Ruins of Hailang City

　　The ruins of Hailang City are located on Zhenhai Mountain in Haitou Village, two kilometers southwest of Dagou Town. To the south is Xinwu Village, with the South China Sea lying across the sandy beach in front of the village, and to the northwest are mountains. This city was built using the mountain as a natural barrier, with its walls following the mountain’s contours and spiraling down from the summit. The city wall is made of rammed earth, forming a slightly elliptical defensive fortress.

　　This ancient defensive fortress was commissioned in the 27th year of the Hongwu era during the Ming Dynasty (1394) by Hua Maoshou, the commander of the defense garrison, to be established on his birthday. The city wall is 2,200 meters in circumference, with a diameter of 700 meters in the southeast and a length of 540 meters in the northwest. It has four gate towers, each 4.66 meters high. In the 30th year of the Wanli era (1602), Xu Lin, the coastal defense intendant, built a watchtower here. In the second year of the Chongzhen era (1629), a Hailang artillery battery was set up on the site. Hailang City was abandoned in the early years of the Qianlong reign during the Qing Dynasty.

　　Due to a lack of detailed historical records, the layout of the city within the Hailang ruins is not entirely clear. However, remnants of the city’s outline can still be faintly seen among the overgrown ruins. Parts of the city wall remain relatively intact, with the western side sloping higher and three-meter-high outer walls still standing on the eastern side. Traces of the moat surrounding the city can also be observed. Within the abandoned city, some areas have been reclaimed and cultivated by later generations. Reddish-blue fragments of bricks and tiles are visible on the ground—likely original construction materials—and there are also shards of yellow-glazed and blue-and-white ceramic bowls and plates. At the top of the mountain, three large upright stones are arranged at equal distances, each engraved with the three large characters “Zhen Hai Shan” (Town-Sea Mountain), which remain clearly visible from afar. This coastal defensive fortress indeed held significant strategic importance.