It was the first time for a friend from out of town to travel to Guangzhou. Because he was worried about external traffic jams during the Qingming Festival, he decided to stay in the city.

We first visited the "First Place of Coming to the West" and the "Five-Eyed Well" (interested friends can read the previous article "This is the place where "Bodhidharma" first landed in China. I am wondering: Was it really a river bank in the past?"), and then

Walk into the alleys of the old town of Xiguan to look for ancient buildings and feel the "market" style, and then eat the special delicacy "Yi Noodles" on Changshou East Road (interested friends can read the previous article "Guangzhou's "Time-honored" Noodle Shop Preservation and Production

A kind of noodle: the ancestor of instant noodles and doll noodles." Then, we continued to the next stop: the Ximen Wengcheng ruins. There are many attractions in Guangzhou. We chose to visit the Ximen Wengcheng ruins because Shanshan and her friends were both.

For travelers who don’t like to check in at tourist attractions, we like places with a strong sense of life and historical heritage. The West Gate Urn City Ruins is a niche attraction that you won’t notice even if you pass by, but it is very important to Guangzhou.

It is said that this is a place of historical memory. The Wengcheng ruins at the west gate are located at the intersection of Zhongshan 7th Road and Renmin Middle Road. It was the former west gate of Guangzhou. If you drive by yourself, you can locate the "Wengcheng ruins"; if you come here specially, you can take the subway to the west gate.

You can find it at the entrance station by walking towards Zhongshan 7th Road. But after eating Yi Noodles from Changshou East Road, my friend and I walked directly from Changshou East. This time, Shanshan and her three girls were very impressed with their directional skills.

It’s been a long time since I visited this Lian, and my ability to recognize the way was a little vague, so I found the Wengcheng ruins very smoothly. In the past, every city must have a city gate. In the past, there were eighteen city gates in and around Guangzhou: including the old city.

There are eight gates: Zhengdongmen, Zhengximen, Zhengnanmen, Zhengbeimen, Guidemen, Xiaobeimen, Xiaonanmen, and Wenmingmen; the outer city has Xiaodongmen, Yongxingmen, Yongqingmen, and Wuxianmen

There are eight gates: Jinghai Gate, Youlan Gate, Zhulan Gate, and Taiping Gate; there are also two gates of Jiyi City. Today we visited the Ximen Wengcheng ruins, which are the earliest and best-preserved ones discovered so far in Guangzhou.

The complete city tower ruins. On one side of the intersection, we found the site of the Wengcheng ruins. A model of the original city gate was erected on one side of the Wengcheng ruins. We walked down the stairs and set up a sign to introduce the history of the Wengcheng ruins.

There are all kinds of plants around, because in spring, the flowers are blooming, and the red and green colors are very beautiful. If it weren’t for the cultural protection sign, and if I didn’t know about this place in advance, I would have thought it was a place closed to the public.

The park at the west gate is the site of the Ximen City Wall in the Ming Dynasty. In the 13th year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1380), Zhu Liangzu, the Marquis of Yongjia, ordered the expansion of Guangzhou City and built the west city wall to the present Renmin Road area, and built it at the east end of Zhongshan 7th Road.

At the west gate, the "Main West Gate" building is built. The remaining middle part of the city wall at the west gate is buried at the bottom of Zhongshan 7th Road. Now you can see that the city wall is divided into two sections: the east section in the photo is relatively complete and is covered with iron.

The railing is circled and a sign for cultural relics protection is erected; the other section of the city wall is more difficult to find. It is in an alley called "Chang Geng Shou Yue" parallel to Renmin Road. Walking into the end of the alley, it is the one closest to Zhongshan 7th Road.

The courtyard gate of the residence is built on the city foundation. This section of the city wall can be connected to the opposite city wall from a distance.

The two sections of city wall should be the two sections immediately adjacent to the city gate.

The ruins of Wengcheng are called Wengcheng because Wengcheng is a small city specially designed to protect the city gate.

In ancient times, city gates were usually the weakest point in a city's defense.

In order to strengthen the defensive capabilities of the city gates, hanging gates or suspension bridges will be installed in smaller cities, while urns will be installed in larger cities.

The two sides of the urn city are built together with the city wall, with defensive facilities such as arrow towers, gates, and battlements.

The urn city gate is usually not in the same straight line as the city gate it protects to prevent attacks by weapons such as battering rams.

We walked around the ruins, and my friend asked curiously: Is this the earliest and most complete city tower ruins discovered so far in Guangzhou?

But only the base of the city was seen?

Yes, today, all eighteen city gates in Guangzhou have disappeared. The preservation of the city base and the remaining city walls of the Wengcheng ruins are the earliest and most complete city tower ruins discovered.

Today we want to know about the city gate. We can find out from the names of the current roads. For example, the main west gate where the Wengcheng ruins are located is now called the west gate.

In the past, there was a plain outside the city gate. There was a road leading directly to Zengbu, Xicun, Pantang and other places. Farmers from the surrounding areas would transport vegetables, fruits and other agricultural products to the provincial capital every day. They entered the main west gate through Rainbow Bridge and Longjin Bridge.

Therefore, the main west gate was one of the busiest city gates in Guangzhou at that time.

Later, due to disrepair, the city wall collapsed in many places. In 1913, the demolition of the main west gate began. This was the beginning of the demolition of the city wall in Guangzhou. In 1918, large-scale demolition of the city wall and road construction began.

In 1996, this section of the Ximen Urn City ruins was discovered during the construction of urban infrastructure projects. In 1999, it was announced as a cultural relic protection unit in Guangzhou.

In 2003, the Ximen Urn City ruins were renovated into a sunken underground square. It once became a popular tourist attraction in the ancient city of Guangzhou. However, it gradually became quiet again. Looking back today, I can see that it has obviously been repaired and there is an additional city next to it.

The model of the door shows that the government departments carefully protect it.