Attraction in Xi'an: Ancient City Walls

Ancient City Walls: The Circumvallation of Ming Dynasty

The circumvallation of Ming Dynasty is not only the most well-kept ancient Chinese city wall, but the largest in scale and intact ancient military construction in the world.

The circumvallation was built on the base of the city wall of Sui (581-617A.D.) and Tang Dynasties (618-904A.D.) in the reign of Hongwu (1370-1378A.D.) of Ming Dynasty (1368-1627A.D). This strong and stable construction is 13,912 meters in circumference, 12 meters in height, the fundus is 18 meters in width and the top is 15 meters. The measurement of the wall's thickness is longer than that of highness. On the city wall, there is a series of military annexes such as the moat, pontlevis, brake gate towers, embrasure watchtowers, main towers, turrets, crenels and city gates etc. They made up of an integrated and air tight city defense system in the age of cold steel. The Circumvallation of Ming Dynasty provides abundant and precious information and human landscape for the visitors who are interested in the ancient wars directly.