There is a city park on the east side of the Zhonghua Gate Tower one street away from the Tower.

In the open park, the folded roof of the Nanjing City Wall Museum blends with the spacious square green space. The entire facade of the museum is made of translucent glass to create a mirror effect. The glass facade allows the museum to conceal its own building volume, and the glass reflects the surrounding city wall landscape. This feeling makes us feel the visual integration between the museum and the ancient city wall.

The main entrance of Nanjing City Wall Museum is located on the north side. As a special museum of the history and culture of ancient Chinese city walls and a display site for declaring world cultural heritage, it has become the largest special museum of city walls in China.

The notice in front of the door tells us that the museum has entered a resting period since its public visit in December. So we couldn't go inside and visit it. Although we were rejected, it did not affect our mood at all.

We can't visit the inside, so let's just stroll outside it. At the foot of the ancient city wall, the museum and the city wall blend harmoniously, echoing ancient and modern times. Several iron cannons belonging to General Qing Zhenyuan were placed on the square.

East Gate of Zhonghua Gate Tower

On the east side of the museum is the east of the old gate with white walls and black tiles.

The design of the museum refines and utilizes the long sloping horse path and wide tower platform on the east side of Zhonghuamen Weng City. Therefore, on the west side of the museum, there are three ramps that climb in reverse and are 40 to 50 meters long, connecting viewing platforms with staggered heights, forming a natural situation of low near the city and high far away from the city, echoing the Zhonghuamen Weng City on one side.

We followed the crowd along the three sloping steeways to reach the viewing platform on the roof. There are illustrations on the platform showing the trend of the ancient city wall and the towers in various places.

Look around on the platform and appreciate the beautiful scenery of the ancient city wall, the Qinhuai River, and the Dabaoen Temple from another angle.

Zhonghuamen Tower

Address: Southeast near the intersection of Zhonghua Road and Diaoyutai, Qinhuai District, Nanjing

Tickets: 50 yuan

Since we couldn't visit the museum, we approached it on the spot, used our own feet to experience the city wall, and felt all the experiences the city wall brought us with our heart. It takes 50 yuan to purchase tickets to enter the Zhonghua Gate Tower. We entered the tower from the north side of Zhonghua Gate in accordance with epidemic prevention requirements. Looking through the ticket gate on the north side and looking at the city gates in Wengcheng, from this perspective renderings, you can feel the strict layout and unique structure of the Zhonghua Gate, like a circle of towers.

The city bricks, the ancient trees attached to the city walls, reflect the vicissitudes of history everywhere.

Entering the city gate, what I saw was not just a city gate. To exaggerate it, it was a small city.

There are four city walls, and the space between every two roads is called a "barnstorming city", so it forms a pattern of three barnstorming cities and four vouchers and gates connecting.
A Tibetan military facility such as the Weng City in Zhonghua Gate played a very important role in ancient cold weapons wars. In the era of peace, we looked at the infinite scenery of people in the scenery from a different perspective.

There is such a groove on the inside of each door, which is the stone groove of the door gate. Historically, the stone channel of the tower was used to house the thousand-pound gate. Four city gates and four thousand-pound gates were very strong defensive measures in ancient wars. When there is an enemy attack, you can put the enemy soldiers into the city gate and play hard to get, then close each city gate, cut the enemy troops into three sections, and annihilate them separately, just like "catching turtles in a jar" described in the legendary allusions.

There is a bookstore in the city between the two gates-Jubao Shuyuan. Unfortunately, the bookstore is not open today, so we can only look around curiously through the glass.

This is the first gate on the south side of the tower facing the Qinhuai River.

The first door is divided into three floors: upper, middle, lower and lower. The first floor is the city wall, the middle is the Wengcheng Corridor, and there are three soldiers hiding holes on each side. The second floor is the foundation of the building, all of which are of masonry structures, and there are 7 Tibetan soldiers caves in the inward row. Zangbing Cave is lined up facing south, with Zhongdong being the largest. The so-called "Tibetan Cave" special facility is actually a closed brick gate opening at the inside, which can be used for soldiers to rest and store military supplies in wartime. Such facilities were extremely rare in other large cities in ancient China.

The Tibetan Soldiers Cave on the first floor has not been used, but you can enter and see its true self.

Most of the city bricks are fine blue-gray, a small number of them are white tiles with better texture, and a few include red bricks and yellow bricks. A small pink flower that is just about to bloom looks more delicate because of the bluish-gray background.

Follow the stairs from Wengcheng to the second floor. In addition to stairs, there is a sloping road 11 meters wide and 86.1 meters long on the east and west sides of the city.

The horse road is steep and magnificent, leading directly to the top of the main city gate. The horse road is a fast road for transporting military supplies to the city in wartime, and generals can also ride their horses straight to the city wall. From this side, you can see the East Gate of Zhonghua and the horse road on the east side. Now Zhonghua Gate has lost its customs clearance function. On the city wall, the Zhonghua East Gate and Zhonghua West Gate on both sides of the tower perform modern transportation responsibilities.

Here are several soldier hiding holes on the second floor of the first door. The masonry of the Zhonghua Gate City Wall includes large wall bricks and ordinary wall bricks. Large pieces of city wall bricks are built with glutinous rice juice, lime, and tung oil mixed with the adhesive, which is very strong. The side stone of each brick has the official office and date of the brick maker. The specifications are consistent. When built, lime tung oil and glutinous rice juice are mixed with slurry. It is very strong and has stood firm for hundreds of years, looking unharmed.

When I came here on New Year's Eve last year, I could visit the Zangbing Cave on the second floor.

The current Zangbing Cave is no longer a function during the war. These Tibetan soldiers caves, which are more than 40 meters deep and 67 meters wide, are now used as exhibition halls to hold rich exhibitions. There is the "Our Festival" New Year special exhibition "The Jubilee of the City","The" Making "of the Heart of Brick-Nanjing City Wall Brick Exhibition", and "Legend·City-Fully Open Nanjing City Wall" basic exhibition exhibition...

These exhibitions have brought us rich knowledge about the city wall and Nanjing. In the exhibition, there is a topographical map of the Nanjing Ming City Wall scenery belt, which I took with my mobile phone at that time. In 2021, I used my free time to set foot on a section of the Ming City Wall. Enjoy the historical charm of the ancient capital Nanjing on the renovated city wall and appreciate the ever-changing style of Nanjing's Urban area.

Overlooking the City Wall Museum from the tower

Continue upwards and you can overlook Laomen East

Follow the horse path and climb to the third floor at the top of the tower. The third floor was originally built with a Dysprosium Building with a tiled roof in the style of a temple. The Dysprosium Building was destroyed by artillery fire when the Japanese invaders attacked Nanjing in early December 1937. Now only the remains of the Taiwan Foundation are left. Weapons for defending the city were placed on the spacious platform of the city wall.

Stand at the highest point of the city wall and see the Wengcheng. The main building of the Zhonghua Gate gate and the auxiliary gate building, as well as the connected Weng City Wall on both sides, jointly constitute the main building of the Weng City within the Zhonghua Gate. The plane of the castle is in the shape of a rectangle with the character "Mu" and consists of a city gate, three barns, 27 caves for storing soldiers, two roads leading to the city and a ramp. It is an ancient Chinese military defensive building. The Wengcheng at your feet and the scenery of the city in the distance set off each other, allowing you to feel Nanjing's past and present.

To the south of the tower, at the foot of the tower is the Outer Qinhuai River and the Changgan Bridge is connected to Yuhua Road. Nanjing has Zhongshan Mountain in the east, Shitou Mountain in the west, Yangtze River in the north, and only the south is an open land. Zhonghua Gate is in such a position, becoming a key defensive checkpoint, and the terrain is extremely important. It is an important traffic artery in peacetime and an important military fortress in wartime, playing the role of "one man is at the pass, but no ten thousand people can open it." The city walls on both sides of the Zhonghua Gate Tower can lead to Dongshuiguan to the east, and Jiqing Gate to the west.

You can reach Dongshuiguan Tower 3 kilometers east along the city wall.

On the east side of the city wall, look at Xinminfang Road parallel to the city wall from east to west. There is also a representative area in the south of the old city with white walls and blue tiles-Laomen East. At the foot of the city wall, on the banks of the Qinhuai River, the historical South of the Old City is one of the most developed commercial and residential areas in Nanjing. Mendong is a gathering place for traditional folk houses in Nanjing. Residential settlements appeared here as early as the Three Kingdoms Period. In the Ming Dynasty, Zhonghua Gate and the Inner Qinhuai River became the economic center of the city. It became an important distribution center for commerce and handicrafts, presenting a prosperous scene. After the late Qing Dynasty, the southern areas of the old city such as Laomen East and Laomen West gradually became areas with mainly residential functions. Nowadays, traditional Chinese-style wooden buildings and horse-head walls are rebuilt here in traditional styles to showcase traditional culture and reproduce the original appearance of the old city in the south.

Laomen East Street District with a sense of design

The child chose to go berserk in the direction of Jiqing Gate.

There will be some introductions to the city wall and surrounding allusions on the city wall, which will allow you to better understand the city wall and Nanjing's history and customs.

I learned about the custom of "walking through all diseases" during an exhibition at a Tibetan soldier cave on the Zhonghua Gate Tower last year. So on the 16th of the first lunar month last year, we climbed the city entrance from Yifeng Gate → Yijiangmen → Huayangang Gate → Dinghuai Gate. But this year's memory is a little trance. I always remember that it was "walking the city wall on the 13th of the first lunar month", so we came today. After seeing this clear introduction, we realized that we had misremembered the day. But it does not affect the sense of ceremony.

All the way west, this is the Changganmen of the tower. Metro Line 1 passes through the Changganmen of the city wall.

Roads and rail transit draw beautiful streamlines due to the Changganmen. The Changganmen consists of a main door and four side doors. The main door spans the track line of Metro Line 1. Here, you can clearly see that the original ground track Line 1 has slipped underground from here to become Metro Line 1. The two side doors next to the main door are left and right fast lanes, and there are two arches on both sides for citizens to pass through.

Continuing westward, the towering city wall at your feet and the majestic ancient city wall sat upright, as stable as Mount Tai. The city wall spreads infinitely with vicissitudes, thickness and majestic momentum.

The modern city streetscape is viewed from the perspective of standing on the city wall, giving a unique momentum.

The city wall is accompanied by the Qinhuai River, and Nanjing's city wall is accompanied by water and mountains based on natural advantages. This unique design makes Nanjing's city wall the only one.

Green plants are intertwined on the city wall. They are attached to the walls and dyed green gray, making the monotonous gray vivid and interesting.

There is an old house in Nanjing beside the city wall. The chevron roof is topped with gray or red rubble. The houses are dense and the passages between houses are narrow. From the layout, it can be seen that this has always been a prosperous place with dense residents.

There are still many tourists visiting the Zhonghua Gate Tower, but not many tourists walking the city wall. There are only the two of us to the west of Changganmen. At this time, we feel that the city wall is tall and majestic, giving people a feeling of "solid as gold". Walking on this section of the city wall, accompanied by the Qinhuai River, the high-rise buildings in Nanjing's Main City play the city's beautiful music like musical notes.

Modern urban construction. Accompanying the north side of the city wall is the long west trunk long alley.

The tall buildings in Hexi seem to be at the end of the city wall.

The conjoined building that stands out from the crowd is the iconic building-the Golden Eagle.

Walking a few steps forward, you will see the beauty in front of you. Looking back at the city wall when you came, the city scenery will be another wonderful one.

The city wall turns at right angles along the river and runs north.

Looking back at this section of the city wall like a dragon dragon, the feeling of "the tiger and the dragon plate conquering the past" arises spontaneously.

On the south side of the city wall, there are several floors of overpass that are very imposing.

The wide bridge deck runs straight down, connecting the city's north-south traffic artery-Huju Road

Walking northward along the city wall, the lights were first on at this time. On the city wall, the flashing lights in the city added pastels to the ink paintings.

A different angle will show the grandeur of the city wall.

The glazed tower of Dabaoen Temple in the distance also lit up.

Unconsciously, I walked two kilometers to Jiqingmen Tower amidst the beautiful scenery. The traffic flowing through the river under the city tower is very lively.

The silence on the tower forms a sharp contrast with the prosperity under the tower

Further north is the Xishuiguan Tower

But there is a notice here. The main reason is that it is already late. Otherwise, it would be excellent to walk further and see the scenery from the city wall. Just choose to go down the tower at Jiqingmen!

The light band outlines the city wall with a brilliant brilliance.

A city wall of more than 600 years accompanies the city and silently protects it.

Jiqingmen was newly built in recent years, opening a new road for Nanjing's development to the west of the Qinhuai River. This gate is not a traditional round arch type, but a "lintel" gate style.

Most of the walk was just me and the children. The child was in a very good mood and kept praising the beautiful scenery in front of him. Nanjing's city wall is not only a must-see place for tourists, but also a city wall that Nanjing people are proud of.