Ancient City Walls in Xi'an, Shaanxi China

Ancient City Wall Since its founding in the 2nd century B.C, Antalya has had a continuous history. The ancient walls flank the city and other sections of the walls are still standing near the marina. Chinese history, the invention of the city wall is attributed to a semi-mythological sage; in this case, to Xia Dynasty leader Gun , the father of Yu the Great. It is said that Gun built the inner wall to defend the prince, and the outer wall to settle the people. An alternative theory attributes the first city wall to the Yellow Emperor. A number of neolithic-period walls surrounding substantial settlements have been excavated in recent years. These include a supposed wall at a Liangzhu culture site, a stone wall at Sanxingdui, and several tamped earth walls at the Longshan culture site.

Ancient City Wall

 Ancient City Wall after its enlargement in the Ming Dynasty, stands 12 meters high. It is 12-14 meters across the top, 15-18 meters thick at bottom, and 13.7 kilometers in length. There is a rampart every 120 meters. The ramparts are towers that extend out from the main wall. The ramparts were built to allow soldiers to see enemies trying to climb the wall. The distance between the ramparts is within the range of arrows fired from either side. This allowed soldiers to protect the entire wall without exposing themselves to the enemy.

Ancient City Walls

The Ancient City Walls construction of city walls grew to a peak in the Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty. Sophisticated construction techniques meant that major city walls, such as that in the capitals Beijing and Nanjing, were specifically built to withstand cannonfire. However, with the advent of modern Western firearms, traditional fortifications began to lose their defensive functions in the 19th and 20th centuries. The traditional city wall also proved an obstacle to efficient trade and intercourse. For example, the city wall of Shanghai, built to repel Wokou raiders in the Ming dynasty, was almost completely demolished after the Xinhai Revolution at the request of the city's merchant community.

Ancient City Wall

After the founding of the People Republic of China, a political dimension was added to the economic problem posed by city walls. In Beijing, for example, the proposed demolition of the city walls was at first opposed by experts ranging from architect Liang Sicheng, to Soviet advisor Mosin, on the grounds that the city walls of Beijing were the most sophisticated and well-preserved system of city walls in China. However, in 1958 Mao Zedong intervened, and declared that the demolition of the old city wall was a political issue.