The Jingzhou City Wall
Among China’s seven ancient
city walls, Jingzhou City Wall is rated as the second best. The wall is
the largest and best preserved compared with other famous city walls.
The Walls were rebuilt in 1646
and measure 9 metres high and 10 metres thick. The perimeter of the wall
extends for 10.17 kilometres. The city walls, city gates, watchtowers,
and battlements have all been well maintained. Many of the towers on top
of the majestic city gates have been damaged or rebuilt, leaving only the
Chaozong Tower which was rebuilt in 1838 on the Gongji Gate.
The wall is divided into three
parts. The outside part is a city moat; the middle part is brick wall and
the inner part is earth wall. The city moat has a total length of 10,500
meters, and is 30 meters in width and 4 meters in depth. It connects Taihu
Lake in the west and Changhu Lake in the east. There are six old entrance
gates along the City Wall. A large number of precious cultural relics were
unearthed around the ancient city wall -- some displayed in the Wall's
interior rooms and many others in the nearby museums.
Since we were due to book into
our hotel in Wuhan there was no way we had time to see all the many sights
offered by Jingzhou.