Brief introduction of Xi 'an Ximen moat

Xi 'an moat, with a history of more than 600 years, was built in the seventh to eleventh year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty (1374- 1378). Also known as the moat, it is an artificial protective river around the city wall and an important wall fortification to prevent military attacks and stick to the city defense.

Initial excavation

The first phase was first excavated in the late Tang Dynasty. Xi 'an City, formerly known as Chang 'an, the imperial city in Sui and Tang Dynasties, belongs to the inner city and is a sub-city in a big city. It is located in the central area of Bei Tang City, and there is no moat around the city wall. In the Tang Dynasty, Chang 'an City just dug a moat with a width of 9 meters and a depth of 4 meters about 3 meters outside the Waiguo City Wall. Until the end of the Tang Dynasty, in March, 904, the Yuguo Army asked Han Jian to rebuild Chang 'an, abandoned Guo Cheng and Miyagi, and only rebuilt the Imperial City into a new city. At this time, the new city, once the imperial city, has changed from the inner city to the outer city. In order to meet the needs of urban defense, a moat was dug around the outer wall of the new city, which was the early project of Xi 'an moat. During the Song, Jin and Yuan Dynasties, Fucheng Road was used side by side with the city, mostly for dredging and ditching. During this period, the moat of Jingzhao City was dredged many times, and the Longshou Canal, the water diversion channel, was dredged many times, which showed that the local officials of the provincial government attached great importance to the moat defense at that time and also reflected the important role of the moat in consolidating the city defense.

dig

The second period of Xi 'an moat development was the excavation in the early Ming Dynasty. In the first month of the seventh year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1374), Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, ordered Song Guogong to "build a city in Shaanxi", that is, while building the xi 'an city wall on the east and north sides of the original Sui and Tang imperial city, with the outward movement of the city wall, the scale of the city periphery was expanded and the moat was extended. After excavation, the moat of Xi 'an in Ming Dynasty was located 20-60 meters outside the city wall, and the ditch was 20 feet deep, that is, 6.4 meters. Eight feet wide, 2.56 meters, around the city, * * * 4500 feet long, compared with the wall circumference of 4302 feet, 198 feet long. In the moat, it is six feet high, or 1.92 meters. It is two feet thick and 0.64 meters thick, and the moat is forced to cut out the lining to enhance its defensive combat capability. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, besides the moat outside Xi 'an, a moat around the city was also built outside the inner city (brick wall) of Qin Wangfu, which was still under construction.

spill

During the Qing Dynasty, the moat excavated in the early Ming Dynasty was deepened, widened and dredged many times. In the 13th year of Shunzhi (1656), Shaanxi Governor Chen rebuilt the city wall and dredged the moat. In the first year of Kangxi (1662), Governor Bai Rumei and Governor Jia Hanfu deepened the Shencheng River to three feet, 9.6 meters. In September of the second year of Qianlong (1737), Cui Jixing, governor of Shaanxi Province, dredged Longshou Canal and Tongji Canal to divert water into the ditch because the water diversion channel was blocked and there was no water in xi 'an. Especially in the forty-six years of Qianlong (178 1), the governor of Shaanxi province, Biyuan, dredged the moat in an all-round way, with a depth of four feet, a width of six feet (19.2) meters and a bottom width of three feet (9.6 meters). This project alone cost more than 8000 yuan. Since then, in the second year of Tongzhi (1863), an general Muteng 'a, in the 22nd year of Guangxu (1896), the Qing army met Wang Wei, in the 24th year (1898), and in the 29th year (1903), Shaanxi Governor Wei Guangtao.

After the founding of new China

Urban planning has changed the original war defense function of the moat, shouldering the urban flood control and rainwater storage functions of 45 square kilometers in the urban area, and has become the urban rainwater storage and flood discharge trunk road. However, I don't know when the pollution came, and the river began to become turbid and smelly. After the reform and opening up, the moat experienced three large-scale dredging projects.