Lower Hengdang Fort

Lower Hengdang Fort

Lower Hengdang Fort is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Lower Hengdang Fort is located on Lower Hengdang Island in the middle of the Humen Waterway, east of Gangqian Avenue, Nansha Subdistrict, Nansha District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, covering an area of approximately 6,700 square meters. The site preserves nine rear-loading gun emplacements built in the eighth year of the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty (1882). These are numbered from 1 to 9 in sequence from west to east, though all the rear-loading cannons have since been lost. The northern-central part of the island features official quarters, barracks, and storage facilities. It is one of the main surviving sections of the Humen Forts. The fort bears witness to the Chinese people’s resistance against imperialist invasion and holds significant importance in the historical narrative of China’s national rejuvenation. It possesses considerable historical, artistic, and scientific value. In February 1982, it was included under the “Humen Forts” designation and declared a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Nanbeitai Community: The Gugang Fort is situated on Panyu Nansha Mountain (commonly known as Furongzhang) and was approved for construction in the fifteenth year of the Daoguang reign (1835) by the Viceroy of Liangguang, Lu Kun, and the Admiral of the Guangdong Navy, Guan Tianpei. Together with the Yong’an Platform on Upper Hengdang Island, it helped guard the western channel of the Humen Strait. “The old Gugang Fort was built along the seashore, originally with a curved foundation measuring fifty-one zhang in length and a battery platform twenty-one zhang long, featuring twenty gun embrasures. However, its rear was close to a rock face, and this was the only fort west of Hengdang, making its strategic position somewhat isolated.” During the First Opium War, British forces completely destroyed the fort. It was rebuilt in the twenty-third year of the Daoguang reign and divided into northern and southern sections, commonly referred to as Nanbei Tai (North-South Platforms).

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