西安城墙英文介绍

When Zhu Yuanzhang, the first Emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), captured Huizhou,

a hermit named Zhu Sheng admonished him that he should 'built high walls, store abundant food

supplies and take time to be an Emperor,' so that he could fortify the city and unify the other

states.

After

the

establishment

of

the

Ming

dynasty,

Zhu

Yuanzhang

followed

his

advice

and

began

to enlarge the wall built initially during the old Tang dynasty (618 -907), creating the modern

Xian City Wall. It's the most complete city wall that has survived in China, as well being one

of the largest ancient military defensive systems in the world.

After

the

extension,

the

wall

now

stands

12

meters

(40

feet)

tall,

12-14

meters

(40-46

feet)

wide

at

the

top

and

15-18

meters

(50-60

feet)

thick

at

the

bottom.

It

covers

13.7

kilometers

(8.5

miles)

in

length

with

a

deep

moat

surrounding

it.

Every

120

meters,

there

is

a

rampart

which

extends

out

from

the

main

wall.

All

together,

there

are

98

ramparts

on

the

wall,

which

were

built

to

defend

against

the

enemy

climbing

up

the

wall.

Each

rampart

has

a

sentry

building,

in

which

the

soldiers

could protect the entire wall without exposing themselves to the enemy. Besides, the distance

between every two ramparts is just within the range of an arrow shot from either side, so that

they could shoot the enemy, who wanted to attack the city, from the side. On the outer side of

the city wall, there are 5948 crenellations, namely battlements. The soldiers can outlook and

shoot at the enemy. On the inner side, parapets were built to protect the soldiers from falling

off.

Since the ancient weapons did not have the power to break through a wall and the only way

for

an

enemy

to

enter

the

city

was

by

attacking

the

gate

of

the

city

wall.

This

is

why

complicated

gate structures were built within the wall. In Xian, the city wall includes four gates and they

are respectively named as Changle (meaning eternal joy) in the east, Anding (harmony peace) in

the west, Yongning (eternal peace) in the south and Anyuan (forever harmony) in the north. The

south gate, Yongning, is the most beautifully decorated one. It is very near to the Bell Tower,

center of the city. Important greeting ceremonies organized by the Provincial Government are

usually held in the south gate square.

Each city gate has three gate towers: Zhenglou, Jianlou and Zhalou. The most outside is

Zhalou, which stands away from the City Wall and is opposite to Zhenglou. It was used to raise