Postcards of Xi'an's City Walls

Xi'an, situated in the centre of the Guanzhong Plain, is the capital of Shaanxi Province. Xi'an, called Changan in the ancient times, is one of the 6 great ancient capitals. It served as capital sites for 13 dynasties respectively, including Zhou, Qin, Han, Sui and Tang, lasting for over 1,000 years. The present remaining City Wall, taking 8 years in construction, was built in the 3rd year of Emperor Hong Wu (1370 A.D.) of the Ming Dynasty on the former site of Royal City in the Tang Dynasty. The City Wall is 12 meters high, 13.74 km long, 12-14 meters wide on the top and 15-18 meters wide at the bottom. The west-east direction is a little more longer than the north-south direction. The whole City Wall forms a rectangle. ON the top of the wall there is a Dilou (rampart for stationing army) every 120 meters, totalling 98. In the East Gate, South Gate, West Gate and North Gate, there each builds a small inner city (or a compound), attaching which there is a city tower and a Jianlou (rampart for shooting arrows) respectively. Out of each Jianlou, on the side of the city moat, there builds a Qiaolou (watching rampart) for controlling the rise and fall of the drawbridge over the city moat. Today the City Wall of Xi'an is the best-preserved, best-equipped and slidest ancient fighting and defending system. It is also one of the treasured cultrual legacies the ancient people left.