Nanjing City Wall and Zhonghua Gate

The Nanjing City Wall is the longest surviving city wall from the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) in the world, and Zhonghua Gate on Zhonghua Road in Qinhuai District, Nanjing, Jiangsu, is its grandest gateway. Construction was ordered by Zhu Yuanzhang, the future Hongwu Emperor, from 1366, and building continued until about 1393. Roughly 25 km of the original circuit survives. Builders used bricks stamped with the names of the prefectures and craftsmen that supplied them, a system of accountability that lets visitors read the geography of the Ming empire in the masonry. The wall's alignment follows the natural terrain, incorporating hills and lakes in its defensive scheme. Zhonghua Gate, at the southern entrance to the old city, is a fortress complex of three successive courtyards behind the main gate and a fourth outer enclosure, with tall gate towers, portcullis slots, and ramps on which horses could be ridden up to the ramparts. Vaulted chambers in the gate's base, known as troop caves, could shelter thousands of soldiers and stores. Visitors can walk along the rampart top, view the gate towers, and see exhibits on Ming military engineering and city planning. The gate has been repaired repeatedly, including after fighting in 1937 and 1949, and significant restoration in recent decades has renewed sections of the parapet and towers while retaining the original brick fabric where possible. Architecturally the wall combines brick and lime mortar with locally quarried stone foundations, and some sections were reportedly bonded with a sticky-rice mortar mix. The site is presented mainly as an open monument with a small museum area rather than a chronological gallery. A walk of the gate section takes roughly one to two hours, and other stretches, such as those near Xuanwu Lake and Jiming Temple, can be visited separately.