History
The Jingjiang Princes'City (aka Jingjiang Princes'Palace) is commonly known as Wang Cheng (Princes' City), located in the inner city of Guilin,built from 1372 to 1392AD in the Ming Dynasty, close to the Solitary Beauty Peak (Duxiu Feng). It was originally the official residence of Zhu Shouqian - the great-nephew of Zhu Yuanzhang (the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty). After Zhu Shouqian was announced the Prince of Jingjiang by Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, this place was set as the Jingjiang. It had taken more than 20 years to build the capital. Now it has a history of over 630 years, which is older than the Forbidden City in Beijing.
During the 257 years from the building of the mansion to the end of Ming Dynasty, 14 kings from 12 generations lived here.
Sun Yat-sen stayed there while on the Northward Expedition in 1921. In the winter of 1925, it was established as Yat-sen Park and now is one of the schoolyards of Guangxi Normal University. The carved balustrades and marble steps of the mansion still remain to today.
Over its history of more than 600 years the city was burned down several times, however it remains as the best preserved Princes' City in China. Notably, the carved balustrades and marble steps still remain. The Chinese Government gave the site national protection status in 1993.
Today the site is occupied by Guangxi Normal University, but remains open to the public as popular tourist attraction combining aspects of Guilin's natural beauty, history, traditional architecture and local culture.
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