Now we are entering the Weng city at Xiadongmen gate which was built to defend the city wall. Its size is small and it’s surrounded by high walls. Even if the enemy soldiers managed to found their way into the Weng city, only few could crowd into this small space and they would be immediately surrounded.
Xiadongmen
• here, the twelve-meterhigh city wall is very grand. A moat surrounded the city in the past and a drawbridge hung beside the city’s gate, providing a solid deense during the infrequent outbreaks of war.
• Some Weng city’s gates are not directly opposite the city gate; they are instead built on a left or right turn. • This arrangement’s purpose was to make it harder for the enemy soldiers to go directly from the city gate through Weng city and into Pingyao itself. This design underscores the practical experience gained by ancient Pingyao’s inhabitants over long period of war and conflict.
Weng city
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平遥古城
概况
• The towering wall of bricks on the right of us are among the four ancient city walls and moats still in a complete state of preservation in our city. • On December3,1997, UNESCO’s Worldwide Heritage Committee declared that the ancient cities of Lijiang in Yunnan Province and the Pingyao in Shanxi Province, as well as the classical Suzhou in Jiangsu province to be World Heritage sites.