The City Wall in Xi an

Xi’an is one of Chinese cities of long history and rich culture inheritage. It’s City Wall and River impress me the most.At the time when Zhu Yuanzhang captured Huizhou, long before the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, he was adonished by a hermit named Zhu Sheng, who told him to “build high walls, store abundant provisions and take your time in proclaiming yourself emperor.” Zhu Yuanzhang followed his advice.
Once the whole country was unified, he sent orders to the local governments to build city walls on a large scale. Zhu assumed that “out of all the mountains and rivers in the world, the central Qin is the most strongly fortified and strategically Dynasty structure, as a result of a wall building campaign.There is a rampart every 120 meters apart, that extends out from the main wall. The top of the rampart is at the same level as the top of the wall. The ramparts were built to allow soldiers to see those enemies who would try to climb the wall. The distance between every two ramparts is just within the range of arrow shot from either side. This allowed soldiers to protect the entire wall without exposing themselves to the enemy.
There are altogether 98 of them on the wall; each has a sentry building on top of it.The weapons in ancient times were primitive. The gates of the city wall were the only way to go into and out of town. Therefore, these gates were important strategic points. The feudal rulers racked their brains to try to defend them. In Xi’an, each of the east, west, south and north gates consists of three gate towers. The main gate tower is called zhenglou, Zhalou is the gate tower with a suspension bridge, and Jianlou is the arrow tower. Zhalou tower stands away from the wall. It is used to lift and lower the suspension bridge. Jianlou tower is in the center of the others. There are square windows in the front and on the two sides to shoot arrows from. The zhenglou tower is the inner one and is also the main entrance to the city. Jianlou tower and zhenglou are connected by walls and the encircled area is called wongcheng in which soldiers could be stationed. From wongcheng, there are also horse passages leading to the top of the wall.
These are gradually ascending steps that make it easy for war horses to ascend and descend. There are altogether eleven horse passages aroud the city.A moat, wide and deep, runs around the city. Over the moat, there used to be a huge suspension bridge which cut off the way in and out of the city, once lifted.Thus, the Ming Dynasty city wall formed a complex and well-organized system of defense. It is also the most complete city wall that has survived through China’s long history. The city call itself is a true display of the ability and wisdom of the working people in ancient times. It provide invaluable and substantial material for the study of the history, military science, and architecture of the Ming Dynasty.
Taday, after the repairs that have been made on the wall by the lacal government, the city wall has taken on a new look. A circular around the city. The thriving trees and flowers, the rockeries in the park, and the buildings of classical Chinese architecture, together with the city wall, make Xi’an all the more beautiful.