Ancient Military Watchtower & Barbican

Standing opposite every city gate of old Beijing was an embrasured watchtower (Jianlou, Arrow watchtower), an imposing and distinctive structure that added tremendously to the landscape of the city in old days. Today, only two of them are still there: the Zhengyang Gate and the Desheng Gate.

In ancient times the embrasured watchtower was a defense fortification whose tall and sturdy structure, vast vistas and impregnability had won the favor of many an emperor in this country. A typical embrasured watchtower is found in the southeast corner of Beijing. Scooped into its walls are 144 embrasures in four rows.

A barbican entrance was built between a city gate and a watchtower, with a gate­way built into either side of the barbican wall to facilitate the traffic of pedestrians, carts and horses. The barbican entrance was an ancillary defense facility that contained a tiny temple and a store selling pots and basins of varying sizes. When the city was under siege, a heavy sluice gate was lowered to close down the city gate, soldiers hidden in the watchtower shot arrows at the enemy, and on the city walls the defenders filled pots and basins with boiling water and poured it at the enemy troops attempting to gain the top of the city wall by scaling ladders. Thus the store selling pots and basins was actually an integral part of the defense system of the city gates.

When you are planning a China travel, select a Bejing Tour package including the Forbidden City - the world heritage site, you will see some ancient military watchtowers there !