This Unknown 'Jiangnan Great Wall' of Zhejiang Province is Complained About Having More Expensive Tickets Than Beijing's Badaling Great Wall
As the saying goes, 'You must reach the Great Wall to be a true hero,' but for friends from the south, the journey to the Beijing Great Wall is simply too far.
And in Linhai, Taizhou, Zhejiang Province, there is also a section of the Great Wall, known as the 'Jiangnan Great Wall.' A friend jokingly said, 'If you can't reach the Beijing Great Wall, a trip to the Jiangnan Great Wall will also make you a hero.'
This 'Jiangnan Great Wall' is actually the city wall of Taizhou Prefecture. As we all know, the purpose of the Great Wall was to defend against invasions by northern nomadic tribes.
But this 'Great Wall' also served to defend against incursions by coastal pirates.
The embryonic form of the Taizhou Prefecture city wall dates back to the Eastern Jin Dynasty, when the magistrate of Xin Jing in Linhai built a city with a mountain and dug a moat to resist the pirate leader Sun En.
Sun En was a very ancient pirate leader. His family followed the Five Classics Doctrine, and used the followers to initiate counter-revolutionary actions, failing after which he fled to the islands. Taking advantage of the opportunity, he attacked the coastal areas of Southeast Asia, capturing more than 20,000 people as his troops.
Sun En repeatedly attacked Linhai and was eventually defeated. His last attack was in the first year of Yuanxing (402 AD) in March, when Sun En led his remaining followers to attack Linhai, which was defeated by the magistrate Xin Jing, with Sun En's troops suffering heavy casualties and fearing capture, he drowned himself.
Later, anti-pirate hero Qi Jiguang also rebuilt the Taizhou Prefecture city wall and fought against pirates here.
From history, we can see the importance of the Taizhou Prefecture city wall in resisting coastal pirate invasions.
In addition to its military defense function, the Taizhou Prefecture city wall also has functions that the northern Great Wall does not have, namely flood control.
The Taizhou Prefecture city wall was built north of Mount Gui and was surrounded by the Linhai River on the west and south, and at its southwest corner, it was enclosed by a 90-degree turn, resulting in serious flooding, so the Taizhou Prefecture city wall also played a very important role in flood control.
Starting from the Eastern Jin Dynasty, through several dynasties, the Taizhou Prefecture city wall has undergone many reconstructions and repairs. However, unfortunately, the city wall was gradually damaged in modern times.
In the 1990s, the Taizhous City Government launched a campaign in which every citizen donated a brick to restore the original appearance of the Taizhou Prefecture city wall. Bricks that were previously used were donated back to restore the ancient city wall. After the repair, the foundation of the wall was basically restored to the Song Dynasty style, regaining vitality.
The Taizhou Prefecture city wall is approximately 5000 meters in circumference, but due to maintenance of some sections, only half is open.
What's annoying is that the ticket price is 65 yuan, which is 50 percent more than the Beijing Badaling Great Wall ticket of 40 yuan, and it is currently under repair and only partially open.
Although many parts of the Ming Dynasty Great Wall referenced the Taizhou Prefecture city wall, such as hollow enemy towers, which were said to be the prototype of the Ming Great Wall.
However, from a macro perspective, its construction difficulty and significance are quite different, and its popularity is not high, but the ticket price is so expensive!
What do you think?
