Walking time: 2021.2

Walking method: Zhonghuamen Station of Metro Line 1

Attractions: Zhonghua Gate City Wall

Address: South end of Zhonghua Road, Qinhuai District, Nanjing

Tickets: 50 yuan

I don't need to cook New Year's Eve dinner this year, so housewives who should be busy at home have free time. The rainy weather couldn't stop me from going out. Come to Baoen Temple! I have never been to this popular attraction for many years. Let's go! Get off at Zhonghuamen Station on Metro Line 1. I am very familiar with Zhonghua Gate because there are car fans at home. When my child was a child, I often accompanied me to Zhonghua Gate to watch the train. At that time, there was no such scenic spot as Dabaoen Temple. Get off and walk at Zhonghuamen Subway Station, and you will soon reach the gate of Dabaoen Temple Scenic Spot. This glass tower can often be seen when driving on the elevated road, and its majestic appearance can be seen far away in many places in the south of the city. Today, I finally saw its true appearance up close.

Get an ID photo

The strange thing is that it is deserted here. I thought it was because everyone was busy at home on New Year's Eve, but looking at the gate, there were no staff at the ticket office. I wasn't reconciled. I didn't hear that the scenic spots were closed. I walked around up and down, and there were also a few scattered tourists wandering around full of doubts like me. I wanted to see if there were any notices or notices, no. The official website did not explain the closure of the park. No one answered the consultation call. He could only give up with doubts.

Thinking about going to Shuiyou City for a tour! At this time, a bus arrived at the station, and the colorful double-decker bus brought enthusiasm to the city. I didn't get on the bus, let's walk to Shuiyou City! You can just see the streets and alleys in the south of the city.

Going north along Yuhua Road at the entrance of Dabaoen Temple, the quietly flowing Outer Qinhuai River has a faint resentment in the rainy weather.

Changgan Bridge on the Outer Qinhuai River. You can't tell the history of this reinforced concrete bridge! Because it's a rebuilt bridge. In fact, the original bridge of this bridge was built by Yang Wu during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. It was the only way for the Imperial Street of the Nantang Dynasty to go directly outside the city. It was renovated in the early Ming Dynasty and was also known as Jubao Bridge. Successive wars were destroyed and rebuilt. It was rebuilt in January 1951 by the Municipal Construction Bureau. For the reinforced concrete beam-slab structure, the original bridge foundation was used to rebuild the pier and abutment. Liu Bocheng, the first mayor, wrote the name of the bridge. It was expanded again in 1975 and became what we see today.

Chang Gan in Li Bai's "Chang Gan Xing":"Lang comes riding a bamboo horse, circling the bed to make green plum blossoms","Living together in Chang Gan, two children have no qualms about guessing", the allusions of two children who have no qualms come from Changgan Bridge?

Build a bridge to enjoy the scenery, glass towers in the yellow walls, pieces of fir trees, red flags swaying on the shore, and several cruise ships with yellow roofs and red bodies moored quietly on the river.

At the north end of the bridge is the towering Zhonghua Gate. Originally, I turned right and left and continued south along Zhonghua Road. Just at this corner, I had an idea that I had never climbed the Zhonghua Gate City Wall. Let's go and have a look today! It really responds to the saying,"Don't miss it when you pass by!" Tickets are 50 yuan to climb the city wall. Medical staff can enter for free with a garden card. Sitting on the north facing south Zhonghua Gate Tower, the three gilded "Zhonghua Gates" above the gate were written by Chiang Kai-shek. The Zhonghua Gate, which is more than 10 meters tall, is the largest existing gate in China.

Entering the city gate, what I saw was not just a city gate. To exaggerate it, it was a small city. From this perspective renderings, you can feel that the Zhonghua Gate has a strict layout and unique structure. It has four city walls, and the space between each two roads is called "Weng City." Therefore, it forms three Weng Cities and four vouchers. The pattern of connecting doors.

On the east and west sides of Wengcheng, there is a slope-style gangway with a width of 11 meters and a length of 86.1 meters. 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.

Road signs on the city wall

On the east side of the city, you can see Zhonghua Road and Xinminfang Road parallel to the city wall from east to west, as well as Zhonghua East Gate. Zhonghua Gate was built during the Yang-Wu period and was expanded on its basis in the second to eighth years of Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty (1369-1375). It was called Jubao Gate. In 1931, the National Government changed its name to Zhonghua Gate, and added Zhonghua East Gate and Zhonghua West Gate on the east and west sides respectively to accommodate vehicle traffic.

Step on the century-old city wall and continue to climb

The main gate of the Zhonghua Gate, the first gate, is divided into three floors: upper, middle and lower. I directly followed the horse path to the third floor at the top of the city wall. 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.

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."

Weapons for defending the city were placed on the spacious platform of the city wall.

The text introduces the China Defense War

Leaning against the corner of the city wall to see the city wall and the city surrounded by the city wall.

The topographical map I told us with words and precise numbers, looked at the distance, and considered from the time, but it did not match my time today. I could only give it up with regret. Let's take a good look at the Zhonghua Gate Tower today! This east-west journey will leave at a later time.

Standing on the tower and overlooking, this is the horse path on the west side, and you can also see the layered sense of the city.

The text here introduces the Zhonghua West Gate. Zhonghua West Gate and Zhonghua East Gate are gates opened symmetrically on both sides of Zhonghua Gate.

Under this section of the city wall is the West Gate of Zhonghua. An endless stream of vehicles flows from north to south from this entrance, and they have been called out of the city before.

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 was no plan to continue westward along the city wall, so we turned back. Follow the city wall a few steps further east.

During the war, this was a battleground for military strategists, while in peacetime, the Zhonghua Gate served as a platform to climb high and enjoy the scenery.

Climb to the top of the city wall and see the Dabaoen Temple Ruins Park in the southeast. Thinking that I couldn't visit the planned destination today, but I accidentally gained a trip to the Zhonghua Gate City Wall. Isn't it a good arrangement?

The northeast corner of the city wall is the representative area of the south of the old city-Laomen East.

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.

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.

Walking on the green road of the city wall, you can see the scenery of the Qinhuai River. The urban cultural landscape of "one city, one river, the integration of city and water" is pleasing to the eye.

Instead of going wild along the city wall, let's take a good look at the structure of this outstanding representative of ancient defensive buildings-the "world's largest barnstorming city"!

From this angle you can see that the first door is connected to the second door.

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 second gate is 15.8 meters away from the first gate. It is also divided into three floors, upper, lower and lower. In the middle is the gate passage, which is all of masonry structures. There was originally a gate building on it, but was later destroyed in the war.

There are steps on the second floor of the first door that can lead directly to the city

The distance between the second door and the third door is 19.3 meters.

The passage connecting the city gate

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.

A Tibetan military facility such as the Weng City in Zhonghua Gate played a very important role in ancient cold weapons 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.

From this side, you can see the West Gate of Zhonghua and the horse road on the west side. Zhonghua Gate has lost its customs clearance function. The Zhonghua East Gate and Zhonghua West Gate on both sides of the city walls perform modern transportation responsibilities.

They came closer to the soldiers 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. 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. 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.

The door of Cangbing Cave

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 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 various exhibitions.

This Tibetan soldiers cave is holding a special New Year exhibition "Our Festival","City Fate Jubilee".

The exhibition is dominated by red, and the beautiful scenery seems to take us through the natural customs of Nanjing.

Zhonghua Gate was first introduced in the exhibition hall

With the theme of "Our Festivals", this exhibition focuses on the festival customs closely related to the Nanjing City Wall, introduces their origin, legends and anecdotes, and tells the Spring Festival customs from pasting New Year pictures and hanging Spring Festival couplets to celebrating the Lantern Festival and walking away from all kinds of diseases.

The exhibition focuses on China's most important traditional festival, the Spring Festival. Starting from the wax festival on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month and drinking Laba porridge, we can feel the increasingly strong flavor of the New Year.

The exhibition not only spreads the city wall culture and folk culture, but also better promotes the integration of Nanjing City Wall and Nanjing folk customs, and promotes the inheritance and development of China's excellent traditional culture.

I learned about a new custom-treating all diseases on the 16th of the first month. On the 16th of the first lunar month of this year, find a section of the city wall to go for a walk with your children, hoping to have good luck.

Looking from the inside to the outside

The theme of this exhibition in Zangbing Cave is-"There is a city-in memory, Nanjing City Wall". Nanjing City Wall is the largest and most complete ancient brick city wall in the world. After long years and the ravages of war, the existing Nanjing City Wall is 23.723 kilometers long, enclosing Nanjing. The city wall can be easily seen in many places in Nanjing. The city wall protects the lives of Nanjing people, and the city wall is the life companion of generations of Nanjing people. People live by the city walls and walk through the city gates. Children play beside the city wall, young people travel around the city to study, middle-aged people travel around the moat to busy making a living, and there are too many stories and memories on the city wall.

This exhibition collects more than 20 Nanjing people who have lived under the Nanjing City Wall. They shared stories of the city wall in their memories. Among these people are scholars, writers, actors, teachers... Although their occupations are different, they all use the city wall as their home to tell the story of their home.

Zhonghua Gate, Jiefang Gate, Xuanwu Gate, Zhongshanmen... The memories of the city wall in the hearts of these people are woven together, spanning nearly a century of city wall memories.

This Zangbing Cave is a cultural and creative display center, where Iron General opens the door.

This Tibetan soldiers cave is the "Making" of the Heart of Brick-Nanjing City Wall Brick Exhibition ". The exhibition boards on both sides of the space explain to us the rich connotation of Nanjing City Wall bricks from the aspects of the materials, firing methods, production responsibility systems and inscriptions on the city bricks through illustrations, ancient and modern comparisons, dynamic demonstrations, and physical displays.

The Nanjing City Wall, which does not follow the ancient system and hangs between Nanjing's mountains and rivers, is a product of the peak period in the history of ancient China's urban defense system construction. As the "elements" of the city wall, the city bricks also have extremely high cultural heritage value. Alkaline roads are paved on the top of Nanjing's Ming City Wall. The city is based on granite and the walls are made of giant bricks. The Nanjing City Wall has experienced hundreds of years of wind and frost.

The brick inscriptions on the city bricks of Nanjing City Wall are the largest group of brick inscriptions in our country. They provide information on the origin and craftsmen of the city bricks. This strict responsibility system ensures the high quality of the city bricks.

Use a map to show the distribution of Ming Dynasty Nanjing City Wall bricks and a schematic diagram of transportation routes.

I came here to climb the Zhonghuamen Weng City. While admiring its majestic momentum, I walked into the exhibition hall to understand the cultural connotation of each city brick and appreciate the heart system of "brick".

Another cave for Tibetan soldiers and another exhibition "The World's No. 1 Inner Barn City-Zhonghua Gate Exhibition".

In the form of exhibition boards and illustrations, large film and television screens, physical models, etc., the Zhonghuamen Weng City is deeply interpreted from the aspects of historical evolution, scale, cultural legends, etc.

Introduces the historical evolution of Zhonghua Gate

The text and picture introduce the construction of Wengcheng

Model restoration of Zhonghua Gate

The basic exhibition of "Legend·City-Fully Open Nanjing City Wall" is hidden here.

The exhibition combines pictures and videos to showcase the achievements of Nanjing's city wall repair and protection, research and publication, exhibition exchanges, cultural activities, cultural and creative research and development, etc., and presents the process of city wall protection and opening up in the form of a Timeline. These pictures record the footprints in the protection of the city wall, allowing us to systematically understand the past and present of the Nanjing city wall.

Here is a schematic diagram outlining the framework of the Ming City Wall in Nanjing. Nanjing's Ming City Wall was built in 1366. During these long years, although this capital city wall of the Ming Dynasty has experienced many vicissitudes, it still retains 25.1 kilometers of walls and gates. It is the longest existing ancient city wall in the world. The existing Ming Dynasty gate includes Zhonghua Gate, Peace Gate, Qingliang Gate, Han West Gate and Zhongshanmen. In order to facilitate transportation, since the end of the Qing Dynasty, Caochangmen, Xuanwu Gate, Yijiangmen Gate, Wuding Gate, Hanzhong Gate, and Zhongyang Gate were successively opened. In 1954, the Liberation Gate was opened southeast of Xuanwu Gate. After the reform and opening up, Jiqing Gate in the west of the city and Biaoying Gate in the east of the city were opened. In the 1980s, the Nanjing City Wall began a process of large-scale repair, and the city wall was fully opened in 2014. 33 entrances were established along the city wall, and a 14-kilometer-long ecological greening and slow-moving green road system was built on the inside of the city wall., connecting the urban landscape of mountains, rivers, cities and forests, and outlining the beautiful Nanjing Ming City Wall scenery belt. I took this picture with my mobile phone. After I go back, I will find time to set foot on this section of the Duan Ming City Wall. I look forward to standing on the renovated city wall to appreciate the historical charm of the ancient capital Nanjing and appreciate the ever-changing style of Nanjing's Urban area.

Leave the Cangbing Cave on the second floor and go down the horse path. Looking at the strands of moss marks in the cracks in the bricks of Ma Dao City, a spontaneous sense of vicissitudes and solemnity crept into my heart. Thinking about the rich exhibition themes in the Zangbing Cave gave me more understanding of the city wall and more respect.

Looking back at the horse road on the east side of Zhonghuamen Weng City

Looking up at the city wall, to this day, we can clearly see the bullet marks left in the war era, the traces of lime and glutinous rice juice bonding between the cracks of each brick, and the handwriting that has been fired on each green brick, soaked by hundreds of years of wind and rain...

Go around the Wengcheng and come to the north side of the city.

Go through the ticket gate on the north side and see the city gates in the city

Looking at the towering city wall on the road, the majestic ancient city wall sits upright and as stable as Mount Tai. With its vicissitudes, heavy and majestic momentum, Nanjing people are nostalgic and dependent, and foreigners are reluctant to leave.

Before and after Zhonghua Gate, there is runoff from the inner and outer Qinhuai River that traverses the east and west. Traffic connects Changgan Bridge in the south and Zhenhuai Bridge in the north.

Qinhuai River under Zhenhuai Bridge. In order to defend this order, Jinling City was expanded during the Southern Tang Dynasty, the Qinhuai River was enclosed in the city, and another moat was dug outside the city to divide the Qinhuai water flow. It was called the Outer Qinhuai River. The river has narrowed, but the prosperity has not diminished. The Zhu buildings remain the same. The horse-head walls are lined with rows of river heads along the coast. The river halls and river houses are built along the water. The inner doors are east and west, giving off the charm and beauty of the Qinhuai scenery.