Hangzhou City Walls
The first defensive barrier in the Hangzhou area can be traced back 5000 years to the Neolithic jade-carving Liangzhu Culture. The Liangzhu culture built earthen walls that served two purposes, to protect their settlements from invaders and to serve as dikes to prevent flooding. Over the subsequent course of Chinese history, Hangzhou changed hands many times, and every ruler and every dynasty had its own contributions and modifications to the Hangzhou City Walls. While little remains of them today, the fact that Hangzhou was once a walled city is still evidenced by certain place names around town, especially the names of its ten gatehouses.
Read more about Hangzhou City Walls: Sui Period
Famous quotes containing the words city and/or walls:
“When men were all asleep the snow came flying,
In large white flakes falling on the city brown,
Stealthily and perpetually settling and loosely lying,
Hushing the latest traffic of the drowsy town;”
—Robert Bridges (1844–1930)
“Joshua fit de battle ob Jerico, Jerico, Jerico,
Joshua fit de battle ob Jerico,
An’ de walls come tumblin’ down.”
—Unknown. Joshua Fit De Battle of Jericho (l. 1–3)