Xian City Wall, Xian (must see)

The Xian City Wall is the only surviving complete wall surrounding a city in China. It is also the largest defense barrier in the world.

Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty erected the Xian City Wall in the 14th century. When the emperor captured Xian, he was advised by a wise hermit called Zhu Sheng to build high walls to defend the city and then establish his empire by unifying all the other provinces. The emperor heeded the sage advice, unified China and ordered all local governments to built strong city walls to defend their territory. The Xian City wall was the strongest among the other city walls in the country.

The Xian City Wall was an improvement on an old wall built during the reign of the Tang dynasty. It is 12 meters high and 14 kilometers long. There are 98 watch towers placed 120 meters apart. The wall has four gates consisting of three towers in each direction. The gate towers were used to lift and lower drawbridges. A narrow tower and a main tower were also built near each gate.

Tunnels connected the gate towers and 11 passages for horse driven carts took soldiers to the top of the wall. There are also four larger watchtowers at each corner of the wall.

Today visitors can rent bicycle and ride on the city wall. A round trip would take about two hours with frequent stops in between - remember this is the longest city wall structure in the world with a total distance of 14 kilometers. It will be an experience that you will never forget!