It refers to the defensive barrier buildings built by the farming people in the old days around the city using materials such as earthwork, masonry and stone to cope with wars.
Long before the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, when Zhu Yuanzhang conquered Huizhou, a hermit named Zhu Sheng told him that he should "build walls high, accumulate grain widely, and slowly become king." Zhu Yuanzhang adopted these suggestions. After the country was unified, he ordered all prefectures and counties to build cities universally. Zhu Yuanzhang believed that "the mountains and rivers in the world are the only ones that are safe and secure". It was during this city-building boom that the ancient city wall of Xi'an was expanded on the basis of the old imperial city of the Tang Dynasty, presided over by the governor Pu Ying.
After expansion in the Ming Dynasty, the Xi'an City Wall was 12 meters high, 12-14 meters wide at the top, 15-18 meters wide at the bottom, and about 13.7 kilometers in circumference. An enemy tower was built every 120 meters on the city wall, which protruded outside the city wall and had its top level with the surface of the city wall. This is specially set up for shooting enemies climbing the city. Half of the distance between the enemy towers is just within the effective range of the bow and arrow, making it easy to shoot the attacking enemies from the side. There are 98 enemy towers on the city wall, and enemy towers are built on them.
Ancient weapons were backward, and the city gate was the only way in and out, so this was the focus of defense that the feudal rulers worked hard to build. There are four city gates in the east, west, south and north of Xi'an City, each with three gates: main tower, arrow tower and gate tower. The gate tower is at the outermost part, and its function is to lift the suspension bridge. The archery tower is in the middle, with square windows on the front and both sides for archery. The main building is at the end and is the main entrance of the city. The archery tower and the main tower are connected by a wall, which is called Wengcheng. It is a place for garrisoning troops. There is also a horse path leading to the top of the city in the urn city. It goes up slowly and without steps, making it easier for horses to get on and off. There are 11 horse trails throughout the city. The four corners of the city wall have corner platforms that protrude outside the city. Except that the southwest corner is round, which may be to maintain the original shape of the Tang Imperial City corner, the rest are square. There is a turret on the corner platform that is taller than the enemy tower, indicating the important position here in the war.
There are battlements, also known as crenellated walls, built on the outside of the city wall. There are 5984 crenellations on them, with crenels on them for archery and observation. The inner low wall is called the parapet wall and has no crenels to prevent soldiers from falling when walking back and forth.
The original Xi'an city wall was completely made of loess rammed in layers. The bottom layer was rammed with a mixture of soil, lime and glutinous rice juice, which was extremely hard. Later, the inner and outer walls and top of the entire city wall were covered with blue bricks. There is a channel made of blue bricks every 40-60 meters on the top of the city wall for drainage, which plays a very important role in the long-term protection of the ancient city wall of Xi'an.
The city is surrounded by a wide and deep city river, and there is a suspension bridge opposite the city gate that can be raised and lowered at any time. Once the drawbridge was raised, access to and from the city was cut off.
The Xi'an City Wall in the Ming Dynasty was once a large and sophisticated military defense system, and it is also the most complete ancient castle existing in my country. The ancient castle of Xi'an shows the ingenuity of the working people in ancient my country, and also provides us with rare physical information for studying the history, military and architecture of the Ming Dynasty.
The stone walls were fireproof and resistant to attacks from bows, arrows and other projectile weapons, making it impossible for enemy troops to climb the steep walls without equipment such as ladders and siege towers. The defenders at the top of the wall can shoot arrows or throw objects downwards to attack the attackers. The attackers are therefore completely exposed to open space. Compared with the defenders who have strong protection and the advantage of shooting downwards, the attackers are quite disadvantaged when shooting upwards. If the city wall is built on a cliff or other high place, its effectiveness and defensive value will be greatly improved. The gates and entrances on the city wall will be as small as possible to provide greater defense.
The city wall resurrected
Wang Jun
The ancient city wall of Beijing witnesses the changes in history
The city of Beijing in the Ming and Qing Dynasties*** There are four layers of walls. The innermost layer is the Forbidden City wall that surrounded the feudal palace and is still intact today; further outward is the imperial city wall that surrounds the Forbidden City and its surrounding palace service areas; and then outward is the Qing Dynasty wall. At that time, only bannermen were allowed to live in the inner city, and in the outer city there were many guild halls, and at the end of the 19th century, incidents of intellectual participation in politics such as "writing letters on the bus" often occurred.
Like the Forbidden City wall, the inner and outer city walls are covered with bricks and have rammed earth in the center. However, the Imperial City wall is gorgeous and simple, just a thin layer of bricks. Now it is on the north side of Chang'an Avenue and Part of the gold-tiled and red walls in Zhongnanhai are the remains.
The northern and eastern sections of the Beijing Imperial City Wall were demolished in the 1920s. At that time, the Beiyang government demolished the city to obtain bricks for sewer construction, or sold them to raise wages. After the imperial city wall was demolished, its site was called the Imperial City Root.
What people usually call the Beijing City Wall now refers to Beijing’s inner city wall and outer city wall, with a total length of 39.75 kilometers and a total of sixteen gates. The inner city wall is tall and built in the early Ming Dynasty, while the outer city wall is smaller and built in the mid-Ming Dynasty. At that time, the outer city wall was built with the intention of surrounding it with another ring outside the inner city wall to consolidate the city defense. However, due to limited financial resources, it only surrounded the present-day Chongwen and Xuanwu districts and hurriedly retracted it to connect with the inner city wall. , forming Beijing’s unique “convex”-shaped city outline.
In 1900, the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded Beijing and bombarded the Zhengyang Gate with artillery at the Temple of Heaven. The archery tower was destroyed. Later, the Indian soldiers stationed at the Zhengyang Gate Gate Tower started a fire at night, causing a fire. The tower was burned. During this invasion, the Eight-Power Allied Forces also used artillery to destroy the Chongwenmen Archery Tower and Chaoyangmen Archery Tower, demolished the outer walls of Guang'an Gate and Dongbian Gate without authorization, demolished the Chongwenmen Urn to build a railway opening, and laid tracks to Zhengyang Gate.
In 1903, Yuan Shikai rebuilt Zhengyang Gate. Since the drawings of the Ministry of Industry were burned by the Eight-Power Allied Forces, the building dimensions of Zhengyang Gate could not be found. Therefore, it was built according to the shape of Chongwenmen Gate Tower and Xuanwumen Archery Tower, with slightly increased dimensions. The Zhengyangmen Gate Tower and Arrow Tower we saw today.
In 1927, the Xuanwumen Archery Tower was in a state of collapse. The Beiyang government was unable to repair it, so it simply demolished it and only left the city platform. For the same reason, the Deshengmen Gate Tower was demolished in 1921, the Dongzhimen Archery Tower was demolished in 1927, and the Fuchengmen Archery Tower was demolished in 1935.
Except for Xizhimen and Fuchengmen, most of the barbicans in the inner city were demolished in 1915 when the railway around the city was built. In the same year, Zhu Qiqian, the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Beiyang Government, demolished the Zhengyangmen urn city and opened two ticket gates on each side of the tower in order to alleviate the traffic tension at Zhengyangmen and the East-West Railway Station. For transportation reasons, this year, two more gates were opened between Zhengyang Gate and Xuanwu Gate, called Peace Gate. Later, the Japanese and puppet government opened a gap in the east and west in the south of the inner city wall and shamelessly called it "Heping Gate". They are Qiming Gate and Chang'an Gate. After Japan surrendered, the Chinese solemnly renamed it Jianguomen and Fuxingmen.
To this day, only "a pair and a half" of Beijing's city gates remain. The "pair" refers to the Zhengyangmen Tower and the Arrow Tower, and the "half" refers to the Desheng Gate Tower; only the corner tower remains. There is an archery tower at the southeast corner of the inner city; only two sections of the city wall remain between Chongwen Gate and the archery tower at the southeast corner and at the southern end of the west wall of the inner city.
Memory of the historical city bricks on the city wall
Bai Zhangpeng
In the 1950s, the University of Pittsburgh invited Professor Hou Renzhi, a historical geographer from Peking University During the visit to give lectures, the United States also hoped to receive two Chinese city bricks as a commemoration. After asking for instructions and reporting it to relevant national departments for study, Mr. Hou decided to choose two city bricks from the Ming Dynasty as a national gift to the United States. The Americans were extremely happy when they got the gift, because there was this imprint on one side of the city brick: "The Thirty-Sixth Year of Jiajing". The founding of the United States was in 1776, and the thirty-sixth year of Jiajing was in 1557 AD. In other words, the history of these two bricks is 219 years earlier than the founding of the United States. These two city bricks, which symbolize the friendship between China and the United States, have been stored in the exhibition room of the University of Pittsburgh in the United States.
These two city bricks can be called cultural relics. Speaking of cultural relics, people naturally think of them as having a long history and being rare in number. This is not the case with city bricks. When the Ming Dynasty built the capital in Beijing, as many as 40 million city bricks were used. The city wall in the Ming City Wall Ruins Park behind the Beijing Railway Station was built with city bricks from the Ming Dynasty. However, comparisons with text Complete city bricks are rare. There is a Mingtan wall in the Temple of Heaven Park, and most of the bricks on the wall have words on them.
The Temple of Heaven was built in the 18th year of Yongle (1420) in the Ming Dynasty and was rebuilt during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty.
The current Chengzhen Gate outside the north wall of the Imperial Vault and the convex walls on both sides were added at that time. It is located at the southernmost end of the 360-meter-long Danbi Bridge, dividing the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests from the Imperial Vault and the Circular Mound. Inner and outer altar. This wall is earthy gray in color, with no plastering on the outside and the city bricks are all exposed. It is this wall that is displayed in front of people like a city brick museum from the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty. There are imprints on the long sides of the city bricks, which you can clearly see if this side is built on the wall. There are imprints from the third year of Jiajing to the autumn of the eighteenth year of Jiajing or even further, in the shape of vertical stamps, in official script, regular script, Yangwen and Yinwen. The big characters are the year number, and the small characters are the names of the kiln owners. There is also a small stamp with the name of the craftsman. For example: Lun Ji in the third year of Jiajing; Made by Yang Guo in the third year of Jiajing; Supervised in the third year of Jiajing; Sun Lun (small characters), the kiln owner of the Linqing factory in the fifth year of Jiajing; Sun Lun, the fine kiln owner of the Linqing factory in the fifth year of Jiajing □ (big stamp) craftsman □ virtue (small stamp); in the eighth year of Jiajing, the kiln was built by the kiln owner Zhang Mao; in the eighth year of Jiajing, the kiln owner Qu Yizao; Dagong (big stamp) was in the ninth year of Jiajing; in the seventeenth year of Jiajing, the kiln owner Zhou Made by Shilong; made by the kiln owner Wang Bao in the autumn of the 17th year of Jiajing; made by Tian Zhongren, the sub-kiln owner of the 17th year of Jiajing; made by Zhou Shilong (Yangwen) in the spring of the 18th year of Jiajing; made by the kiln owner Shi □ in the autumn of the 18th year of Jiajing...
These city bricks with characters were supposed to be used in the construction of city walls to protect the capital, but they were used by the emperor to build altar walls to protect himself, and inadvertently left precious historical relics to future generations. The wall stands quietly, and visitors today can view them up close. The words on the city bricks indicate the year, season, and the names of the kiln owners and craftsmen. You seem to see them working. After hundreds of years of sun and rain, it is not easy for these words to still be legible.
City bricks, as the basic material for city building, are produced in thousands and thousands, and do not need to be stamped, because the quality of the city bricks produced by the country's kilns is guaranteed. So, why are there stamps engraved on some city bricks? As the demand for defense and construction increased, the firing of city bricks was assigned to many kilns through apportionment and subcontracting. In order to ensure quality and well-documented problems, the state required manufacturers to produce their own city bricks. Imprint on the seal. These imprints were printed on the bricks when the mud was still dry. After firing, these words were permanently solidified on the city bricks, giving life to the city bricks and allowing future generations to touch history on the city bricks. .
Regrettably, some tourists do not cherish these precious cultural relics and carve souvenirs on the city bricks. What's more, they polish the inscriptions on the stamps and carve their own names. Let’s look at what Americans think of our city bricks. What should we do ourselves?
Marks on the city wall
——City brick stamps
Early morning
An ancient capital with a history of more than 850 years. In Beijing, you can see cultural relics from past dynasties everywhere, and buildings are a large part of them. There are scattered words on the bricks and tiles of many buildings, which are faintly visible, reminding people of their existence and seem very mysterious. Among them, most were from the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Below the white marble railings of the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City is a base made of large bricks. One end of one of the bricks has the vertical stamp of "Old Summer Palace" in regular script Yang with a double border. Coincidentally, there are several city bricks with characters on the wall of the Beihai corridor outside the east wall of Beihai Park. One of the bricks has the clearest writing and also has the words "Old Summer Palace" engraved on it. Why do the bricks used in the Old Summer Palace appear in the Forbidden City and Beihai? unknown. Today, people can see complete city bricks with the words "Old Summer Palace" in the exhibition hall of the Old Summer Palace ruins. It may be that the destroyed city bricks of the Old Summer Palace were later used to repair the imperial city. There are also many city bricks with characters on the wall of the Temple of Heaven Park. Unfortunately, most of the writings are blurred. There is a long side of the city brick with an inscription vertically stamped in inscription: Chen Ren, the master of the Linqing Factory in the fifth year of Jiajing. A section of the imperial city wall on Di'anmen Inner Street has been renovated and exposed. The short sides of some city bricks are stamped with vertical inscriptions in Chinese characters: "Fine Mud City Bricks". There is a city brick with the inscription: Tonghe Kiln Fine Mud Stop City Brick. There are also city bricks with "Baofeng Kiln Records" and "Rongsheng Kiln" printed on them. Some of the exposed city bricks on the outer side of the east wall of Xiannong Altar have inscriptions on the short sides: the third year of Qianlong's reign.
In addition to the inscriptions on the city bricks of royal buildings, there are also inscriptions on the bricks of some temples, royal palaces, princess mansions, and even granaries. The model of the wall bricks of Prince Qing's Mansion is one size smaller than that of the city bricks, with Yang characters printed on the side: Tianli Daxin Kiln Sample Bricks. There are small stamps printed on the outer wall tiles of the palace of Princess Hejia, the fourth daughter of Qianlong, and later the Capital University Hall: Records of Xingxing Kiln, Records of Dexing Kiln, etc. The warehouse walls of Bei Xincang and South Xincang are made of Dacheng bricks, both from the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty. The clearer seals include the traditional Chinese characters of "Baofeng Kiln Records" in Yang script. The gable of a main hall in Guanghua Temple is made of large bricks. There is an inscription on one end of the city bricks: fine mud stops at pure mud.
What do the scattered words on these city bricks represent? And why should it be printed?
During the Ming Dynasty, the law was strict. As strategic materials, city bricks are highly valued. The quality of city bricks is related to the safety of the city and carries a heavy responsibility. Except for a few kilns that produce city bricks that are trusted by the royal family, the city bricks produced by other kilns must be stamped with the date, address, name of the kiln, name of the kiln owner, and name of the craftsman for traceability. The seals of the early Ming Dynasty were located on the long sides of the city bricks. The seals had no borders and were in regular inscriptions with darker inscriptions. For example, the imprint on Nanjing city bricks reads: Hongwu year and month. Beijing Chengcheng bricks can be seen in the 17th year of Chenghua, the 11th year of Zhengde, etc., and the imprints have no borders. The city bricks from the Jiajing period also have imprints on the long sides of the bricks, but the stamps have a border, which can be single or double borders. Some bricks even have multiple stamps on them, such as "Jiajing Wu Nian Linchang Jingchuang" (large characters), "Kiln Owner Zhang Zong" (small characters). The same is a rectangular vertical stamp, and there is a small rectangular vertical stamp below: "Craftsman's virtue". The seal is in official Yin script. The city brick seals of the same period also have Yangwen regular script, such as: The history of kiln households in the autumn of the 18th year of Jiajing.
Only some of the Qing Dynasty city bricks have imprints and borders. They are small rectangles with inscriptions on the short sides of the bricks. Most of them only have the year or name of the kiln factory, but no name of the kiln owner or the name of the craftsman. For example: "The Third Year of Qianlong", "Baofeng Kiln", "Rongsheng Kiln". Some bricks also indicate the materials and craftsmanship of the city bricks, and some also add the name of the kiln, such as: "Xini Tingcheng Bricks", "Xini Pavilion Chengni", "Tonghe Kiln Fine Mu Tingcheng Bricks". The seals are all in regular script and Yang script. The words on some city bricks seem to be specially customized for a certain place, such as "Old Summer Palace" and so on. Some indicate the purpose of the bricks, such as "stop rolling bricks". In short, the function of tracing the responsibility of the characters on city bricks in the Qing Dynasty seems to be less prominent, and the printed characters are more like product labels and advertisements.
Today, we can see more city bricks with text from the Qing Dynasty. Those from the Ming Dynasty are either wrapped inside large walls or in royal gardens. Those damaged Ming Dynasty bricks After the city bricks were replaced by clear bricks, most of them were sold to citizens and scattered among the people. During the renovation of dilapidated buildings in Beijing, we can often see Ming Dynasty city bricks built into the walls of ordinary houses. Although they are damaged and incomplete, they still exist tenaciously. Unfortunately, as dump trucks haul them away and fill them in landfills, our chances of seeing them will become less and less.