Ancient City Wall in Pingyao

The Pingyao ancient town was first built in the Xizhou dynasty, and it has a history of about 2700 years. It is a town that is completely constructed according to the traditional planning ideas and layout pattern of the Han nationality people. In 1986, the State Department announced it to be the most famous historical and cultural town in China. In 1997, the Pingyao ancient town was listed to be a World Culture Heritage by UNESCO.

Ancient City Wall in Pingyao

In many historical and cultural sights, the Pingyao City Wall is a must-see. The City Wall in Pingyao was first built in 827 B.C. In the early days of the Ming Dynasty, in order to prevent the enemies from invading, all the cities in China began to build the City Wall to defend themselves. The City Wall in Pingyao was also built at that time. The ancient Pingyao town had been repaired 26 times. At the beginning period of the Qing Dynasty ( in 1703), the emperor patrolled passing Pingyao town, so the people in Pingyao especially built four city gate towers, which made the Pingyao town more spectacular.

The Pingyao City Wall is planned according to the principle of "right crop for right land" and "make it the stronghold by using the strategic place". The east wall, west wall, and north wall are straight, but the south wall is built wriggled by the river. The perimeter of the City Wall is 6157.7 meters. The City Wall is 6 to 10 meters tall. The top of the City Wall is 3 to 6 meters wide and the bottom of the City Wall is 9 to 12 meters wide. The moat is built outside the City Wall and it is ten feet in width and in depth.

Ancient City Wall in Pingyao

There are 6 city gates in all. Both the east and west city walls have two city gates. Both the south and the north city walls have one city gate. On the east and west City Wall, there built Wengcheng to defend. Wengcheng is a whistle-stop outside the city gate. It is often round or square. The Wengcheng in Pingyao is square. When the enemies come, it is good for people to defend from two different directions. Wengcheng has two gates, the outside gate, and the inside gate. In normal times, it is used to check the passing travelers. And if someone is suspicious, give an alarm, and the two gates will shut. And the person who is closed is in an inescapable situation. There is an idiom in Chinese "Weng Zhong Zhuo Bie" (Catch a turtle in the pot, which means a sure catch) to describe this situation, so the name Wengcheng comes from this idiom.

Outside the city gate, hanging bridges were built. It is said that there are 3000 crenels and 72 watchtowers on the City Wall. It means that Confucius has 3000 disciples and 72 oracles.

The Pingyao City Wall has an exquisite structure and intensive design and construction. It shows the wisdom of ancient labor men. The City Wall is an indispensable part of the world heritage of Pingyao ancient town.

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