The Xi’an City Wall, located in the downtown area of Xi’an, is the largest in size, most well-preserved city wall in China. It was built in early Ming Dynasty on the basis of the capital city Chang’an of Tang Dynasty.
In 1997, US President Clinton tool the first stop of his China journey in Xi’an and sang high praise for the ancient city wall.
The Xi’an City Wall measures 12 meters high, 12 to 14 meters wide on the top, 15 to 18 meters wide at the bottom with a total length of 13.7 kilometers. There is a watchtower every 120 meters, at the same height with the wall so that soldiers could attack enemies who were climbing the wall from inside the watchtower.
The ancient city wall used to be an important part of the defense system. Now it provides valuable information for the study of military development as well as architecture structure in ancient China.
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