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Plan your Nanjing Tour? Don’t miss Zhonghua Gate （中华门瓮城) , the largest...
Plan your Nanjing Tour? Don’t miss Zhonghua Gate （中华门瓮城) , the largest ancient city wall gate complex in China, akin to a huge castle in the west. The massive city wall gate is a historical relic left by Zhu Yuzhuang, the first emperor and founder of Ming Dynasty (1638 -1644) . There used to be 13 gates of this kind along the over-30km ancient city wall of the Ming Dynasty.
The name of Zhonghua Gate was changed for several time. Firs named “south gate” since it was located on the south of the city. It is also known as Jubaomen “Gathering Treasures Gate”. In 1931 when the Republic of China government set Nanjing as its capital, the gate was named Zhonghua Gate ( the Gate of China ).
" Zhonghua" literally means "China", so that's why the Google Map recognizes the Zhonghua Gate as "Gate of China, Nanjing“. It is located at Zhonghua Road, Qinhuai District, Qinhuai District, Nanjing.
The city gate castle has 3 inner cities connected by four arched gates with its dimensions 118.5 m from east to west, and 128 m from south to north. Each inner city had holes to hide soldiers. Each gate was equipped with a Qianjinzha ( Heavy Gate ) which could be opened up and down.
The Zhonghua Gate has gong through wind and rain for 600 years. It still keeps it original appearance though much of its wooden structures destroyed. Zhonghua Gate is a master piece of China’s ancient engineering project of complex and intricate design, which has a prominent place in the wall construction history in China.
Now Nanjing Confucius Temple with its old world charming surrounding area is popularly and officially known as Nanjing Confucius Temple-The Qinhuai River Scenic Area (夫子庙秦淮风光带).
Follow us to have a virtual tour of Zhonghua Gate Nanjing (Gate Castle).
On each side of the gate castle exterior, there are two large ramps used for running soldiers on horse up to the top of the gate castle.
It is estimated that hundreds of millions of bricks were used to build the Ming City wall in Nanjing. The bricks are generally 40 ~ 45 cm long, 20 cm wide and 10 ~ 12 cm thick.
If you don’t want to do a self-guided tour and prefer the hassle-free escorted tours, here are some options for organized tours to Jiangsu Province:
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