Chinese cities used to have city walls, why don’t they exist now?

Due to the city demolition movement that swept across the country in the last century, most of the city walls of China's ancient capitals were destructively demolished.

In the past, there were city walls to prevent wild animals from invading the residential areas, to defend against enemy attacks, and to control the population, because rural populations were needed for production at that time. There is no city wall now because the ancient city wall can no longer fulfill the above functions.

As far as its scope is concerned, there are currently not many examples that can be included in the full protection. There are only more than a dozen such as Nanjing in Jiangsu, Pingyao in Shanxi, Penglai in Shandong, Xi'an in Shaanxi, Shouxian in Anhui, Kaifeng and Shangqiu in Henan. at.

The meaning of a city wall can be divided into a broad sense and a narrow sense according to its function. In a broad sense, city walls can be divided into two categories: one is the main body that constitutes the Great Wall, and the other is a city (city) defense building that consists of walls and ancillary facilities forming a closed area. A city wall in a narrow sense refers to a closed urban area composed of walls and ancillary facilities. The area inside the closed area is inside the city, and the area outside the closed area is outside the city.

City walls include the inner and outer walls of all cities (capital, royal city, county, prefecture, prefecture, county). The original length and the largest existing length and scale of the city wall in China is the Nanjing Ming City Wall (Capital City). The relatively complete city walls include Xi'an City Wall, Pingyao City Wall, Jingzhou City Wall, Xingcheng City Wall, Kaifeng City Wall, etc.

Extended information:

Historical value of city walls:

City walls are the product of the development of human society to a certain stage, and this was true both at home and abroad in ancient times. However, the extensive application and rich connotation of ancient Chinese city walls are far beyond the reach of other countries and nations in the world.

In terms of application, in addition to the city walls of the inner city and outer walls of the imperial capital and counties, a number of altars, mausoleums, gardens and temples belonging to the royal family were also used to varying degrees. This kind of enclosure structure is very rare in other countries. Secondly, the city wall's function of enclosing a limited space (such as a city) was greatly extended to a region or even the entire country. This was the border town that began in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

From the border fortifications between various vassal states, it has developed into the Great Wall with a complete system that runs through the northern border of our country. Although ancient Rome also built similar city walls to resist the intrusion of barbarians, their scale and time were not as huge and long-lasting as those in China. Therefore, it can be said that ancient China's achievements in this area were very outstanding and unparalleled in the world.

The existence and development of any thing must have its reasonable connotation. All city walls appear first because they can provide protection for the space they enclose. However, in China, the changes in consciousness caused by social development have given the city walls made of earth and stone a new spiritual connotation.

For example, the strict feudal system of the Zhou Dynasty had clear regulations on the area enclosed by the city wall, the height of the city wall itself, and the scale of several ancillary buildings (city gates, corner platforms...), and these Similar situations have not been seen in the construction and use of city walls in other parts of the world.

Baidu Encyclopedia-City Wall