The northern section of the ancient city wall

The northern section of the ancient city wall

The northern section of the ancient city wall is a protected cultural heritage site of Anqing City.

The northern section of the ancient city wall is the only remaining part of the old city wall, now forming a segment of the northern perimeter wall of Anqing Prison. Historical records indicate that this section of the ancient wall was restored during the Tongzhi era of the Qing Dynasty. The main body of the wall was built atop a high ridge, stretching approximately 45 meters in length and standing 5.2 meters high. Its cross-section is trapezoidal, with a base width of 1.6 meters and a top width of 0.6 meters. The bricks were laid in a pattern of two stretchers to one header. In early 1993, the northern section of the ancient city wall was designated as a municipal-level key cultural relics protection unit. Today, the ancient wall still stands majestically and uniquely. The wall is covered with dense, lush ivy, presenting a sea of green. Beneath the old wall lies a two-meter-wide earthen path, with a steep slope valley to the north. Strolling along, one can still feel the ancient charm of the old city wafting through the air.

The earliest construction of Anqing’s city walls began in April of the tenth year of the Jiading era during the Southern Song Dynasty (1217). At that time, Prefect Huang Gan, citing “the Jin army’s capture of Guangzhou,” petitioned the imperial court to build a city on the northern side of Yicheng Ferry in Shengtangwan. The situation was urgent, so construction commenced before approval was granted. Huang Gan divided the project into twelve sections (“materials”), “first building one section himself, calculating the labor and costs involved, and then assigning officials, local gentry, and scholars to oversee each section.” After nearly eight months of hard work, the project was completed that winter. Later, in March of the first year of the Jingding era (1260), Ma Guangzu, the Jiangnan River Defense Commissioner, led his team to rebuild the Anqing city walls, forming a structure that “encircled an area nine li and thirteen paces in circumference, backed by the Dalong Mountain to the north, bordered by the lake to the east, confined by the river to the west, and overlooking the great river to the south.”

The northern section of the ancient city wall was built atop a high ridge in the northwest of the city. Inside the ancient wall lies the “Yinmatang” (Drinking Horse Pond), historically recorded as “located inside the north gate, where three ponds connect, serving as a place for official stables to bathe horses.” In the late Qing Dynasty, the Anhui Provincial Administration Commission established a reformatory for criminals here, which was later converted into the Anhui Provincial Model Prison. The northern perimeter wall of the prison utilized the existing ancient wall, and this “borrowed” wall ended up preserving a precious piece of Anqing’s ancient heritage.