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The southeast corner of the City Wall in Xian city, Shaanxi province, China.


Xian City Wall is among the oldest and best preserved city walls in China and one of the largest ancient military defense systems in the world.


Construction on the wall began in 194 BC and lasted four years. Construction on the existing wall started during the Ming Dynasty in 1370. It encircles 14 square kilometers of the city.



After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) by its first emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang, work began to enlarge the initially wall built in the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), creating the modern Xi'an City Wall as we know it today.



The wall was extended to be 12 meters tall, 12-14 meters wide at the top and 15-18 meters wide at the bottom. It covers 13.7 kilometers (8.5 miles) in length and was surrounded by a deep moat.


Ramparts (98 in total) were built every 120 meters along the wall, extending out from the main wall. They were built to defend against enemy invasions, should attempts to scale the wall be made. Each rampart has a sentry building in which soldiers could protect the entire wall without exposing themselves to the enemy. On the outer side of the city wall, there are 5,948 battlements, allowing soldiers to look out and shoot at the enemy. On the inner side of the wall, parapets were built to protect soldiers from falling off.