Nanjing City Wall facts for kids
The Nanjing City Wall is a huge city wall in Nanjing, China. Most of this amazing wall was built a long, long time ago during the early Ming Dynasty. Back then, Nanjing was the capital city of China!
This famous wall is known as the capital city wall. It's super special because it's one of the longest, largest, and best-preserved ancient city walls in the whole world! Imagine walking along it – it stretches for about 25.1 kilometers (that's over 15 miles!).
Building the Giant Wall
The Nanjing City Wall you can see today was started in the year 1366. It took a very long time to build, finally finishing in 1393. That's 27 years of hard work!
It was a massive project. About 280,000 workers helped build it. They used an incredible number of bricks – around 350 million! Each brick was carefully made to create this strong and lasting structure.
Important Gates of the Wall
The Nanjing City Wall has many gates that let people in and out of the city. Some of the most famous and important gates include:
- The Gate of China (also known as Zhonghua Gate)
- The Zhongshan Gate
- The Xuanwu Gate
These gates were not just entrances; they were also strong defenses for the city.