Description: One of the most impressive reminders of Nanjing's glorious past as the center of the Ming Dynasty is the city wall, which at more than 20 miles long, is the longest city wall ever built in the world. Built in the span of about 50 years in the 1300s by hundred of thousands of laborers, about two-thirds of it still stands. As it took advantage of strategic hills, and because it was built on the foundation of other walls, the layout was irregular. As China was the first country I traveled to, everything looked massive, and this wall was no exception back in 1988. Recently, I have read that the wall averaged more than 60 feet high and more than 25 feet wide at the top. The south gate--Zhong Hua Gate--is one of the best remaining sessions of the wall, being heavily fortified, with four rows of gates, making it a defensive stronghold that would have been almost impregnable. Reportedly, it can quarter up to thousands of soldiers. In its time, the wall and its gates must have posed a formidable challenge to any other power who wished to breach it and thus take over the city. In fact, I am not sure that the Qing dynasty that defeated the Ming ever breached this wall--if I remember correctly, the Ming wall was breached by one of its own. I also read a story that each of the bricks used to build the wall had to have the mark of the overseer's name and rank, the brickmaker's nam, and the place it came from, so that it could be easily replaced when it broke.
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