The Nanjing Walls Revisited

The Nanjing city walls present an interesting starting point in understanding the history of this former southern imperial capital. From Zhongyangmen in the north, the walls were built on the western part of the Xuanwu Lake and stretches down to Taipingmen at Jiuhua Hill, thus separating the tranquility of the lake from the busy metropolis inside the walls. Then it stretches further down to the western foot of the Zhongshan mountain covering good sections of the Pipa and the Qianhu Lakes which are up on the hill and connects to the eastern gates of Zhongshanmen and Guanghuamen. At certain points in the southern and eastern districts, the walls are broken. The fortress, however pretty much stretches up along the Qinhua river to Yijangmen and the Jinghai Temple to the northwest. Each major section of the walls has its own story. Stories of human struggle and resilience, of cruelty and heroism, of war and peace and the reasons of the city walls existence from the warring periods to the Japanese occupation in the first quarter of the 20th century.