The only existing photo of a city gate in Nanchang

Nanchang City was first built in the early Han Dynasty. By the Yuan Dynasty, Nanchang City had 12 gates. After the unification of the Ming Dynasty, the governor Zhu Wenzheng was in charge of Nanchang. In order to strengthen the defense, he abolished five gates, rebuilt the west city wall 30 steps back (each step is about 1.5 meters), and dug a new wall from Desheng Gate to Guangrun Gate to make the wall fully connected.

The city gate takes Guangrun Gate as the main entrance. Guangrunmen, Huiminmen and Zhangjiangmen are close to the water. There are many docks on the shore, where merchants gather and the flow of people is huge. During peacetime, powerful people in the city occupied the space within the three gates and built shops in the city. Because Huiminmen was close to Fuhe River, no new city walls were dug. The powerful saw huge business opportunities, so they occupied the base of the city wall and built shops. The lofts built in the moon city and next to the city wall are extremely detrimental to the defense of the city and are a major safety hazard. In the 7th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, Governor Liu Jiesi, in order to prevent enemy invaders from attacking Nanchang, ordered the prefect Wang Sanxi to demolish all these "illegal buildings" and carved large characters on the wooden boards to indicate that leasing in these places was forever prohibited. However, in the face of interests, the ban seems to be in vain. In the 36th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, the governor Wei Chengfang asked Lu Tingxuan to inspect these "illegal buildings" again and demolish the houses next to the walls; in the 7th year of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty, the governor Chen Hongmou and the chief envoy Peng Jiaping conducted an inventory again; in May of the third year of Xianfeng of Emperor Wenzong of the Qing Dynasty (1853) , the Taiping Army attacked Nanchang. Jiangxi Governor Zhang Fu and Hubei Inspector Jiang Zhongyuan burned down houses and shops outside the city as a defensive strategy. In 1927, in order to prevent the Northern Expedition from entering the city, the defenders of Nanchang City set fire to the buildings near the wall and burned them to the ground.

There are many temples and Taoist temples inside and outside Nanchang City, such as Puxian Temple inside Huimin Gate (later changed to Puxian Temple Primary School), Wanshou Palace inside Guangrun Gate, and the Temple of Wealth outside the gate ( Later it was changed to Guangrunmen Primary School), etc., all of which are popular. On certain days, pilgrims at the gate of the city come and go in an endless stream.

Deshengmen is located in the north of Nanchang. Due to geographical reasons, if you invade Nanchang, you must attack from this gate. In addition to the urn city, this gate also has an ox-horse wall (a kind of city defense that began in the Ming Dynasty. It is located outside the city and on Haoshang. It has large and small blunderbuss eyes. When the enemy comes, it will be fired with blunderbuss or cannon. In case of emergency, the city dare not open. When the gate opened, all people, cattle and horses who should take refuge could temporarily take shelter inside the wall.) In the second year of Xianfeng (1851), Zhang Fu was appointed governor of Jiangxi. At the time of the Taiping Army uprising, he heightened and strengthened the city wall as a precaution. , and built a wall of cattle and horses at this gate.

Yonghe Gate is located in the northeast of Nanchang City. There is an altar dedicated to worshiping ghosts and gods outside the gate. It is sparsely populated and is the most remote gate in Nanchang.

To the east of the city is Hue Gate. Outside the door is a large swamp with ponds of different sizes embedded in it. In order to train soldiers, the Qing government filled up and compacted the swamps and built a large school factory, through which most of the soldiers entered and left the city. In addition to soldiers, most farmers outside the east of the city also entered and exited through Jinpan Road through this gate.

Traders gathered at Guangrun and Huimin gates, while ordinary people gathered at Jinxian gate in the south of the city. Jinxianmen in Chengping is extremely lively. Although there is no hustle and bustle of traders, farmers transporting fertilizers and vegetables come and go in a constant stream every day. If they encounter an innocent family, filial sons and grandsons wear sackcloth, scatter paper money, and light firecrackers. They go out through this door and out the door. It was very lively to go around and back again.

In the early 20th century, the famous American traveler William Edgar Geil conducted an extensive and detailed inspection of the eighteen provinces in mainland China. In 1911, "Eighteen Provincial Governments of China" was published. The book describes the city gate of Nanchang as follows:

The city gate opening to the south

Nanchang City is located to the east of a large river. A thousand years ago, Feng Shui masters calculated its location and shape and believed that Nanchang is located in a water town. A tower should be built in the south and north to calm the drifting city, and all city gates should open to the south to attract auspiciousness. Nari. Therefore, the only north gate is hidden in the corner, and the west-facing urn city covers it; the two east gates and the two west gates are opened on the sides of the urn city, becoming the city gates facing south; The South Gate is certainly not a problem. In this way, the auspiciousness of the south can flow into Nanchang City continuously.

Nanchang City is rich in water resources, with three lakes prominently distributed in the center of the city. The city walls were guarded by soldiers, and everyone who entered or exited the city gates was carefully inspected. ...

Compared with the government map of "Nanchang County Chronicles", it is true that all the urn gates that can open to the south face south.

Pictures

The following photo was taken by British photographer Warren Swire in Nanchang, Jiangxi in 1906 (the 32nd year of Guangxu’s reign in the Qing Dynasty). If you enlarge the picture, you can vaguely see Zhang Jiangmen.

The picture below is the Zhangjiangmen Gate Tower, reproduced from "Yuzhang Legacy: Looking at Nanchang from Old Photos".

The picture below is the Desheng Gate that was bombed during the Northern Expedition in Nanchang.