Turtle City
Six gates.
Diego Tirira from Quito, Ecuador — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Mätes II. — CC BY-SA 3.0 · aisccd — CC BY 3.0 · 林高志 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · lienyuan lee — CC BY 3.0 · 林高志 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · w0zny — CC BY-SA 3.0 · xiquinhosilva — CC BY 2.0
One of the most complete old city walls surviving in China, built in its present form in 1370 under the Ming dynasty on top of older ramparts; it encircles the old town for about 6 kilometres, rises some 12 metres and is ringed by a moat 4 metres wide and deep. The town is entered through six gates with forward defences, one each on the north and south and two each on the east and west, so its plan resembles a turtle with its head, tail and four legs, hence the nickname «Turtle City». The wall carries 72 watchtowers and more than three thousand battlements, numbers said to stand for Confucius' seventy-two disciples and three thousand students, and visitors can walk along the top above the town's grey rooftops. The wall is covered by the old-town combined ticket, CNY 125 for about 22 sites, valid three days, per visitor guides. Sunset is the loveliest time, and walking the full circuit takes about two hours.
Six gates.
And 3,000 battlements.
Above the rooftops.
Around the old town, Pingyao
Yes, the wall is covered by the CNY 125 old-town combined ticket, and the full circuit takes about two hours, per visitor guides.
