Ming City Wall
南京, 江苏
The longest surviving city wall in the world, begun in 1366 and originally stretching over 35km around the Ming-dynasty capital — more than 25km still stands today.
为什么要去Ming City Wall？
Most Chinese cities tore down their walls during 20th-century modernization; Nanjing's survived largely intact, giving it a sense of enclosed historic scale that Beijing and Xi'an, with their reconstructed or partial walls, can't quite match. Long stretches are original Ming-era brickwork, some stamped with the names of the kilns and workers who made each brick — an early form of quality-control accountability.
怎么体验
Several gates have stairs or ramps up onto the wall itself, where a paved walkway runs for kilometres in each direction. The Zhonghuamen and Taicheng sections are the most popular for walking or renting a bike, and a stretch near sunset with the modern skyline visible beyond the ramparts is the classic photo.
小贴士
Bikes can be rented directly on top of the wall at several sections — a much better way to cover distance than walking if you want to see more than one gate in an afternoon.