China has a long history, there are many ancient cities, but many have disappeared in the long river of history, and some only some remain. Today, the four most complete ming dynasty ancient cities are Xi'an Ancient City, Jingzhou Ancient City, Xingcheng Ancient City and Pingyao Ancient City, and today we will introduce these ancient cities.
1. Xi'an Ancient City
Xi'an, known as Hojing and Chang'an in ancient times, is located in the middle of the Guanzhong Plain, bordering the Wei River in the north and the Qinling Mountains in the south, with a superior geographical location and an ideal place to build the capital. In history, thirteen dynasties of Western Zhou, Qin, Western Han, Xinmang, Eastern Han (Xiandi Chu), Western Jin (Emperor Huan), Former Zhao, Former Qin, Later Qin, Western Wei, Northern Zhou, Sui, and Tang built their capitals in Xi'an.
Xi'an City Wall is the largest and most complete preserved ancient city wall in China today. The Xi'an City Wall is a Ming Dynasty city wall, built in the seventh year of Hongwu (1374) on the basis of the old city of the Sui and Tang Dynasties. At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang was not very satisfied with the capital Nanjing, attached great importance to Xi'an, planned to move the capital to Xi'an, and sent the crown prince Zhu Biao to investigate, but the early death of the prince made the matter of moving the capital impossible. However, Xi'an was the fiefdom of Zhu Yuanzhang's second son, Zhu Zhu, the King of Qin, and the city was the same city, and the scale of the city was grand and strong, second only to the imperial city.
Picture - The South Gate of Xi'an Ancient City
The existing ancient city wall of Xi'an is 12 meters high, the top width is 12-14 meters, the bottom width is 15-18 meters, the circumference is 13.74 kilometers, and the area is 11.32 square kilometers. Xi'an City Wall originally had four main gates: Changle Gate (East Gate), Yongning Gate (South Gate), Anding Gate (West Gate), Anding Gate (West Gate), Anden Gate (North Gate), and later for the convenience of transportation, a number of new gates were opened, increasing to 18. Xi'an City Wall has a strict defense system, including a series of military facilities such as moats, suspension bridges, gate towers, arrow towers, main towers, corner towers, enemy towers, daughter walls, and battlements, which are easy to defend and difficult to attack.
2. The ancient city of Jingzhou
The ancient city of Jingzhou, located on the banks of the Yangtze River, is irregularly rectangular. The ancient city of Jingzhou has a very important position in history, and is one of the few existing ancient city walls in China that is relatively well preserved, and the only intact ancient city wall in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. The city has an east-west diameter of 3.75 kilometers, a north-south diameter of 1.2 kilometers, an area of 4.5 square kilometers, a circumference of 10.5 kilometers, a height of 8.83 meters, a total of six gates, each of which has a tower built on it.
When it comes to the ancient city of Jingzhou, many people think that it is the capital of the Chu State, Yingdu, but in fact, it is not the case, and the capital of the Chu State is in Jingzhou Ji NanCheng. The ancient city of Jingzhou was originally the official ship dock of the Chu State, and only when the King of Chu became king did he build a palace here - Zhu Palace, and after the Qin State attacked the capital of Ying, Jiangling County was set up, and the ancient city of Jingzhou was the seat of governance. The ancient city of Jingzhou was the most prominent in the Three Kingdoms period, inevitably destroyed by war, repeatedly abandoned and repaired over the centuries, and now the ancient city wall of Jingzhou was built during the Ming and Qing dynasties.
3. Xingcheng Ancient City
Speaking of Xingcheng Ancient City, many people may not be familiar with it, but its other name, Ningyuan Ancient City, you must know. This is the city guarded by the famous general Yuan Chonghuan at the end of the Ming Dynasty, who repeatedly thwarted the large-scale attacks of Houjin at Ningyuan City.
Xingcheng City is located in the southwest of Liaoning Province, on the west bank of Liaodong Bay, in the middle of the Western Liaoning Corridor, surrounded by mountains and rivers, the northwest is the Songling Mountains continue to be mountainous, the central part is mostly hilly, the southeast is bordered by the Bohai Sea, and the coast is a coastal plain. During the Ming Dynasty, in order to defend against forces such as the Northern Yuan and the Jurchens, many guards were set up in Liaodong, and Xingcheng was where Ningyuan Wei was located. In 1914, because of the heavy name, Ningyuan, who had once been famous, changed his name to Xingcheng.
Ningyuan City is backed by the hills of western Liaoning, south of the Bohai Sea, and in the middle of the western Liaoning Corridor, which is the throat of the Liaodong region to the Central Plains. The terrain is dangerous and easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it is a place where soldiers must fight for it. Yuan Chonghuan led the Ningyuan garrison to repeatedly repel the attacks of Nurhaci and Huang Taiji, and achieved the "Great Victory of Ningyuan".
Ningyuan City is the only square acropolis, with walls about 8.8 meters high and a circumference of about 3200 meters. At the four corners of the city wall, there were forts protruding outwards, and Nurhaci was injured by the Hongyi cannons on the forts. There is a gate in each of the four directions of the city wall, namely: Chunhe Gate, Yanhui Gate, Yongning Gate, and Weiyuan Gate.
There are arrow towers on the city gates, and semi-circular urns outside the city gates. In the center of the ancient city, there is a bell and drum tower, which echoes the four city gate arrow towers. The ancient city used to have an inner city and an outer city, but the outer city has fallen, and now only the inner city remains. Outside the ancient city, there is the Xingcheng West River in the south, the Xingcheng East River in the north and east, and the moat in the west, so it is really not easy to break through such a strong city.
4. Pingyao Ancient City
In the central region of Shanxi, there is The Taiyue Mountain in the east and the Lüliang Mountains in the west, and the Fenhe River flows from north to south between the two mountains, forming the Taiyuan Basin, and Pingyao is located on the east bank of the Fenhe River in the Taiyuan Basin. The ancient city of Pingyao has a long history, and was first built more than 2,800 years ago during the Spring and Autumn Period when Ji Jing, the King of Zhou Xuan.
In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, Pingyao City was already in ruins, and in 1370 it began to be rebuilt on the basis of the old city of Pingyao, and then continuously repaired to finally form its current size. Pingyao Ancient City has six gates on the east and west sides, one on the north and south sides, shaped like a turtle, and the ancient city of Pingyao is also known as the Turtle City. The ancient city of Pingyao is not due south and due north, and it is said that in ancient times, only the imperial palace was eligible for due south and north.
The ancient city of Pingyao is more magical, in the long 600 years, escaped all kinds of wars, perfectly preserved, now almost the same as the Ming Dynasty, every year people come here to play in an endless stream.