Zhiding Gate

Zhiding Gate

Zhiding Gate — the north gate is located on the northern side of Danzhou’s city wall and is named Zhiding Gate. The gate tower is called Beidi Tower. The four gates of Danzhou’s city wall, along with the wall itself, were built as a whole in the 19th year of the Wanli era (1591 AD) and completed in the 20th year of Wanli. Zhiding Gate is the only remaining ancient Ming Dynasty structure among the four city gates.

The border region between Guangxi and Guizhou during the Ming Dynasty was mostly mountainous and was referred to as barren land. It was predominantly inhabited by ethnic minorities, with a relatively underdeveloped culture and an extremely underdeveloped economy. Ethnic minorities often rose up in rebellion against the oppression by Han officials, taking to the hills and establishing strongholds, leading to continuous warfare. After Su Zhaoyang relocated to Danzhou, he had the city wall constructed. This gate faces directly north toward the Guangxi-Guizhou border area and was named “Zhiding” (meaning “to govern and pacify”), symbolizing the hope of achieving peace through governance. In reality, during the Ming, Qing, and Republican periods, the political situation was chaotic, people’s lives were miserable, and there were excessive taxes and levies, causing great suffering among the ethnic minorities in the mountainous regions — so how could they not rebel? However, Su’s wish came true more than three hundred years after his death — only during the socialist period under the leadership of the Communist Party did the ethnic minorities in the mountains truly achieve a life of peace, stability, unity, and prosperity...

Source: Tourism Bureau of Sanjiang Dong Autonomous County

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