Wan'an Guanlan Gate City Wall

　　According to expert research, within our province, the prefectural-level ancient city walls that remain intact are found only in Ganzhou. However, as for county-level ancient city walls, Wan'an County is the only one where over a kilometer of wall remains well preserved, along with more than two gates.

　　The ancient city wall of Wan'an, initially built during the Song Dynasty, stretches over 1,000 meters in length. With solid walls and simple, ancient gates, it sits alongside the Gan River and has been designated as a provincial-level cultural heritage site. On September 6, reporters strolled along the Wan'an ancient city wall, experiencing its timeless grandeur and exploring its mysterious and profound history—

　　From earthen wall to brick wall over 400 years

　　Geng Yanpeng, Vice Chairman of the Wan'an County CPPCC, Chief Editor of the "Wan'an County Cultural and Historical Materials," and a member of the Jiangxi Provincial Historical Society, told reporters that the long history of the Wan'an ancient city wall is rooted in the long history of Wan'an County itself. Historical records indicate that as early as the first year of the Baoda era of the Southern Tang Dynasty (943), Wan'an County, located amid the Eighteen Shoals in the middle reaches of the Gan River, was established as Wan'an Town due to its strategic location—"upstream it controls the vital pass to Guangdong and Guangxi, downstream it connects the lakes and rivers, and it serves as both a water and land thoroughfare for shipping." In the fourth year of the Xining era of the Northern Song Dynasty (1071), Wan'an County was officially established.

　　Seven years later, in the first year of the Yuanyou era of the Song Dynasty (1078), Magistrate Zhu Junmin began constructing the city walls. By the sixth year of Yuanyou (1083), when Hu Tianmin took over as magistrate, the earthen walls of Wan'an were finally completed. In the 25th year of the Shaoxing era of the Southern Song Dynasty (1155), Magistrate Zhao Chengzhi expanded the city walls and installed gates. By the 19th year of the Zhiyuan era of the Yuan Dynasty (135...

　　9), Magistrate Peng Jiugao rebuilt the earthen walls, extending the perimeter of the Wan'an city wall to three li, with a height of one zhang and a width of eight chi. Four gates were installed. Four years later, Commandant Qian Tangnu further increased the height of the wall by one-third and its width by half. However, these were all earthen walls. Situated by the Gan River, they could not withstand annual flooding, resulting in frequent partial collapses that were then repaired.

　　By the sixth year of the Zhengde era of the Ming Dynasty (1511), Sang Qiao, a native of Changshu, Jiangsu, took office as Magistrate of Wan'an. An ambitious man, he resolved the following year to rebuild the city walls using bricks and stones. Following the model of Nanjing’s city walls and the brick production practices of Ji'an Prefecture, he assigned the task of making bricks to various villages, standardizing their size and establishing accountability to ensure quality control. Alongside sourcing the materials, he brought in skilled surveyors and designers, organized artisans for round-the-clock construction, and in a relatively short period, erected the brick-and-stone Wan'an city walls along the Gan River.

　　The city wall renovated under Sang Qiao had a circumference of 714 zhang, a height of 2 zhang 2 chi, and 950 battlements. Including the battlements, the wall was one zhang wide at the top and one zhang five chi wide at the base. It featured six gates: facing the southeast and north were the Weiyuan Gate, Biaozhong Gate, and Tongdu Gate, respectively. Since the western side of Wan'an faced the busy freight and passenger traffic of the Gan River, three additional gates were installed on the western, southwest, and northwest sides of the riverfront, named Guanlan Gate, Wuyun Gate, and Furong Gate—testament to the prosperity of ancient Wan'an. This marked over 400 years of transition from an earthen wall to a brick-and-stone wall.

　　Floods and wars repeatedly damaged the wall

　　Geng Yanpeng explained that although the brick-and-stone walls built under Sang Qiao were solid and precisely constructed, their proximity to the Gan River made them vulnerable to annual floods. Furthermore, several major wars in subsequent years also led to repeated damage. Historical records indicate that the Wan'an ancient city walls suffered damage many times.

　　According to the Qing Dynasty's Tongzhi edition of the "Wan'an County Annals," during the Zhiyuan era of the Yuan Dynasty, the earthen walls of Wan'an suffered a major collapse. The cause was attributed to Commandant Qian Tangnu, who, ignoring the fact that Wan'an County was situated by a large river with constant high water levels, mechanically imitated practices from other regions by digging a deep moat two li long and one zhang deep outside the walls. As a result, when the Gan River flooded and rainwater rushed down from the mountains, the moat overflowed, submerging the walls and causing the “city walls and watchtowers to collapse.” Afterward, the walls collapsed multiple times due to flood erosion. Historical records document four significant wall collapses during the Qing Dynasty alone.

　　On one hand, fierce floods caused around a hundred meters of wall from Huangkong Shoal to Guanlan Gate to collapse; on the other, during the years when the Taiping Rebellion forces were active in the area, several intense battles took place inside and outside the city against Qing troops, resulting in many sections of the wall being blasted apart. The reconstruction project in the fourth year of the Xianfeng era of the Qing Dynasty was the largest since Sang Qiao built the brick-and-stone walls.

　　During the Republic of China era, the massive flood of the Yi Mao year (1915) threatened the Wan'an city walls, and the damaged sections were never repaired.

　　Bricks from the Ming and Qing eras record long history

　　Geng Yanpeng introduced that there are nearly ten types of brick inscriptions from the Ming and Qing periods on the Wan'an city walls. These inscriptions record history. The most original standard blue bricks were fired in the seventh year of the Zhengde era of the Ming Dynasty, with dimensions of 35–39 cm in length and 18–20 cm in width. Due to the accountability system, each brick bore stamped inscriptions of the foreman, kiln owner, and other names in intaglio, with “...

　　the Seventh Year of Zhengde, Magistrate Sang Qiao of Wan'an County in Charge of Construction” in the center, though some only had “Wan'an County, Ji'an Prefecture” printed. This shows the variation in stamp molds used by different kilns. The bricks from the Qing Dynasty were generally smaller than those from the Ming Dynasty. The bricks from the “Fourth Year of Xianfeng” were likely fired in just one or two kilns, as identifiable from their inscriptions.

　　Geng Yanpeng said that during his multiple inspections of the Wan'an ancient city walls, he found simplified variant characters similar to today’s simplified Chinese on some brick inscriptions dating back to the Zhengde era, such as the name “Liu Tonghai, Kiln Craftsman” appearing frequently. The original small brick surface was meant to hold nearly 20 characters, and since the traditional form of “Liu” has many strokes—difficult to carve and even harder to imprint—the mold engravers opted for the simplified version. This indicates that over 490 years ago, people were already using simplified characters.

　　Furong Gate Blocked and Reopened

　　To the north of the main west gate, adjacent to the Gan River, lies another gate called Furong Gate. Standing at Furong Gate, reporters saw that across the river, the peaks of Furong Mountain resembled an elegant brush rack. Geng Yanpeng said that when Furong Gate was originally built, there was an intention to promote literary culture. During the Ming Dynasty, Wan'an produced many successful imperial examination candidates, including six notable ministers with recorded surnames. But in the third year of the Kangxi era of the Qing Dynasty (1...

　　664), for reasons unknown, Magistrate Hu Shu blocked the well-functioning Furong Gate during wall maintenance. This not only inconvenienced residents but was also believed to obstruct Wan'an’s scholarly spirit.

　　Previously, standing at Furong Gate, one felt the grandeur of a scholar with a writing brush poised on a brush rest. Now, with the gate blocked by the magistrate, people angrily questioned why he would oppose Wan'an’s literati and deliberately hinder their bright futures. In the ninth year of Kangxi (1670), Magistrate Hu reopened the brick-and-earth gate, rebuilding it and even composing poems in atonement. He wrote nine poems in one go, including praises for the Eight Scenic Spots of Wan'an, and specially composed a regulated poem commemorating the reopening of Furong Gate.

　　Large-scale Reconstruction Restores Ancient Wall’s Grandeur

　　After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the officials and residents of Wan'an have consistently demonstrated strong awareness and vocal support for protecting the ancient city wall. Local government has also placed great importance on it. In 1997, the county party committee and government secured funding for the construction of a Gan River protective embankment. During the construction, not only was a high-quality protective dike built for the county town, but the riverside road was also widened, and the Guanlan Gate section of the ancient city wall was rebuilt.

　　In early 2006, the Wan'an County Party Committee and Government decided to allocate 2 million yuan to renovate the ancient city wall. Xu Zunqing, Deputy Director of the County Culture and Broadcasting Bureau, explained that this large-scale renovation followed the principle of “restoring the old as the old,” striving to revive its historical appearance and restore the original look of the ancient wall. The county invited renowned experts from within and outside the province to guide the work and develop a restoration plan. The plan emphasized preserving the original style, structure, materials, and craftsmanship, comprehensively repairing the inner and outer walls, restoring battlements, gate towers, and gate openings, thoroughly cleaning the surrounding environment inside and out, and removing years of grime to allow the long-neglected ancient wall to shine anew. The renovation project was fully completed in late September 2006.