Ancient City Wall of Zhaoqing

　　Historical records indicate that the city wall of Zhaoqing was initially constructed from earth. In the third year of the Zhenghe era of the Song Dynasty (1113), the earthen walls were expanded and rebuilt with bricks. Despite enduring over 20 major renovations and countless challenges throughout history, the original positions of the walls and gates have remained unchanged. The Song Dynasty-built sections of the wall remain remarkably well-preserved—an extremely rare phenomenon in China.

　　The wall stretches 2,801.2 meters in circumference, with heights ranging from 6.5 to 10 meters and widths between 8 and 18 meters. It has a rectangular layout, with the outer layer made of bricks and the inner part filled with rammed earth. It is currently the most intact and largest-scale city wall from the Song Dynasty still in existence within the province. The Song-era walls featured four gates: the east gate called Songchong, the west gate Zhennan, the south gate Duanci, and the north gate Chaotian. Each gate was topped with a gate tower, and outside each of the four main gates was a barbican. At each of the wall’s four corners stood a watchtower, while a moat encircled the exterior. In the fifth year of the Ming Dynasty's Chenghua era (1469), Prefect Li ? thickened parts of the wall and personally inscribed stone plaques for the four gates, renaming them as follows: the east gate became Qingyun, the west gate Jingxing, the south gate Nanhui, and the north gate retained the name Chaotian. The western section of the northern wall housed the Piyun Tower, and the eastern section of the southern wall featured the Wenchang Pavilion. There were also 28 battlement platforms (also known as horse faces) along the outer wall. Defensive structures including gate towers, corner towers, battlements, crenellations, guard booths, barbicans, moats, and artillery platforms were all fully equipped. Between 1924 and 1926 (the 13th to 15th years of the Republic of China), the gate towers, corner towers, crenellations, and barbicans were completely demolished to fill in the gates and moat for traffic purposes, causing severe damage to the wall. In 1995, during the redevelopment of the old urban area and the opening of Jianshe 4th Road, the local government invested heavily in a large-scale restoration of the Song-era wall, bringing back its majestic and magnificent presence.

　　The wall today preserves both fully intact sections built during the Song Dynasty and segments constructed during the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties, making it the most iconic architectural structure of Zhaoqing, a famous historical and cultural city. In 2001, the Ancient City Wall of Zhaoqing was listed in the fifth group of Major National Historical and Cultural Sites by the State Council as an ancient architectural complex dating from the Song to the Qing Dynasties.