ENTER INTO CQ’S HISTORY
DISCOVER THE FOUR REMAINING ANCIENT
CITY GATES
Before the changes and expansion of the Twentieth Century, Chongqing city was bound into the area now known generally as Jiefangbei by centuries’old city walls. Of the 17 bustling city gates that were once key arteries, four still remain and give a fascinating insight into Chongqing’s story.
东水门
Dongshuimen
(East Water Gate)
Rising above the wharves that would have bustled with merchants and wooden vessels packed with cargo, this was once the main gate for people arriving by ship and the ferry landing for people crossing the Yangtze to Nan-an. In 1883, it was this gate that British merchant navy captain Archibald Little, who would go on to live in Chongqing for several decades, described in his diary after captaining the first steamship to make it through the Three Gorges unaided, and
it was still this gate that ambassadors, diplomats and generals climbed up to in the 1940s when Chongqing sheltered the wartime government.
Compared to the modern remains, the ancient city gate was much more impressive, with a high double-eaved roof that dominated the skyline. However, its current 5 metres in height and almost 7 metre depth still demonstrate something of the scale of the historic fortifications.
Entering the city through this gate, you would have found a range of imperial China era government offices. The Daotai Yamen 道台衙门, the office of the regional governor, the Chongqing Government Yamen, and the Ba County Yamen that administrated the county surrounding the city, as well as guildhalls for merchants from other regions, such as the Huguang Guildhall, the latter of which is still with us. Once dilapidated and hemmed in by slums, this centuries’ old guildhall has been restored to its former glory, and gives a great impression of the scene that would have greeted travelers.
通远门
Tongyuanmen
(To the far place gate)
To Tongyuan Gate now we head, hear the sound of drums and gongs, and see the burial of the dead. As with its name, journey to the far place gate, this line from an old ballad about the city gates, refers to the graves that once covered the countryside just outside the old city at Qixinggang and the final journey to the far off place most people would make through that gate. Until the 1920s, Qixinggang was largely bare country covered in undergrowth and tombs, but was then redeveloped in a city expansion programme led by the first Republican era mayor Pan Wenhua. The project disinterred and relocated around 430,000 graves from the area, and was memorialised with the building of the nearby Puti Jingang Pagoda 菩提金刚塔, which was consecrated by a Tibetan Lama to appease the souls of those moved.Standing at over 5 metres in height and over 7 metres thick, Tongyuanmen still gives an impressive idea of how the city walls must have appeared, although it the redevelopment project of the 1920s saw it lose the large defensive tower that projected out from the wall in order to make way for the new road for motor traffic to Chengdu. Tongyuanmen was traditionally seen as a key strategic military installation for control Chongqing, and it was said that if it fell the city was lost. In fact, the modern-day statues of historic fighting men at the gate commemorate the day in 1644, during the reign of the last Ming leader, Emperor Chongzhen, when an army of peasant rebels led by Zhang Xianzhong took Chongqing.
现在我们前往通远门，听到鼓声和锣声，并看到埋葬死者之地。正如它的名字一样，前往远方的门，这句话来自一首关于城门的古老民谣，指的是曾经覆盖在七星岗旧城外的乡村的坟墓，以及大多数人通过该门前往远方的最后一程。直到20世纪20年代，七星岗基本上是一个被灌木丛和坟墓覆盖的光秃秃的乡村，但后来在民国时期第一任市长潘文华领导的城市扩张计划中被重新开发了。该项目将43万座坟墓从该地区移出，并在附近建造了菩提金刚塔作为纪念。菩提金刚塔由一位西藏喇嘛开光祭祀，以安抚被迁者的灵魂。通远门高度超过5米，厚度超过7米，，尽管在20世纪20年代的重建工程中，为了给通往成都的新公路让路，从城墙上突出来的大型防御塔楼被拆除了，它此时的形态仍然让人对当时的城墙印象深刻。
通远门历来被视为控制重庆的重要战略军事设施，据说如果它倒下，城市就会丢失。事实上，现代的通远门的历史战斗人员雕像是为了纪念1644年明朝最后一位领导人崇祯皇帝在位期间，重庆被张献忠领导的农民起义军攻占的那一天。
Taipingmen
(Peace Gate)
After being buried beneath new construction and the Chongqing blitz in the war, Taipingmen was found by accident beneath a construction site and only excavated in 2014-2015. About to be opened to the public as part of the restoration of the historic Baxiang Jie (White Elephant Street) area. Built in the Song Dynasty (960-1279), this is the oldest of the surviving city gates. Whilst its almost 5 metre high arched gateway remains, it has lost the drum tower that once stood on its top.
人和门
Renhemen
(Harmony Gate)
Although the gate and walls are well preserved, the entrance to this gate was filled in during the mid-twentieth century. The gateway was much thinner than those of the other three surviving gates and also has drainage pipes within its strucutre, indicating that when it was built during the Ming Dynasty, its main function was not necessarily as an entry-exit point, but as a point for waste water to flow downhill out of the city in accordance with the principles of Feng Shui.