Walking the walls

The reaction of the Chinese joggers on the City Wall at Xi'an is typical behaviour when they see a western photographer. I was just trying to capture the sheer scale of this structure which I never managed to walk completely around. Perhaps I should have hired a bike.

When Zhu Yuanzhang, the first Emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), captured Huizhou, a hermit named Zhu Sheng admonished him that he should 'built high walls, store abundant food supplies and take time to be an Emperor,' so that he could fortify the city and unify the other states. After the establishment of the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang followed his advice and began to enlarge the wall built initially during the old Tang Dynasty (618 - 907), forming today's scale of Xi'an City Wall.

After the extension, the wall now stands 12 metres (40 feet) tall, 12-14 metres (40-46 feet) wide at the top and 15-18 metres (50-60 feet) thick at the bottom. It covers 13.7 kilometres (8.5 miles) in length with a deep moat surrounding it. Every 120 metres, there is a rampart which extends out from the main wall.