Figure 1: The artist conception of the protection project of the city wall and city gate from Taiping Gate to the Renhe Gate section. (All photos provided by the office for the Preservation of Ancient Monuments)

Figure 2: The aerial view of Taiping Gate.

Figure 3: Wild flowers on Renhe Gate.

CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- According to the Yuzhong District Administration of Culture, the protection project of the city wall and city gate from Taiping Gate to Renhe Gate section has officially started. The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year. At that time, the public will be able to walk on the top of the restored city wall and feel the beauty of the ancient city wall of Chongqing.

The repaired city wall and city gate reveal the beauty of variations

According to the Yuzhong District Administration of Culture, this wall is located along the Taiping Gate Grand Pier on Sifang Street, Wanglong Gate, in the Yuzhong District. The city wall has seen many periods, including the Southern Song Dynasty, Ming and Qing Dynasties. The important discovery was of the inner gate of Taiping Gate. There were once the words “Supporting Dhusong” on the arch of the gate, and the inner height of the gate was 5.1 meters high and 4.4 meters wide. The outer city gate that once featured the engraved “Tai Ping Men” character (which is also the city gate of Wengcheng), has now disappeared.

The length of the wall between the two gates is about 546 meters, including 482 meters in six sections of uncovered city wall and 64 meters in four sections of covered city wall. In this year’s protection project for Taiping Gate, the outer city gate will be restored at a distance of about forty meters from the inner city gate. At present, the Taipin Gate and the city wall have been covered with steel plates to reduce the wind and rain erosion.

According to the office for the Preservation of Ancient Monuments, for the walls with less damage, cleaning and anti-weathering treatment will be carried out; for the walls with severe damage, anchor rods are used for reinforcement, and local repairs are carried out to ensure the stability of the wall. “After the rebuilding, it will be in harmony with the landscape of the city wall and shows the beauty of vicissitude.” said the person in charge.

This "door" has many "doorways"

According to reports, the seventeen ("nine open and eight closed") gates in Chongqing's mother city alternate being closed and open, but there is no closed door between Chuqi Gate and Jinzi Gate to confirm to the “eight closed”. Between the two open doors of Chuqi Gate and Taiping Gate, there is the closed door - Renhe Gate. The open doors are larger than the closed doors. For example, Renhe Gate is about four meters high and 2.6 meters wide, which is smaller than Taiping Gate.

Standing in front of the Renhe Gate, one can find that the closed door only has the form of a door but does not have the function of a door. The interior of the "gate" was stuffed with stones and could not reach the city. But the open door was different at that time, when passing through Taiping Gate, it was Chongqing City's most prosperous Sifang and Baixiang Streets.

At present, there are four gates preserved well

Bai Jiujiang, the deputy director of Chongqing Municipal Administration of Cultural Heritage, said that Chongqing currently has four well-preserved gates: Dongshui, Tongyuan, Taiping, and Renhe Gate, of which only Renhe Gate has a closed door. Bai Jiujiang said that Dongshui Gate and Tongyuan Gate are national key cultural relics protected units. At the same time, Taiping Gate and Renhe Gate have also received great attention from the cultural heritage department. (Translated by Gao Jiao, Fathom Language Limited)