South Great Wall

Great Wall, one of the World Culture Heritage sites in China and the representative architecture of China, is wildly known to be built for separating the central China from the north ethnic minorities. While seldom people know there is a section of Great Wall built in Hunan province during Ming Dynasty to present one south China ethnic minority group: Miao people from rebelling. This Great Wall is named Xiangxi Border Great Wall, also called South Great Wall.

With largest part passing though Fenghuang County, South Great Wall is about 190 kilometers long. It was might because that Miao Ethnic Minority group was not that formidable as North minorities, the South Great Wallwas sixth of the Great Wall in length. As one of the great ancient architecture on Chinese history, South Great Wall was firstly built in the year 33 of the reign ofEmperor Jiajing of Ming Dynasty (1554 AD) and finished in the year 3 of the reign of Emperor Tianqi of Ming Dynasty (1622 AD).

It was ever ruined during Ming Dynasty and rebuilt during Qing Dynasty. The wall is 3 meters high, two meters wide at the bottom and one meter wide on the top, twisting and winding along hill crests, gorges, and rivers. There are totally over 1300 battlements, passes, fortresses, emplacements and city gates, over 800 located in Fenghuang County.