Baoping Fort

Baoping Fort

Baoping Fort

Baoping Fort was built in the 25th year of the Jiajing reign during the Ming Dynasty (1546), with a perimeter of one li and seven fen. The wall stands 3.6 zhang high. There is an east gate, which is 5 meters tall, 3 meters wide, and 11 meters deep, featuring a brick-arched gateway with a stone plaque inscribed “Zhenyun” (Suppressing Clouds). The fort site sits at an elevation of 1,255 meters and covers an area of 41 mu. This fort was constructed during the Jiajing era...

According to the Wanli-era "San Yun Chou Zu Kao" (Records on the Military Defense of the Three Passes), the fort then housed “one defender-commander, one garrison commander, 314 troops, 17 war horses and mules, and was responsible for defending over 7 li of the Great Wall, 18 border watchtowers, and 11 beacon towers.” Among the border watchtowers under its jurisdiction was Pinghu Watchtower, a highly strategic location. In the 37th year of the Jiajing reign (1558), Altan Khan, leader of the northern Mongolian nomadic tribes, broke through here and raided Tiancheng Wei. The fort also served as a key defensive stronghold and was further reinforced in the 6th year of the Longqing reign (1572) during the Ming Dynasty, when its walls were bricked.

At the center of Baoping Fort stands a Jade Emperor Pavilion, similar in structure to the existing one in Xinping. Elders from the fort recall that climbing the pavilion offered a panoramic view of the landscape within ten li inside and outside the Great Wall. Though not large, the fort hosts twelve temples: the Dragon King Temple, Goddess Temple, Arhat Temple, Buddha Hall, Guanyin Temple, City God Temple, and Zhenwu Temple, with a Guan Yu Temple built atop the city gate. It is a “complete temple” fortress boasting a full set of feudal cultural architecture. This shows that the fort was not merely a military stronghold but also a place where Confucian, Buddhist, and Taoist cultures flourished. For over four hundred years, people have continuously preserved and developed this cultural heritage.

The temple buildings within Baoping Fort were gradually demolished after the founding of New China. The Jade Emperor Pavilion was taken down in the early 1960s. Due to the difficulty of accessing drinking water—drawn from a river (commonly called Dongsha River) about 1 li down the eastern valley—the residents gradually relocated, mostly moving to Dankengou in the southeast of the fort. Now named after the area, it is called Dankengou Village. By 1990, the fort was largely uninhabited and had fallen into disuse.

Address: Xinpingbao Town, Tianzhen County, Datong City, Shanxi Province