Zhonghua Gate (Nanjing)

En un regard

Le château en bref

The Zhonghua Gate, in the south of Nanjing, is the largest and most complex gate of the city's Ming wall. Zhu Yuanzhang, the future Hongwu Emperor, began the enclosure in 1366 to protect the capital he had chosen; completed in 1386, it is one of the longest city walls ever built. The gate, then called Jubao ("Gate of Gathered Treasure"), stands on the site of the southern gate of the Southern Tang, just north of the Qinhuai River. Rather than a simple gate, it is a true citadel: three enclosed courtyards follow one another behind four vaulted gateways, each once closable by a stone portcullis. Within the thickness of the masonry are twenty-seven casemates where soldiers and their supplies could shelter, and two broad ramps allowed horsemen to ride up to the top. Renamed Zhonghua Gate in 1931, it keeps its original structure after more than six centuries. It is today the favourite starting point for walking the surviving sections of the wall.