Chinese artisans have been skilled in building stone walls since ancient times. We all know about the Great Wall of China, the longest fortified wall in the world; 21,196 km long Great Wall of China. But do we know about the longest city wall in the world? But it is also located in China. The Ming City Wall, or Nanjing Wall, is the longest city wall in the world, located in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China. Although longer than the Great Wall of China, the Nanjing City Wall is the longest city wall in the world, so many call it another Great Wall of China.
Between 1366 and 1386, a long wall was built around the city to protect the first capital of the Ming Dynasty from enemy invasions. It is said that the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Xu Yanzhang, instructed the people of five provinces, 20 states, and 118 villages in China to make bricks for the city wall. At the behest of the emperor, people of various classes and professions took part in the construction of bricks. More than 200,000 workers worked on the Ming City Wall.
The main features of the Nanjing Wall are hidden in its main building materials, such as bricks. Each brick of 40-50 cm length weighs 10 kg. Each of the bricks is 20 cm wide and 10 cm high. Each brick has the name of its craftsman engraved on it, various words of history are engraved in different languages. More than 350 million bricks were used to build the wall.
The Nanjing Wall, a significant historical and cultural monument of the Ming Dynasty of China, is considered one of the finest works of Chinese architecture. The height of the 35 km long wall in Nanjing is 14 to 21 meters depending on the place. In the evolution of time, the length of this wall has been reduced and now 21 km is left. Nanjing is one of the few ancient cities in the world that is walled around. Even today, though not completely, the city is surrounded by a wall. Although this wall is more than 600 years old, it is still very interesting and its historical significance is immense.
This Nanjing wall is located on the south bank of the Yangtze River in China, where there is a lot of rainfall. It is hard to imagine how difficult it would have been to build such a huge wall between the high and low hills and the Akabanka river basin six hundred years ago. Yet in those ancient times the Chinese overcame all adversity and accomplished this impossible task with skill and diligence. They built the Nanjing Wall with the materials needed to survive in that hostile environment, which is why it survives today, not lost in the evolution of time.
The wall of Nanjing city is culturally more important because of the names and inscriptions engraved on its bricks. The craftsmen who carved the bricks can be divided into two classes based on the characteristics of the carvings. At first there were intellectuals and working class educated people of that time and profession. On the other side were the uneducated working class and the common people. The bricks that were built and carved by the first class people were very impressive and elegant. The original manuscript was followed on those bricks.
The variety of languages engraved on the bricks of the Nanjing Wall is remarkable. These carved bricks are an indisputable document of Nanjing's history. Among them are many important written records from the Ming Dynasty to its later empires, which are of immense historical importance.
During the Ming Dynasty, the city of Nanjing was divided into four parts to protect it. The exterior of the city, the interior, the royal part and the main palace. A 180 km long rectangular wall was built on the outskirts of the city in 1390 to strengthen the security of the city. No further existence of this wall can be found at present. In the second part of the city, that is, in the interior, a city wall was built around the royal part. This is what is now known as the Nanjing Wall.
The ruins of this have survived to this day. Inside the Nanjing Wall was the royal part of the city. This royal part is known as the 'Forbidden City' of China. In the center of the Forbidden City is the fourth and main part of the city - the main palace. Although there is no sign of a security wall on the outside of the city today, the inner Nanjing Wall, the Forbidden City and the original palace still survive, witnessing history, which is now one of the main tourist attractions in Nanjing.
Considering the historical significance of the Nanjing Wall, the inhabitants of this city are now very careful about protecting this wall. But that was not always the case. If it had, the Nanjing Wall might have remained completely intact.
Shi Jiru, 90, a resident of Nanjing, is involved in the maintenance of a small part of the Nanjing city wall. He spoke in an interview with the BBC about the Nanjing city wall.
This city wall of Nanjing has seen numerous wars in the past, but it still survives to this day. No one could destroy it. When Japan invaded Nanjing, they too failed to destroy the city wall. But today we ourselves, we have destroyed a lot of this great wall, which is very sad.
Shi Jiru said the Nanjing city wall was left in a state of disrepair in the 1950s and 1960s. No government or private action was taken at that time to protect this historic city wall. At that time many parts of the wall collapsed. Many people use the collapsed bricks to build their own walls. Shi Jiru himself said he stole two bricks from the wall and kept them to himself. Also, the government demolished part of the wall and built roads to accelerate the economic development of Nanjing city. In this way, the historic city walls of Nanjing began to erode.
In 2016, the Chinese government turned its attention to the dilapidated state of Nanjing's city walls. At that time the government took various steps to maintain the city walls. As part of this, the government organized a special campaign. The campaign called on city dwellers to return lost or looted bricks in a bid to preserve the city's wall heritage. It was also announced that no one would be fined for returning the bricks of the wall. The government's campaign is somehow successful. As a result of this campaign, the people of Nanjing returned a total of eighty thousand bricks to the government authorities. The bricks are now stored in a huge warehouse at the bottom of the wall. The bricks are now being used to repair damaged parts of the wall. Many parts of the wall have already regained their former shape.
During the construction on the top of the Nanjing city wall, a lot of grooves were placed for the safety of the city. So the local administration has also rebuilt a five-meter-wide sidewalk on one side of the Nanjing Wall for the convenience of visitors. The wall is now open to locals as an amusement park.
The Nanjing city wall is like the lifeblood of Nanjing city. According to Shi Jiru, many elderly residents of Nanjing still believe that the city's houses may one day be torn down, everything will collapse, but even then the Nanjing wall will stand still in its glory. The history and heritage of Nanjing city will be preserved in the shadow of this wall. The longest city wall will glorify the heritage of the Chinese city of Nanjing for ages.
Thanks for reading this article for so long.
If you like it Upvote Can give.
