By Yuling Chen, EDITOR

Ding Fenggao was Magistrate of Wanxian (Wanzhou District now) during the reign of Daoguang Emperor (1813-1820 A.D.) in the Qing Dynasty. He commended the Tiansheng Town for that “the magnificent ten-thousand-meter-high mountains are just like towering walls formed by nature standing on precipitous cliffs.” Spiral up along the southern city gate, you will find the mountains majestic and odd with cliffs as steep as walls.

Screenshot from the video on the defense system of Chongqing, China

Where is the town 

The Tiansheng Town is located at the Tiancheng Mountain of Wanzhou District, with the urban area to the west and the Yangtze River to the south. Compared with Diaoyucheng (Diaoyu Fortress) in Hechuan District, the Tianzi (Tiansheng) Town, as an ancient military fortress, has a longer history.

Tiansheng Town

The legend behind the town

In 221 A.D., Liu Bei (Emperor of Shu Han), launched the famous Battle of Yiling. The legend has it that when Liu Bei bypassed Wanzhou with his troops on their way eastward, he found that the Tiansheng Town was precipitous. His troops finally stationed there because it was easy to defend but hard to attack. Since then, the Tiansheng Town had become a strategic fortress on the waterway of the Yangtze River for more than 1,000 years.

In the late Southern Song Dynasty (1127–1162 A.D.), the Mongols in the north grew stronger day by day. In 1234, it launched a southward invasion in three directions. Sichuan and Chongqing area was one of the target regions, which was also the pillar of the Southern Song in taxes and food. Moreover, the Mongols attempted to go eastward down the Yangtze River to occupy Lin’an (Hangzhou now) after seizing Sichuan and Chongqing area.

Yu Jie, an officer of administration and military of Sichuan and Magistrate of Chongqing in the Southern Song Dynasty, claimed the war of resistance against the Mongols and organized the defense in Sichuan and Chongqing area. Under the support of Yu Jie, the defense system of Chongqing, the mountain city, came into being. Since 1251, the army and the local people drew on local resources of the Tiansheng Town, the important fulcrum of the defense system, and built city walls four times successively.

Expansion

By 1266, the Tiansheng Town had developed into an area of more than 10 hectares, which could accommodate tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians. Moreover, there were fertile fields, private schools, hospitals, and four fortified city gates in the east, west, south, and north. Shangguan Kui responsible for the defense said, “It was too precipitous to be attacked and occupied.”

With things changing during the past 700 years, wars had long ended. However, for thousands of years, the bravery, courage, and perseverance of the Chongqing people in resisting foreign invasion will never be forgotten by history.

Source: CQCB