Tongchuan Ancient City Wall

Tongchuan Ancient City Wall

The Tongchuan Ancient City Wall is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Walking along Xiannan Street in Tongchuan Town, Santai, you’ll find traditional old residences lining the way, with various quaint shops exuding an old-world charm. In the distance, the south gate tower of the Tongchuan Ancient City Wall comes into view.

As part of the post-disaster reconstruction project for cultural heritage (historic relics) in Santai County, the restored city wall and south gate tower have regained their original appearance. Back in July 2007, a reporter from our newspaper visited the site with staff from the Mianyang Cultural Relics Bureau. At that time, the area around the wall and tower was cluttered with utility poles and cables, parts of the city wall had residential buildings constructed on them, and there were rows of sewage outlets. Today, all of these have disappeared. The grey sandstone slab-built wall, along with the rows of battlements along the top, reveals a long history and a sense of antiquity. The watchtower features flying eaves, upturned corners, red pillars, green tiles, carved windows and doors, and has regained its former majestic presence.

At the east gate at the end of Dongjie in Tongchuan Town, the residences and makeshift structures that once encroached upon the city wall are gone, the narrow street beside the gate has been widened significantly, and small squares have been built on both sides of the gate with landscape trees planted, creating a leisure space.

Beneath the gate tower and the city wall lies a journey through history and reality. Climbing up to the gate tower via a staircase along the inner side of the wall and looking out over the city, one is greeted by a strong sense of history and culture.

Sichuan’s only Ming and Qing stone city

The Tongchuan Ancient City Wall in Santai has a history of approximately 400 years and is the most intact and largest ancient city wall within the Mianyang area, as well as the only stone-built city wall among the existing Ming and Qing city walls in Sichuan.

The Tongchuan Ancient City Wall was built during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty. At that time, “the city was surrounded by a moat, four zhang wide, drawing water from the winding currents of the Xixi River.” It was later destroyed during the wars in the late Ming Dynasty. From the 32nd to the 35th year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1767–1769), Xu Shiying, the prefect of Santai, “rebuilt the prefectural city on the original site,” switching from earthen construction to stone, and also rebuilt the watchtower. The Tongchuan Ancient City Wall stands 6 meters high and 9.8 meters thick, all built with sandstone slabs. The gate passages consist of inner and outer openings, and historically there were nine artillery platforms. The city originally had four gates — south, north, east, and west — which increased to five during the Guangxu era. They played a significant role in defending against military attacks, bandit raids, and floods.

After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, urban development needs led to the demolition of the section from the west gate to the north gate, as well as the old and new west and north gates, by the mid-1980s, leaving only about 1,500 meters of the wall and the east and south gates. Notably, the Tongchuan Ancient City Wall in Santai, from its base to its body, is built entirely with sandstone slabs on its exterior, making it the only stone-built city wall among the existing Ming and Qing city walls in Sichuan.

The protection of the Tongchuan Ancient City Wall in Santai has been ongoing since the early 1990s.

The Tongchuan Ancient City Wall features a rammed earth core made of sand, gravel, and clay, with its exterior constructed from sandstone slabs. Over the long course of history, the exterior wall suffered severe weathering and fragmentation due to natural factors. Rainwater seepage and plant growth caused deformation of the structure. Human activities also contributed to the damage. In 1992, cultural relics authorities carried out maintenance work on the wall, repainting the watchtower, removing or repairing decayed components, and restoring damaged crenellations. However, due to limited funding, comprehensive protection remained difficult.

In 2007, the protection of the Tongchuan Ancient City Wall captured the attention of Shu Yi, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. He submitted Proposal No. 4461 during the Fifth Session of the Tenth CPPCC National Committee, advocating for enhanced protection of the wall, citing its long history, high quality, and superior materials compared to those of the Beijing Ancient City Wall. That same year, the Santai County Party Committee and County Government incorporated city wall protection into the overall urban planning.

During the devastating Wenchuan earthquake on May 12, 2008, the Tongchuan Ancient City Wall sustained serious damage, with some sections of the foundation sinking and cracking, especially the main beams of the south gate watchtower, which tilted noticeably. Soon after the quake, the Tongchuan Ancient City Wall and its southeast gate were included in the Santai County cultural heritage (historic relics) post-disaster reconstruction project.

Restoring historical memory and cultural symbols

On April 3, 2011, the renovation and reinforcement project for the Santai Ancient City Wall and southeastern gates officially commenced. After a year of effort, on May 9, 2012, the project passed final acceptance inspection.

Mao Jianjun, director of the Santai County Cultural Relics Management Office, explained that according to the urban master plan of Santai County, the ancient city wall and the east and south gates — extending from the Tobacco Company to the sports field of Santai Middle School on the western side — form the Tongchuan Ancient City Wall protected area. During the post-disaster reconstruction, the repair plan was formulated by the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. Through open bidding, qualified professional organizations were commissioned to reinforce and stabilize the gates and walls in accordance with their appearance after the major renovation in the 32nd year of Qianlong’s reign.

Adhering to the principle of “restoring the old as it was,” renovations preserved the existing structural frameworks of the south gate and watchtower on the wall. The crenellations were rebuilt with stone slabs, original doors and windows were replaced, and the original appearance was restored. Since the east gate watchtower had been destroyed long ago, the Sichuan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology designed its restoration with reference to the south gate watchtower and other Ming-style architecture. The construction team followed this design to rebuild it. Meanwhile, the pedestrian pathway next to the east gate wall was resurfaced with flagstones, replacing the original concrete ground.

The post-disaster reconstruction has brought back the former glory of the Tongchuan Ancient City Wall. The unique historical and cultural significance of the ancient wall and southeastern gates has become a beautiful attraction in downtown Santai.

Historical records indicate that during the Tang Dynasty, Santai was the regional capital of the Dongchuan Circuit under the Jiannan Commandery, also known as the seat of the Dongchuan Dao, alongside Chengdu — the seat of the Xichuan Commandery — as two major political centers in Sichuan. The Poet Sage Du Fu once lived here for nearly two years. Historically, it has always been a strategic military location.

The ancient city wall is built with slabs measuring 1.2 meters in length and 0.3 to 0.35 meters in height and width. Today, the south gate tower and the east gate passage still remain. Some have claimed that the Santai Ancient City Wall is one of the few remaining stone-built city walls in China, second only to Nanjing, and its watchtower is the best-preserved ancient watchtower in the province.

The east gate shares the same structure as the south gate, with double wooden doors coated in iron sheeting between the inner and outer gate passages, and the lintel features shallow relief carvings of floral scroll patterns. Such stone city walls are now rare in China and hold significant historical, artistic, and research value.

Protected area: Extending 10–15 meters outward from both sides of the wall, from the western edge of the extant wall at the county tobacco company to the eastern edge of the extant wall at the sports field behind Santai Middle School.

Construction control zone: Extending 50 meters outward from the protected area.

Further reading:

· Seventh batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units