Various Buildings on Great Wall and Their Functions -part four

Jiayu Pass--Vital Passage of Ancient "Silk Road"
       The Jiayu Pass is situated west of the middle Hexi Corridor in Gansu Province. The Silk Road is an ancient vital passage of transport and communications between the snow- capped Qilian Mountains in the south and the Heishan Mountains with large slopes and deep ditches in the north. It passes through the Jiayu Pass to link countries in central and west Asia and also those along the Mediterranean Sea. About 100 metres away from the west gate of Jiayu Pass still exists a curved stele with four characters, "Impregnable Pass Under Heaven."
      The Jiayu Pass is the west end of the Great Wall con- structed in the Ming Dynasty. The pass city is built on Jiayu Plateau, the terrain of which is difficult to access and controls the east to west traffic. Also, a nine-hole fountain produces clean-water the year-round for drinking and crop irrigation,thereby solving important problems for stationing a massive army there.
     The construction of the pass city of Jiayu lasted more than 100 years. In 1372, Feng Sheng, a general in the early years of the Ming Dynasty, conquered the Hexi Corridor and started to build the pass city. During the period 1488-1505, its luocheng city and gatetower were added to the pass city. The construction of the pass city did not end until 1506, when the auxiliary buildings (such as storage houses) were completed. Since 1539, many defence facilities have been constructed outside the pass city, including the south-north wall 50 kilometres long, starting from the foot of the Qilian Moun- tains and going by the pass city to the north. These facilities strengthened the defence capacity of the pass.
     The pass city of Jiayu includes the inner city, tower entrance, luocheng, outer city and trenches.
     The inner city is trapezium-shaped with the east side shorter and the west side longer. The east wall is 150.4 metres long; the west wall, 166 metres, and the south and north wallsare each 160 metres. Most of the wails are built with loess through ramming or laid with earth bricks. The height of the wall is ten metres, and its width is five metres at the base and two metres at the top. The outside edge of the top wall is rimmed with crenels; the inside edge, with parapet. The pass city has two gates, one on the east wall and the other on the west. Over each city gate erects a three-storeyed gatetower 17 metres high with a single-eaved roof in the xieshan style. Four two-storeyed square towers like black houses stand at each corner. In the middle of the north and south walls stands a watchtower. The pass city of Jiayu seen from afar seems strongly fortified by a multitude of defence facilities.
     The east and west gates are surrounded by the wails of a tower-like entrance, which are as high as the city wall. The gate holes are all open on the south walls of the entrance, which occupy a rectangular area of 50 square metres.
     The west gate of the pass city of Jiayu faced the enemy's direction of attack. Sixteen metres away from the west entr- ance a 200-metre brick wall was built, two ends of which are joined to the other two walls. These are the north and southearth walls, which connect to the front surface of the inner city wall. The area sealed by these walls was called luocheng city, which has its own gate on the west wall. Above the gate hangs a horizontal board inscribed with the characters, "The Jiayu Pass." This gate was the front entrance of Jiayu Pass.  Over the gate was a tower with a horizontal board with the words, "The First Impregnable Pass Under Heaven"; however, the gate tower and board have been removed.
      The north, south and east walls of the inner city are surrounded by an earthen wall 3.8 metres high, which forms the outer city of Jiayu Pass by linking its north and south ends to the luocheng city walls. A lifting gate was installed at the northeast corner of the outer wall for passengers arriving or leaving.
      The walls of the outer city are encircled by a ditch two metres wide by two metres deep, which is the original moat of the city. The moat is protected by a circular earthen wall about one metre high, called "Horse-Block Wall." Outside the lower wall are horse traps dotted here and there. From above it appears highly difficult to conquer Juyong Pass, which boasted so many tight-defence facilities.

Block City--Castle

     In ancient times many small cities were built on either side of the Great Wall or far from it. They were called block cities, forts or castles. No matter their nomenclature, their function was the same: to station armed troops. There may have been civilians living in some of these defence works; however, the majority were troops. Some forts and castles had beacon towers, thus combining defence with communications. Actually, block cities, forts or castles were barracks, the component of the defence system of the Great Wall.

[1] [2] [3] [4]  Next