Xuanwei Gate Ancient City Wall

Xuanwei Gate Ancient City Wall

The Xuanwei Gate Ancient City Wall is a Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Xuanwei Gate Ancient City Wall (Dujiangyan City)

The Guanxian County City Wall was originally the city wall of the ancient Guanxian County seat, located in Dujiangyan City, Sichuan Province, China. Currently, the Xuanwei Gate and some sections of the wall remain. On July 16, 2012, the Xuanwei Gate Ancient City Wall was listed as part of the Eighth Batch of Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units. During the Hongzhi era of the Ming Dynasty, Magistrate Hu Guang transformed the original rammed earth wall into a stone wall, establishing the basic layout of the Guanxian County city.

A Brief History of the Wall

Tang and Song Dynasties

According to the *Guanxian Annals*: “During the Tang and Song dynasties, the city was enclosed by huge wooden fences.” That is, thick logs were used as barriers instead of a continuous city wall. Since wood rots easily and needed frequent replacement, during the Yuanyou era of the Song Dynasty, an official named Liu Sui was dispatched to Guanxian by the imperial court. After much deliberation, Liu Sui ordered: “Plant hundreds of thousands of willow and poplar trees around the perimeter, connecting them to form a boundary.” The *Guanxian Annals* recorded Liu Sui’s tree-planting initiative: “The area from Baisha Yangliuping to Yangliu River today are the remnants of that time.” This approach eliminated the hassle of replacing wooden fences, and the hundreds of thousands of planted trees formed a green “wall” around the county seat.

Ming Dynasty — By the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, who rose from a peasant background, issued an edict for cities across the empire to be walled. As a result, the green wall of Guanxian was cut down, and according to imperial regulations, a new earthen wall was built against the mountains and along the water, then faced with bricks, along with the construction of four city gates facing east, west, south, and north.

Qing Dynasty and Republican Era — Later, through the Qing Dynasty and the Republican Era, the wall occasionally collapsed and was periodically repaired.

Founding of the People’s Republic of China — In 1951, during the construction of the Chengdu–Aba Highway, the northern gate wall section was demolished to use the soil for roadbed filling. In 1952, the western gate wall was dismantled, and its bricks were used to build the People’s Auditorium. In 1958, the southern gate wall was torn down to construct the People’s Bank, Guankou Town Hospital, and a department store. In 1968, the wall section from the northern gate to the Martyrs’ Cemetery was removed to build the Xinhua Color Printing Factory.

Conservation Area of the Yulei Mountain Section: The current land boundary extends 5 meters outward.

Conservation Area of the West Street Section: The eastern end, western end, and northern side of the wall each extend 5 meters outward, while the southern side extends to the northern edge of the Inner River embankment.

Construction Control Zone: Extends 15 meters outward from the conservation area boundary.

Further Reading:

· Eighth Batch of Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units