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Travel: Detour
The
longest city wall in China
By
CRYSTYL MO |
WALL WALKING Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang,
the founder of the Ming dynasty, was of a very Chinese disposition:
he liked walls, the longer the better. His affection for fortification
was not merely fanciful: Zhu (also known as Hong Wu) spent
30 years at war with various warlords in his campaign to liberate
China from the Mongols. In 1356, Zhu, a Buddhist monk turned
soldier, captured Nanjing and declared it his capital. Ten
years later, Zhu oversaw the construction of the longest city
wall in China: a massive battlement almost 37 kilometers in
diameter. Today nearly 21 kilometers are still standing and
the towering Old City Wall-more than 20 meters high at some
points-is a dramatic focal point throughout much of the
city.
The best maintained section of the wall surrounds Xuanwu
Lake Park. The lake, which was once used for naval exercises
during the Song dynasty, has five tiny islands connected by
bridges and graced with elegant teahouses, restaurants, gardens,
pavilions, an open-air theater and even a zoo. Although the
main entrance to the park is on Zhongyang Lu, I like to go
in through Jiefang Men (Liberation Gate) as it is less touristy.
Inside, you'll find old men fishing and people picnicking,
paddleboating or riding tandem bicycles. (Bicycles and paddleboats
can be rented for just more than a dollar an hour per person
at concessions located throughout the park.)
Enter through Jiefang Men, turn right and you will soon find
a staircase that leads you through a hole in the city wall.
It then takes you through a bizarre dormitory-like office
built inside the wall and eventually up and back out again.
The top of the wall makes for a comfortable, even exhilarating
walk, about half an hour in either direction. The path, which
was rebuilt in the 1980s, is wide and solid, and the view
is expansive: the shimmering lake to the north, and Purple
Mountain to the east, where Emperor Zhu's tomb still stands.
  
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