Ruins of Dashun Garrison Town

Ruins of Dashun Garrison Town

The ruins of Dashun Garrison Town are a cultural relic protection unit of Zhejiang Province.

The ruins of Dashun Garrison Town are located in Zhanqi Town and Xianxiang Town, Yinzhou District, Ningbo City. They include six levels of seven sites: Dashun Garrison Town, He’ao Beacon Tower, Patai’gang Beacon Tower, Hengshan Beacon Tower, Huangniuling Beacon Tower, and Huopaling Beacon Tower. Centered around Dashun Garrison Town, these sites are scattered across Zhanqi and Xianxiang Towns in Yinzhou District, Ningbo City. The Dashun Thousand-Household Garrison was first established in the 20th year of the Hongwu reign during the Ming Dynasty (1389), with six beacon towers under its jurisdiction, serving as a key coastal defense site in eastern Yinzhou.

Today, only part of the city wall of Dashun Garrison Town remains, located in Xicheng and Dongcheng Villages of Zhanqi Town. There is also the site of the east gate of the garrison town, situated in front of the current Dongcheng Village Committee building. Currently, the northern stone wall and the embedded vertical stone grooves are preserved, but the rest have been completely destroyed. In addition, the ruins of He’ao Beacon Tower, Patai’gang Beacon Tower, Hengshan Beacon Tower, Huangniuling Beacon Tower, and Huopaling Beacon Tower are distributed on village mountaintops across Zhanqi and Xianxiang Towns. All occupy strategically important terrain and correspond with Dashun Garrison Town, together forming a well-fortified coastal defense system.

The Dashun Garrison Town ruins cover a large area and contain numerous relics, making them a typical representation of the coastal garrison towns and their affiliated beacon towers in the southeastern coastal defense system of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Although the remaining city wall is not intact, the overall layout of the garrison town is largely preserved, and most of the affiliated beacon towers are also well-maintained. It holds significant importance for the study of coastal defense history and for patriotic education. In January 2017, it was designated as a provincial-level cultural relic protection unit in the seventh batch by the People’s Government of Zhejiang Province.

Source: Yinzhou District Cultural Relics Management Office

Further Reading:

· Seventh Batch of Zhejiang Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Units