Ming Dynasty City Wall of Pukou

Ming Dynasty City Wall of Pukou

The Ming Dynasty City Wall of Pukou is a cultural tourism attraction.

Ruins of the Ming Dynasty City Wall of Pukou [Taishan Subdistrict & Dingshan Subdistrict, Pukou District · Ming Dynasty · Municipal Cultural Relics Protection Unit] According to the Jiangpu Historical Records (Jiangpu Picheng) and the Record of the Reconstruction of Pukou City by Gu Qiyuan of the Ming Dynasty, Pukou was first established as a city during the Sui Dynasty and was called Jinwang City. It was renamed “Xuanhua City” in the Southern Song Dynasty. The city wall at Puzikou (i.e., the Pukou City) was built in the early Ming Dynasty, with a roughly circular layout and a circumference of over 16 kilometers. It had the Cangbo Gate to the east, Wanfeng Gate to the west, Qingjiang Gate to the south, and ?D Valley Gate to the north, plus an additional southern convenience gate called Wangjing. It served as the seat of Jiangpu County in the early Ming Dynasty and underwent multiple renovations during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Within the areas of Taishan and Dingshan Subdistricts, there are also intermittent remnants of the city wall, moat, and city moat bridges, including seven sections of city wall ruins: the Western Enemy Tower Section, Fufeng Gate Section, Chang’an Lane to Puzi Mountain Section, Cangbo Gate to Tai’gong Road Section, Huangyao Group 5 Section, Nanjing Social Welfare Institute to ?D North Gate Section, and City Wall Base to Puchang Comprehensive Factory Section. There are also two sections of moat ruins: the Jintang Street to Western Enemy Tower Section and the Outside Cangbo Gate Section, as well as the ruins of the bridge outside Cangbo Gate — Zhushi Bridge.

After the 2010 cultural relics survey, the condition of the city wall at that time was as follows: The Western Enemy Tower Section only retained the southwest corner of the city wall. The existing wall is polygonal, with side lengths of 10, 9.7, 7.8, 11.6, and 4.6 meters, and a watchtower is still on the platform. The Fufeng Gate Section is about 150 meters long. The gate opening of Fufeng Gate has been bricked up, and the walls of the Puzhen Vehicle Factory and the former Liangpu Middle School were built on this section of the city wall. The Chang’an Lane to Puzi Mountain Section can be further divided into a lower and an upper section. One part extends eastward from the entrance of Chang’an Lane, with some houses on the left side of Gulougang built on the wall foundation, ending at houses 28 and 29 of Gulougang, about 60 meters long. The other part is on the mountaintop of Puzi Mountain, also about 60 meters long. The Cangbo Gate Section currently retains the large stones of the gate opening. The gate is 4.9 meters wide, the gate opening is 5.6 meters, and the two ramparts are 25 meters long. The city wall extends eastward to No. 10 Xiaguanlin Lane and No. 7 west of the Big Wharf, and westward through No. 21 Youfang Lane, No. 64 Dongmen Street, then turns north at No. 54-3 to Tai’gong Road. This section is about 50 meters long. The Huangyao Group 5 Section is the eastern northern section of the Pukou city wall. It starts from the northeast corner of the wall of the Agricultural University to the west, ending at Dianjiangtai Road, about 1,000 meters long, with only the city wall foundation remaining. The Nanjing Social Welfare Institute to ?D North Gate Section is the interrupted middle northern part of the Pukou city wall, which can be divided into two parts by the railway. The eastern part is 100 meters long on the hill behind the Nanjing Social Welfare Institute, with a remnant section of the city wall 16 meters long, 5.55 meters wide, and 4.1 meters high. The western part extends westward from the railway to the site of ?D North Gate. This section, located along the mountaintop, retains some foundation stones, and the site of ?D North Gate has many large flagstones. The City Wall Base to Puchang Comprehensive Factory Section had a break of about 60 meters in front of the factory gate in earlier years. After the construction of Yan Shan Avenue, half of the southern part of the city wall base was excavated. The section of the city wall at Puchang Comprehensive Factory is now one wall of the factory building, with about 50 meters still preserved. The Jintang Street to Western Enemy Tower Section moat ruins extend from the original site of the west gate bridge of Pukou City outside the Western Enemy Tower, passing eastward over the railway bridge and continuing eastward to the middle southern part of Jintang Street. The Outside Cangbo Gate Section moat ruins extend south to Taixi Road and north to Tai’gong Road. The eastern city moat bridge of Pukou is called Zhushi Bridge, also known as Liuhua Suocui Bridge or Pig Market Bridge. Currently, only the bridge foundation stones remain, with bricks from both the Ming and Qing dynasties. In 2012, additional remnants of the city wall were discovered on Taohuawu Mountain south of Tai’gong Road and behind Puchang Second Village. In 1983, Fufeng Gate, Cangbo Gate, and Dianjiangtai (also known as Central Enemy Tower) were designated as district-level cultural relics protection units. In 1992, the site of the Central Enemy Tower in Pukou was designated as a municipal-level cultural relics protection unit. In 2012, the ruins of the Ming Dynasty City Wall of Pukou were designated as a municipal-level protection unit, incorporating the original municipal and district-level protected sites.