Chinese City Wall - History

History

Like various other innovations in Chinese history, the invention of the city wall is attributed to a semi-mythological sage; in this case, to Xia Dynasty leader Gun (鲧), the father of Yu the Great. It is said that Gun built the inner wall (城) to defend the prince, and the outer wall (郭) to settle the people. An alternative theory attributes the first city wall to the Yellow Emperor. A number of neolithic-period walls surrounding substantial settlements have been excavated in recent years. These include a supposed wall at a Liangzhu culture site, a stone wall at Sanxingdui, and several tamped earth walls at the Longshan culture site. These walls generally protected settlements the size of a large village.

In Shang Dynasty China, at the site of Ao, large walls were erected in the 15th century BC that had dimensions of 20 meters / 65 feet in width at the base and enclosed an area of some 2,100 yards (1,900 m) squared. In similar dimensions, the ancient capital of the State of Zhao, Handan (founded in 386 BC), had walls that were again 20 meters / 65 feet wide at the base, a height of 15 meters / 50 feet tall, with two separate sides of its rectangular enclosure measured at a length of 1,530 yards (1,400 m).

Most towns of a significant size possessed a city wall from the Zhou Dynasty onwards. For example, the city wall of Pingyao were first constructed between 827 BC and 782 BC, in the reign of King Xuan of Zhou. The city wall of Suzhou followed, prior to their demolition in the 1960s and 1970s, largely the same plan as set down by Wu Zixu in the 5th century BC. By the Yuan Dynasty, it was government policy that towns which were administrative seats of county-level units or above were to have defensive walls. In ancient China, sieges of city walls (along with naval battles) were portrayed on bronze 'hu' vessels dated to the Warring States (5th century BC to 3rd century BC), like those found in Chengdu, Sichuan, China in 1965.

The construction of city walls grew to a peak in the Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty. Sophisticated construction techniques meant that major city walls, such as that in the capitals Beijing and Nanjing, were specifically built to withstand cannonfire. However, with the advent of modern Western firearms, traditional fortifications began to lose their defensive functions in the 19th and 20th centuries. The traditional city wall also proved an obstacle to efficient trade and intercourse. For example, the city wall of Shanghai, built to repel Wokou raiders in the Ming dynasty, was almost completely demolished after the Xinhai Revolution at the request of the city's merchant community.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, a political dimension was added to the economic problem posed by city walls. In Beijing, for example, the proposed demolition of the city walls was at first opposed by experts ranging from architect Liang Sicheng, to Soviet advisor Mosin, on the grounds that the city walls of Beijing were the most sophisticated and well-preserved system of city walls in China. However, in 1958 Mao Zedong intervened, and declared that the demolition of the old city wall was a political issue. Despite mayor Peng Zhen's efforts to preserve gates and towers, by 1970 almost all of the city wall had been demolished.