Ganzhou Moat

　　The moat of Ganzhou, like the Fushou Drainage System and the ancient city itself, boasts a long history. It served as a crucial piece of infrastructure in the ancient urban area of Ganzhou. Over the centuries, it played a significant role in warfare, production development, and improving people’s living conditions.

　　Today, how we view, preserve, and develop these ancient urban facilities

　　to better serve socialist modernization

　　is an important issue in urban planning.

　　The city moat, also known as a defensive ditch or moat pond, was a component of ancient urban defense engineering. In ancient times, when city walls were constructed, the surrounding moats were dug simultaneously. This approach not only utilized local materials for wall construction but also enhanced the city’s defenses, forming a fortified structure described as an “ironclad city surrounded by a moat.” This balanced excavation method, ensuring earth removed for walls was used to create the moat, stands as a prime example of scientifically managed large-scale earthworks in ancient times.

　　The origins of the city moat

　　According to records in the *Gan County Annals* and the *Ganzhou Prefecture Annals*, particularly those concerning military affairs and the biography of Lu Guangchou, the moat of Ganzhou was established around the years 885–910 AD by Lu Guangchou. In the late Tang Dynasty, amid widespread peasant uprisings, in the first year of Emperor Xizong’s Guangqi era (885 AD), Lu Guangchou and Tan Quanbo, both from Nankang, captured Qianzhou (modern-day Ganzhou). In the second year of Emperor Zhaozong’s Tianfu era (902 AD), they took over Shaoguan (now Shaoguan City, Guangdong Province). In the third year of Emperor Taizu of the Later Liang’s Kaiping era (909 AD), Lu Guangchou submitted to the Later Liang, which established the Baisheng Army to govern Qianzhou and Shaoguan, with its administrative center in Qianzhou. Lu Guangchou was appointed as the Defense Commissioner of the Baisheng Army and the Commissioner for Opening the Five Ranges. He passed away in the fifth year of Kaiping (911 AD). During his 25 years in Ganzhou, Lu expanded the city, “enlarging its eastern, western, and southern sections, digging foundations to form a moat, and encircling three sides with water.” He also constructed official residences north of the city, commonly known as the “Royal City” (or “Imperial City,” located on the northern section of Jianguo Road), bringing Ganzhou to a new scale of development. This scale remained largely unchanged until the liberation of Ganzhou in 1949.

　　The scale and evolution of the moat

　　The city of Ganzhou borders the Zhang and Gong Rivers to the east and west, “using the rivers as natural barriers,” and thus did not require a moat on those sides. The moat primarily extended from the east gate, connecting to the Gong River, and from the south gate to the west gate, linking with the Zhang River. From the Five Dynasties period to the end of the Qing Dynasty — spanning roughly a thousand years across five dynasties — the moat underwent many changes due to wartime and peacetime cycles. During wartime, the walls and moats were maintained or expanded, while in peaceful eras, they were often neglected. As a result, the moat’s scale and layout evolved significantly. In the 15th year of the Jiajing era of the Ming Dynasty (1536 AD), historical records describe the city walls as being “thirteen li in circumference… with moats dug on the eastern, southern, and western sides, stretching ten li and a hundred bu, and four zhang in width, with bridges crossing each of the three gates.” The thirteen-li city wall equates to approximately 7.49 km, closely matching the actually measured 7.3 km. The southern section from the east gate through the south gate to the west gate was 3.65 km long. The moat, described as ten li and a hundred bu, equated to 5.85 km, though the actual length was around 3.9 km — a notable discrepancy. By the 10th year of the Tongzhi era of the Qing Dynasty (1871 AD), the section from the west gate to the south moat measured “552 zhang in length, 13 zhang in width, and varying in depth; another section from the south gate to Baisheng Gate (present-day east gate) was 385 zhang long, five chi deep, and 14 zhang wide. The total length was 937 zhang, about 3 km, including 1.77 km from the west gate to the south gate, and 1.23 km from the south gate to the east gate, covering a total area of 12.87 hectares. Before the Qing Dynasty, warfare mainly involved cold weapons, so city walls and moats were highly effective for defense. However, during the Republican era, with advancements in technology and the obsolescence of cold weapons, the military value of walls and moats declined. In the early Republic period, some public properties and “Lüying” military lands from the Qing Dynasty were sold off, and most of the moat areas were converted into “moat fields” or “moat ponds,” serving as farmland or fishponds for local residents. In the spring of 1932, when the Red Army attacked Ganzhou, their efforts were thwarted as the Nationalist forces closed the city gates and resisted fiercely. To prevent further attacks, the following autumn saw efforts to “repair the walls and dredge the moat,” and all “moat fields and ponds were reclaimed as public property.” These projects were completed in 1933. After the Red Army moved north, the moat was again cultivated. By the time of Ganzhou’s liberation in 1949, it was no longer a complete or unobstructed defensive river but had been divided into fragmented patches of farmland and fishponds.

　　After the liberation of Ganzhou, a citywide topographic survey was conducted. According to the 1951 topographic map, the total length of the moat was measured at 3,914 meters, including 2,057 meters from the east gate to the south gate.

　　The moat section from the south gate to the east gate ran through the hilly areas of Baiyun Mountain and Tianzhu Mountain, featuring deep ditches and steep banks. At its widest point (near South Gate), the water surface reached 45 meters, though it generally spanned 15 to 20 meters. Much of the eastern section of the moat still passed through undeveloped hills, wastelands, and abandoned ponds, retaining much of its original appearance. The section from the south gate to the west gate lay in flat terrain and had been entirely cultivated. The middle of the moat became ponds, flanked by farmland. From the south gate to the foot of the western gun battery, the moat was divided into 25 segments, forming 25 fishponds. The largest were three ponds near South Gate, each about 150 meters long and 40–60 meters wide. From the gun battery to West Gate, the moat stretched 245 meters, 6–10 meters wide, with a water channel remaining. The total moat area for the eastern and western sections was 10.7 hectares.

　　During the land reform in Ganzhou’s suburban areas, the western sections of the moat were allocated to farmers for use. As the city developed and the new urban districts outside Shoushimen gradually formed, the moat was increasingly repurposed for urban construction. Starting with the development of Youth Road in 1956 and continuing until 1962, 550 meters of the moat were lost. Subsequent constructions within the former moat area — including athletic fields, civil defense facilities, and residential buildings — reduced the moat to just 2.19 kilometers by 1985. (Editor’s note: With continued urban development and waning awareness of moat preservation, by the late 1990s, the moat had largely disappeared, becoming a memory of old Ganzhou.)

　　(This article is excerpted from *The Moat and Fushou Drainage System of Ganzhou* by Liu Fangyi, published in *Ganzhou: A National Historical and Cultural City*, compiled by the CPPCC Ganzhou Committee’s Committee on Culture and History, 1994.)