Ancient City Wall of Xi'an, Shaanxi, China

            As an ancient capital of China, at the end of the ancient Silk Road, Xi'an has had fortified city walls since at least the Tang Dynasty (618–907CE). However, the current high walls – the oldest, largest and best preserved in China – were built for the Hongwu Emperor (Zhu Yuanzhang) between 1370 and 1378, as a secure supply base from which to unify other states under the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644).

A rectangular area of 14 km² is enclosed within a 13¾ km perimeter wall 12 m tall and 15–18 m thick at its base, tapering to 12–14m at the top – it takes four hours to circumnavigate the wide walkway (though tourist bikes are now available!). The fortifications comprise more than a simple (if huge) crenelated wall, of course – a rampart tower projects outward every 120 m (98 in total), there are barbicans at four main city gates, 15 lesser access points, various watchtowers, and the whole defense system is surrounded by a city moat once crossed by drawbridges. 

Repeatedly refurbished, particularly during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the 'City Walls of the Ming and Qing Dynasties' are still intact and under consideration as a UNESCO World Heritage Site under that title.

This is the view south from Chaoyangmen, a secondary gateway on the eastern side. Changle Gate, the main East Gate barbican, is 1.1 km away, and the watchtower at the south-eastern corner of the wall is visible 1.9 km away.

I don't know the exact regulation, but it was very noticeable that buildings within the wall were relatively low, with high-rise developments beginning immediately outside the moat.

Nor do I know whether these red lanterns are a permanent feature; Chinese New Year occurred a few days after our visit.

Quick tip: it's Xi'an, not Xian!

Taken in: China / Shaanxi / Xincheng (show map)

Taken on: February 8, 2018

Tags:

西安城墙

xi'an

wall

西安

陕西

shaanxi

中国

china

朝阳门

chāoyáng mén

长乐门

changle

gate

古城墙

gǔ chéngqiáng

zhōngguó

prc

lantern

flagpole

walkway

mist

smog « less

Sets appears in: • China

Groups appears in: • China • xian xi'an 西安 more » • Beautiful China • China, The Middle Country 中国 • Urban Landscape • City Walls,Murallas Urbanas, Remparts,Cinta Muraria • We Love China • Layered landscape: Aerial Perspective • Impressions Of Xi‘an / 西安 « less

Camera: Canon EOS 60D, f/9.0, 1/50 sec, 61mm, ISO 160 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 60D
Lens:	EF-S15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
Aperture:	f/9.0
Exposure Time:	0.02 sec (1/50)
Focal Length:	61mm
ISO:	160
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Partial
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CC 2019 (Windows)
Show full info

Stats: 733 views / 2 comments

close tools panel

Badge creator

Use Flickriver Badge Creator to create a badge linking to your photos, your group or any other Flickriver view.

You can place your badge on your Flickr profile, Blog or Website.

Add to your iGoogle or Netvibes page

Flickriver widget for iGoogle or Netvibes can display almost any Flickriver view - most interesting today, by user, by group, by tag etc. Once added to your personalized homepage, just edit widget settings to select your desired view.

Clickr on one of the buttons below to install:

Embed on your Web site

To embed this view, Copy and Paste the following HTML code:

Black background (preview):

White background (preview):

Firefox and Chrome addons

Adds a 'Flickriver' button to your browser. While viewing any Flickr photos page, click on this button to open the same view on Flickriver.

Install in Firefox
Install in Chrome

Search plugin

Add 'Search on Flickriver' to your browser's search box. Works with Firefox and Internet Explorer. Install search plugin

"View on Flickriver" Greasemonkey script

A Greasemonkey script that adds Flickriver links to various Flickr photo pages - user photos, favorites, pools etc, allowing to quickly open the corresponding Flickriver view.

Also, allows quickly viewing any Flickr photo on black background in large size.

Install "View on Flickriver" script

Bookmarklet

While viewing any Flickr photos page, click on the bookmarklet to open the same view on Flickriver.

To install: drag and drop the following link to your Bookmarks toolbar.
IE users - add the link to your Favorites under the Links folder