Pu’an Wei City Tower and Ancient City Wall

Pu’an Wei City Tower and Ancient City Wall

The Pu’an Wei City Tower and Ancient City Wall is a cultural tourism attraction.

The Pu’an Wei City Tower and Ancient City Wall are located in Chengguan Town. Originally built in the 22nd year of the Hongwu reign (1389), in the 25th year, Commander Wang Wei and others began constructing the earthen city wall, which was later clad with stone. According to the Ming Dynasty’s Jiajing-era “Annals of Pu’an Prefecture,” the wall was eight li and five fen in circumference and two zhang and three chi in height. It had four stone arch gates: Yongxi in the east, Guangju in the south, Chongren in the west, and Zhenyuan in the north. A drum tower was built atop the Zhenyuan Gate. The city wall was built along the contours of the mountain, higher in the west and lower in the east, resembling an upturned bell. In the 26th year of the Kangxi reign (1687), the east gate was renamed Huizheng. In the 11th year of the Daoguang reign (1831), dozens of zhang of the southern wall collapsed and were later repaired. In the 3rd year of the Xianfeng reign (1853), repairs were made to the eastern wall. In the 8th year of Xianfeng (1858), the wall was heightened by three chi. In the 2nd year of the Tongzhi reign (1863), the southern gate battery was repaired again. In the 2nd year of the Guangxu reign (1876), the western gate drum tower was reconstructed, and in the 12th year, the drum towers of the northwest gates were refurbished.

Before 1952, the entire wall remained largely intact, but it gradually deteriorated afterward. By 1966, over half had been destroyed. Today, only a section approximately 1,100 meters long remains on both sides of the north gate, varying in height from 1.2 to 5 meters and in thickness from 0.6 meters. The western gate archway still stands, as does the stone plaque inscribed with “Chongren Gate.” The northern gate is well-preserved, featuring a semi-circular arch with a longitudinal jointed segmental masonry technique (also known as coupled arches). The arch is 5.5 meters high, spans 5.87 meters, and extends 23.8 meters inward. At 2.9 meters inside the arch, there is a vertical slot measuring 2.6 meters wide and 0.6 meters deep, where the city gate was once installed. The wooden-core, iron-faced gate was removed in 1957. Both the northern gate and adjacent walls are built with ashlar stones. The gate platform is 9.9 meters high and 39.6 meters wide, with 24 crenels still in place. The current drum tower atop the northern gate platform was rebuilt in the 17th year of the Republic of China (1928), modeled after Kunming’s “Rinijiao Tower.” It features a five-bay-wide and three-bay-deep layout, a double-eave hip-and-gable roof, and a seven-rafter column-and-tie construction. The ground floor has a double-step corridor, now sealed with earthen bricks, leaving only the central bay open. The wing corners are raised using bracket arms, with a 1-meter upward curve and over 2-meter eaves, covered with small blue tiles. The structure is currently well-preserved.

The northern gate is the earliest-built city gate among surviving Ming Dynasty gates in the province, with both the gate and tower still intact—a unique feature in the region. On September 23, 1981, the former Special District Government of Panxian announced the northern gate drum tower as a cultural relic protection unit. In June 1984, the Liupanshui Municipal People’s Government designated both the northern gate drum tower and the remaining sections of the city wall as cultural relic protection units. Repairs were carried out in 2002, and in June of that year, the Guizhou Provincial People’s Government listed it as a provincial-level cultural relic protection unit.