Ruins of the Qin Dynasty Great Wall in Lintao

　　The westernmost section of the Qin Great Wall ruins is located at Changchengpo, Yaodian, about 23 kilometers east of Lintao County in Gansu Province. It runs from north to south, built with rammed yellow earth slabs, and the remaining height is around 1 meter. This marks the starting point of the western end of the Qin Dynasty Great Wall. It stretches intermittently through eight counties including Weiyuan, Longxi, Tongwei, Huining, and Jingning before entering Ningxia, then returns to Gansu through Huanxian and Qingyang County before entering Shaanxi Province. Crossing mountains and valleys, leaping over ravines, traversing deserts and grasslands, it winds eastward until it reaches the banks of the Yalu River.
　　

　　 The section of the Qin Great Wall within Weiyuan was built after King Zhaoxiang of Qin eliminated the Yiqu Rong during the Warring States period, making it one of the oldest sections of the Great Wall in Chinese history. It starts in the west at Shawangfen, 30 li east of Lintao, ascends from Changchengpo in Dongyugou and Yangshan into Weiyuan County. It passes through 14 villages across four towns — including Dierpo, Fanjiawan, Wenchanggong, Qinwangsi, Shibaozi, Chenjiawa, Fangjialiang, Chenghao, Gaozuishan, Majiashan, Xiayantian, and Yangshan — covering a winding distance of 37 kilometers, before entering Longxi County via Ye Hubay. Most parts of this ancient wall still stand approximately 3 meters high, with some sections exceeding ten meters. Along the wall, there are small beacon towers every li and large ones every ten li, presenting a majestic sight. The layers of tamped earth beneath the wall are clearly visible, and Qin tiles are scattered everywhere. At the foot of the wall lies Qinwangsi Temple, said to have been built to commemorate Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s overnight stay here while inspecting Longxi Commandery (with its seat in Didao). The temple originally had a grand three-courtyard structure, with an opera stage and assembly hall outside the mountain gate, and a deep well in the rear courtyard known as the “Qinwang Watering Horse Well.” Beside the well stands a thousand-year-old tree called the “Qinwang Tethering Tree.” Inside the temple was a massive bell (2 meters in diameter, 3 meters in height, weighing 4,800 jin), jointly funded and cast in the first year of the Ming Chenghua era (1465 AD) by the three counties of Long, Wei, and Lintao — an extremely rare artifact. Most of the Qinwangsi Temple structures were destroyed during the Qing Tongzhi-era warfare. The bell was melted down for steel in 1958. Today, only the rear main hall (rebuilt in the 23rd year of the Republic of China), one side hall on the left of the front courtyard (built during the Xuantong reign of the Qing), three rooms of the east wing, and remnants of other structures remain. A poem inscribed on the surviving side-hall murals reads: “The Wei River flows ceaselessly day and night, who knows when the battles will cease? Ruins of the Great Wall stretch for miles, but the Qin lords of old are nowhere to be seen.” The Qin Great Wall section in Weiyuan County is now a provincial-level cultural relic protected site.