Chinese city wall

Author: Luo Zhewen
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-04-01
Features: Cities are markers of human civilization reaching an important historical stage, and city walls are significant symbols of cities. Engels said, "The towering walls surrounding newly fortified cities are not without reason. Their moats are deepened as tombs of the clan system, while their watchtowers have soared into the era of civilization." The emergence of cities indeed represents a leap across eras in the history of human civilization. The development of cities gradually made them the political, economic, and cultural centers of nations, regions, and ethnic groups, becoming places where material and spiritual wealth are most concentrated. A history of human civilization is inseparable from the history of cities. China is a renowned ancient civilization, with a very long history of city wall construction, highly sophisticated techniques, a wide variety of wall types, and an enormous number of walls. In terms of the architectural type of city walls, few ancient civilizations in the world can compare to China. For example, the newly discovered Neolithic city ruins of Xishan in Zhengzhou are even older than the ancient city ruins of the Tigris-Euphrates and Egypt, which date back 5,000 years. Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian records that the Xia Dynasty had "ten thousand states" and "city walls," with an innumerable number of ancient cities. If we consider defensive fortifications, the precursor of city walls can be traced back tens of thousands of years to the cave dwellings of the Paleolithic era, where defensive facilities were built at cave entrances. The wide and deep moats surrounding the Banpo Village site in Xi'an, which date back 6,000 years, are early examples of the complete structure of walls and moats. As for the scale of the city walls surrounding Nanjing, spanning 180 li (over 60 kilometers in actual measurement), and the 1,500-year-old steamed earth rammed construction technique of the Tongwan City, such achievements are hard to find in other countries. The editing and publication of this album hold great value. This initiative itself is a form of protection and rescue for the historical, artistic, and scientific treasures of Chinese city walls. Preserving materials is also a way to protect cultural relics. Although it cannot replace the preservation of physical artifacts, preserving scientific data when physical preservation is impossible is a great achievement. Moreover, the publication of this book will undoubtedly play a positive role in promoting national culture, providing scientific research, conducting patriotic education, and developing the tourism industry, among other aspects.