After being broken for over 60 years, the more than 600-year old, 13.74-kilometer long ancient rampart in Xi'an was finally reconnected today. Officials of the city believed that the successful reconnection and the complete renovation of the Xi'an Railway Station section of the rampart was an important step towards presenting Xi'an as one of the oldest cities in the world.
The Xi'an rampart was first built in the third year of Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty (1370 A.D.) on the remains of the imperial city of Sui and Tang Dynasties. It is currently the largest ancient rampart in the world that is still standing. In the 1980s China made overall repairs to the rampart. However, in order not to disturb transportation of Xi'an railway station, over 530 meters of the rampart (from Shangde (esteem virtue) Gate to Shangjian (esteem thriftiness Gate) was not repaired. By now the majestic ancient rampart have remained unconnected for over 60 years.
On Dec. 30th, 2003, renovations on the railway station section of the ancient rampart officially started, with a price tag of the project at 150 million Yuan. With its full length at 537.7 meters, the project was two-phased: one was an over 233-meter long connection wall that would include a three-arch wide-spanning bridge. The widest span of the bridge would be 84 meters. The other phase was to repair 304.3 meters of brick wall that also would include a few towers.
The officials explained that the whole project had been balanced in repairs and renovations and cultural relics protection. Bare ocher of the Ming rampart was covered with brick stones and other broken parts also had their outside walls renovated. In this way the project wouldn't affect transportation and also would leave room for other development and utilization. Repaired and renovated parts match perfectly with the entire rampart and they are truly the macrocosm of the beauty of the ancient rampart of Xi'an.
(Chinanews.cn December 29, 2004)
