Tongyuanmen Gate and City Wall

Tongyuanmen and City Wall

Tongyuanmen and City Wall are designated as a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Tongyuanmen and City Wall are located on Jintang Street in Qixinggang, Yuzhong District, dating back to the Ming and Qing dynasties.

The existing city wall and gate ruins were built in the early Hongwu era of the Ming Dynasty by Dai Ding, who constructed a stone wall atop the original foundations. Over centuries of turmoil and warfare, Tongyuanmen’s walls have stood for more than 600 years, silently witnessing the historical evolution of Chongqing. The small gateway of Tongyuanmen has long been the city’s sole overland passage to the outside world, with the adjacent Qixinggang area once serving as a burial ground. A well-known local folk song about the city gates includes the verse: “At Tongyuanmen, drums beat loud, come watch them bury the dead.”

Since its construction, Tongyuanmen in Chongqing has witnessed two fierce battles, both recorded in the wall reliefs: Zhang Jue’s Last Stand at Tongyuanmen. In 1259, after the death of Mongol Khan Möngke at Diaoyucheng, the Mongol forces retreated. In 1271, Kublai Khan established the Yuan Dynasty, and by 1276, they captured Lin’an, leading to the fall of the Southern Song. In 1278, they launched a fierce assault on Chongqing. Defending general Zhang Jue fought valiantly against the Yuan troops, and blood was shed at Tongyuanmen. The second event was Zhang Xianzhong’s Breach of Tongyuanmen. In 1644, the 17th year of the Ming Chongzhen Emperor’s reign, peasant rebellion leader Zhang Xianzhong led an army of 600,000 to lay siege to Chongqing. After six days of intense fighting, his forces finally broke through Tongyuanmen and seized this key stronghold in eastern Sichuan.

To better protect the gate and walls of the Tongyuanmen section, Yuzhong District of Chongqing began constructing the Tongyuanmen City Wall Ruins Park on April 1, 2004, which opened to the public in February 2005. The park consists of a plaza, sections of the city wall, and sculptures that depict historical stories of the wall's construction, defense, and assaults. It also features two sets of folk art sculptures—“Fried Rice Candy Tea” and “Sedan Chairs”—adding a strong local cultural flavor. It serves as one of the sites where visitors can experience Chongqing’s history and culture.

In 2000, Tongyuanmen and the City Wall were listed among the first batch of Chongqing Municipal Cultural Relics Protection Units by the Chongqing Municipal People’s Government.