The last ancient city wall of Guishan County

Written by Sheng Fu Word Count: 1091

A week ago, on the evening of the day when Typhoon "Gemei" hit, I went to Qiaoxi to see the "Guishan County City Wall". The ancient city wall of Guishan County is at the foot of the mountain on the left side of the entrance of the Dongpo Temple, a short section. I knew about it before, but I didn't pay much attention to it. This time, I had a heart and took a closer look.

Existing "Guishan County City Wall"

On this short ruined wall, I found 6 bricks with inscriptions. The content of the inscription is the same, and the engraved words are "Guangxu Ji Chou Nian Heavy Belly". There are two specific situations, one is the font engraved horizontally, read from right to left; One is vertically engraved and read from top to bottom.

There is another situation that needs to be explained: there is an inscription on the Internet that reads "Guangxu Yichou Year Rebuilt", which is obviously wrong. As long as you look at the inscription on the brick a little carefully, it is clear that it is not "Yi Chou", it is "Ji Chou", which is related to the year of construction, and it cannot be mistaken. In the introduction of a sign erected at the end of the left side of the ruined city wall, "Ji Chou" is written as "has been ugly", which should be a mistake. It seems to be a trivial matter, but how can such an important monument be so sloppy? Fallacies like this are often encountered in the introduction of other cultural relics. Personally, I think this should not appear, as long as you read it carefully, it is not difficult to find.

These six inscription bricks are taken from right to left, and the pictures obtained are detailed at the end of the text. If you have friends who are interested, or friends who are bored like me, you may wish to look for these 6 engraved city bricks.

It is understood that the only remaining section of the city wall of Guishan County was found when the Dongpo Temple was rebuilt in 2017, about 7 meters long and about 2 meters high, built by blue bricks and granite masonry, and rebuilt in the year of Guangxu Jichou (1889) of the Qing Dynasty. The existing frame is protected, but there is no sign of the status of cultural relics.

From the cross section, it can be seen that the wall of the city wall is more than one meter wide, and the middle of the wall is also made of bricks. In the past, it was mostly built of earth, but it was changed to brick construction, and a 2-meter-high granite foundation was added, which was aimed at this section of the city wall near the Dongjiang River and was flooded by the river, which played a role in reinforcement and protection. The surface brickwork process is obviously better than the inner layer, and the quality of the bricks is also different.

Not far from this section of the city wall, there is a "small north gate" at the north exit of the Tieluhu Historical and Cultural District in the old county seat. This small north gate is the remains of the north gate of Guishan County, at that time, the city wall should be connected with this "small north gate". There is also a section of ancient wall in the small north gate, which can be said to be the inner city wall.

The width of the wall is visible on the transverse plane

Let's take a general look at the situation of the construction of Guishan County.

It is understood that in the ninth year of Emperor Kaihuang of Sui Dynasty (589), it was placed in Shanxian County, and its county governance was initially set in the south of Baihefeng in the east of today's bridge. During the Southern Han Dynasty of the Five Dynasties, Guishan County was moved to Huiyang. After the first year of the Republic of China (1912), Huizhou Mansion was abolished and Huizhou Mansion and Guishan County were merged into Huiyang County. Since the Sui Dynasty, Guishan County has a history of more than 1,400 years.

The city wall of Guishan County was built in the third year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1575). According to the "Huizhou City Bridge East Chronicles" (1992 edition), there is a description of the city wall of Guishan County: before the Ming Dynasty, it belonged to Dongping Wacheng, Ming Jiajing forty years (1561) villagers asked to build a people's city, Ming Wanli three years (1575) the city was completed, the circumference of the city wall was 904.5 zhang, and the height was 1.9 zhang. In the sixth year of Wanli (1578), the county forest people moved the county seat to Baihefeng (moved from the capital city to the county seat of Guishan), and then changed the civil city to the official city. In the thirteenth year of Chongzhen (1640), two roads of the city wall were added and the city tower was built; The city opens four gates, the east Fuyang gate, the south Longxing gate, the west Tonghai gate, and the north entertainment Jiangmen. Yujiangmen should be the "Little North Gate" that exists today. In addition, there are two convenient doors, the small east gate and the water gate.

The city wall has been repaired in successive dynasties, and most of them were demolished during the Republic of China, only a few city gates remained, and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the city gates gradually disappeared in the construction of the city. The remaining section of the city wall can be said to be the last city wall in Guishan County.

The above 6 pictures are 6 city bricks with inscriptions from right to left

Cross-sectional view

The small north gate (outside)

Now it is stored inside the small north gate

North Gate of Guishan County (Inside)

The north gate of Guishan County (outside) (the upper two pictures of the network map)

City bricks engraved with "Fucheng bricks" (photographed in the Huizhou Mansion Ruins Exhibition Hall)

Engraved with four "Hui" characters (Fu) city bricks (photographed on the city wall of Binjiang West Road)

Engraved with the words "Huicheng bricks" (photographed on the city wall of Binjiang West Road)