four streets are regularly distributed in a cross shape, so they are also called cross street. At the intersection of cross street is a bell and Drum Tower.

The bell and Drum Tower echoes with the four archery towers of the city wall, and the bell and Drum Tower is a two-story Pavilion

Chinese PinYin : Xing Cheng Cheng Qiang