Chinese city wall

Chinese city walls (traditional Chinese: 城牆; simplified Chinese: 城墙; pinyin: chéngqiáng; literally: "city wall") refer to civic defensive systems used to protect towns and cities in China in pre-modern times. The system consisted of walls, towers, and gates, which were often built to a uniform standard throughout the Empire.

The Chinese word Chéngqiáng (城墙) can be used in two senses in the modern Chinese language. In a broad sense, it means all defensive walls, including the Great Wall of China, as well as similar structures in other countries such as Hadrian's Wall. In a narrow sense, Chengqiang specifically refers to defensive walls built around a city or town.

In classical Chinese, the character Chéng (城) denoted the defensive wall of the "inner city", housing government buildings. The character Guó (郭) denoted the defensive wall of the "outer city", housing mainly residences. The phrase Chángchéng (长城), literally "the Long Wall", specifically referred to the Great Wall.

Like various other innovations in Chinese history, the invention of the city wall is attributed to a semi-mythological sage; in this case, to Xia Dynasty leader Gun (鲧), the father of Yu the Great. It is said that Gun built the inner wall (城) to defend the prince, and the outer wall (郭) to settle the people. An alternative theory attributes the first city wall to the Yellow Emperor. A number of neolithic-period walls surrounding substantial settlements have been excavated in recent years. These include a supposed wall at a Liangzhu culture site, a stone wall at Sanxingdui, and several tamped earth walls at the Longshan culture site. These walls generally protected settlements the size of a large village.

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