City Wall


The construction of the City Wall of Xi’an was initiated by Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, who
was in regime between 1370-1378 AD.

The City Wall measured 25.7 km in length, 12-16 m in thickness at the base. The area within the wall was 36 square
km. It encircles a much smaller city of 12 square km. Completely centered on "defense" strategy system, wall
thickness greater than the height of a solid as a mountain.

The Ming Xi’an City is in the shape of a rectangle and it covers an area of 11,5 square km. The circumference of the
city wall is 13,49 km long. On each side of the city wall there is a gate comprising three multistoried towers: the gate
tower, arrow-shooting tower and the drawbridge tower, which look huge and magnificent. On the city wall there is a
range of outward parapets interrupted by as many as 5984 crenels, and there are altogether protruding ramparts. On
each of the 4 corners on the city wall there is a watch tower. The city wall is surrounded by a moat, which is 18
meters wide and 6 meters deep.

Since the ancient weapons did not have the power to break through a wall and the only way for an enemy to enter the city was by attacking the gate
of the city wall. This is why complicated gate structures were built within the wall. In Xian, the city wall includes four gates, each city gate has three
gate towers: Zhenglou, Jianlou and Zhalou. The most outside is Zhalou, which stands away from the City Wall and is opposite to Zhenglou. It was
used to raise and lower the suspension bridge. Jianlou with small windows in the front and flanks was
used as a defensive outpost. Zhenglou, in the inner, is the main entrance to the city. The wall connects
Jianlou and Zhenglou Towers. The area between them within the wall was called 'Wong Cheng', in which
the soldiers stationed. From Wong Cheng, there are sloped horse passages leading to the top of the city
wall.

In recent years, the city government has invested heavily in the refurbishment of the damaged wall, East
Gate, North Gate tower, South Gate House, bridge, clearing the moat to build 600,000 square meters of
green belt around the city, and built around the city park, so that this ancient architecture reawakens the
past glory as a major Xi'an tourism landscape.