Great Wall

Shaanxi

Recently we decided to explore a less well-known section of the Great Wall. This is the part that appears to dance across the Loess Plateau along the northern border of Shaanxi Province and recalled how it once formed a continuous defence of the Guanzhou area where Xian, our home city and onetime capital city of China is located. During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) the government organized the environs of the Great Wall into nine zones. In each of these zones a garrison or Zhen was set up for its supervision. The Yansui Zhen, the garrison in Yulin was responsible for the 880-kilometre section between Fugu to the east and Ningxia to the west. For any one wishing to explore this section of the Great wall, then there is no better place to start than Yulin itself, so this is where we started.

Although the modern development of Yulin is somewhat sluggish by comparison with other cities, as a northern outpost of the Ming Empire it was of strategic military importance. By 1403 it had become a fortified citadel but in 1407 the Ming moved the Yansui Zhen here. As a consequence an extension to the Wall was built and large numbers of soldiers were introduced. This part of the Great Wall served also as one of the Yulin city walls. Wherever a garrison is established the civilian population will expand to support it. This was true of Yulin and the city soon became an important trading post with the Mongol Tribes to the north. Markets were established and a thriving Yulin served both as a military base and trading centre in this northern part of Shaanxi.