Xinchang City Wall

Xinchang City Wall

The Xinchang City Wall is a cultural relic protection unit of Zhejiang Province.

The Xinchang City Wall is located in Nanming Subdistrict, Xinchang County, and dates back to the Ming Dynasty.

In ancient times, Xinchang was known as Yan Dong and belonged to Shanyin County before the Tang Dynasty. Xinchang County was established in the second year of the Kaiping era of the Later Liang (908), but initially had no city wall. According to the Jiatai-era Kuaiji Annals of the Southern Song Dynasty, there was an old city wall during the Song Dynasty. However, by the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, it no longer existed, leaving only the names of four gates: Ying’en, Zhendong, Houxian, and Gongren. The Ming Dynasty’s Chenghua-era Xinchang County Annals, citing the Dongdi Ji (written by Yu Gongmei of Xinchang County during the Southern Song Dynasty), states: “While compiling the Nanming Lu, I once doubted the Kuaiji Annals’ record that the county city had a perimeter of ten li, was ten chi high, and twelve chi thick. Today, there is no trace of such a city wall around the county.” The Wanli-era Xinchang County Annals records: “By the 18th year of the Hongzhi era (1505), Magistrate Yao Long first built a gate at the right side of Xiangxi Temple. By the 31st year of the Jiajing era (1552), due to the rampant threat of Japanese pirates and the lack of defenses among the people, Magistrate Wan Peng, assessing the situation and timing, first proposed building a city wall. From the Jiajing year of Bingchen (1556) to Dingsi (1557), the wall was completed in less than a year. The wall spans 1,374 zhang (approximately 4,580 meters), stands 1.7 zhang (approximately 5.6 meters) high, and is 2.4 zhang (approximately 8 meters) wide, encircling an area of six li, with four gates: Yingtai (East), Tonghui (West), Yangshan (South), and Jichuan (North). The wall features crenellations, guard towers, gatehouses, and barbicans, with roads both inside and outside the wall, each one zhang (approximately 3.3 meters) wide.” The Republican-era Xinchang County Annals states: “In the Gengxu year of the Wanli era (1610), Magistrate Li Yingxian opened the Qingyang Gate (also known as the New East Gate) in the middle of the northeast. In the 15th year of the Shunzhi era of the Qing Dynasty (1658), the battlements were heightened, and in the 9th year of the Kangxi era (1670), Magistrate Liu Zuoliang donated funds to build decorative towers over the five gates.”

Starting from the 1960s, sections of the city wall were gradually demolished. Today, most of the wall has been rebuilt as a ring road, with only a section approximately 800 meters long remaining—from Yingtai Gate (the old East Gate) to Qingyang Gate (the new East Gate). After comprehensive restoration, the ancient wall has been repaired and reinforced. The surviving wall has a trapezoidal cross-section, with a remaining height of 4 meters, a top width of 5.8 meters, and a base width of 6.8 meters (in earlier years, during the construction of the Dongmen Hydropower Station, two layers of long stone slabs were removed from the wall between the North Gate and the East Gate, and the base ground was generally raised, making the wall shorter). The outer side of the wall is constructed with irregularly sized stone slabs laid in staggered joints (the stones were sourced from Xiao Si’ao Quarry behind Thousand Buddha Rock), while the inner side is built with block stones, filled in the middle with sand, mud, and stones.

The Xinchang Ancient City Wall has a history of over 450 years. It was exquisitely crafted and played a significant role in resisting Japanese pirates and preventing floods. For a certain historical period, the city wall ensured the safety and well-being of the local people and serves as an important physical relic for studying the history of Xinchang.

On January 7, 2011, it was announced as part of the sixth batch of Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Units.

Nanming Subdistrict: Xinchang is located in the eastern part of Zhejiang Province, under the jurisdiction of Shaoxing City. Established in 908 AD, it has a history of over 1,100 years. The county covers an area of 1,213 square kilometers and governs 16 towns and subdistricts, 415 administrative villages, 13 communities, with a total population of 436,000. Its landscape is characterized as “eight parts mountain, half part water, and half part field,” making it a typical mountainous county. Since the 1980s, we have seized the opportunities brought by reform and opening up, relying on institutional and technological innovation, and successfully transformed from one of the province’s less-developed counties to a nationally ranked top 100 county. Significant changes have taken place in both urban and rural areas, including... Detailed information about Nanming Subdistrict ++

Further Reading:

· Sixth Batch of Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Units