Yanqing: Polishing the Pearl on the cultural belt of the Great Wall (1)

The Jiuyan Tower [Photo by Zhang Hongmin]

A watchtower of the Great Wall lights up a display area, and a display area drives one side's economy. After more than three years of quality improvement, the Jiuyan Tower ecological Great Wall exhibition area, located in Sihai Town, Yanqing District, is open to tourists from October 11. After careful wiping, the pearl on the cultural belt of the Great Wall will burst out again with dazzling brilliance.

Pass through the beacon smoke of history, step on the traces of the Great Wall. Recently, the reporter visited the Jiuyan Tower ecological Great Wall exhibition area in Sihai town. On the top of the towering Flaming Mountain, the renovated Jiuyan Tower stands aloof. Landscape water system, walkways to the Great Wall, leisure square, and infrastructure of the exhibition area are full of humanization. Near the exhibition area, a batch of supporting facilities such as the B & B cluster of Huahai Town and earth landscape of Flowers of Four Seasons have begun to appear. Yanqing has played the "duet" of the protection and development of the Great Wall with practical actions. The reappearance of the Jiuyan Tower ecological Great Wall exhibition area is a vivid practice of the concept of "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets".

The inheritance of history, and the light of culture

The ancient site is telling the story about historical changes [Photo by Zhang Hongmin]

In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty. In order to defend against the invasion of the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty and other nomads, the government of the Ming Dynasty had set up nine military towns in the northern defense line of the territory, including Gansu Town, Ningxia Town, Xuan Town, Datong town, and Ji town. They divided the northern border of the Ming Dynasty into nine defense areas for defense, which were called "nine sides" or "nine towns", and the "side" here referred to the side wall and the Great Wall.

During the Jiajing period, in order to strengthen the defense of the capital and protect the Imperial Mausoleum (now known as the Ming Tombs), the Ming government set up Chang town in the northwest of Beijing and Zhenbao town in the southwest of Beijing. These two towns, together with the previous "nine towns", altogether "eleven towns", were collectively called "nine border eleven towns". Jiuyan Tower was located in the junction of Jizhen, Changzhen and XuanZhen in Ming Dynasty. Because of its special geographical location, Jiuyan Tower was once subordinate to Jizhen and XuanZhen in history.

The earliest records of Jiuyan Tower can be traced back to the second year of Chenghua in Ming Dynasty (1466). At that time, Jiuyan Tower was not as large as it is now, but a small pier. According to records, it has a history of at least 550 years.

In 1569, the Ming Dynasty began to build hollow watchtowers in Ji and Chang towns. The hollow watchtowers were generally built on the wall of the Great Wall and stand on the wall. The construction of the hollow watchtowers greatly enhanced the defense and combat capability of the Great Wall, and also increased the magnificent momentum of the Great Wall, which played a psychological deterrent role to the enemy.

After the third year of Wanli (1575), the Jiuyan Tower in XuanZhen began to be rebuilt into a hollow watchtower. At that time, the Jiuyan Tower, which we see today, had taken shape. In the 46th year of Wanli, the Ming government-organized personnel to repair the Jiuyan Tower. As an important military node, Jiuyan Tower was located at the junction of the great wall of Jizhen, Changzhen, and XuanZhen in the Ming Dynasty. Standing on the top of the building, the East, West, and south of the Great Wall converge at the Jiuyan Tower, which was the real "Beijing knot" in history. Located about 350 meters to the west of Jiuyan Tower, Huoyanshan camp is closely related to the watchtower of Jiuyan Tower. The camp was the camp where the soldiers lived.

The Jiuyan Tower is surrounded by green hills [Photo by Zhang Hongmin]

Jiuyan Tower is the largest hollow watchtower on the Great Wall. The tower is built of bricks on the base of strip stones. It has a double-layer structure and a huge building body. The existing building is 7.8 meters high and 13 meters wide. Each side of the external wall is about 20 meters long. There are nine arrow windows on each side. The arrow windows are of two arches structure. The first floor of Jiuyan Tower adopts a large arch structure, which has not been found in other watchtowers of the Great Wall and is second to none in the Great Wall buildings. Standing on the top of the building, you can overlook the JianKou Great Wall and the "eagle flying upside down" view in Huairou District, and overlook the spectacular scenery of the Great Wall in San town, which makes people feel relaxed and forget to leave.

Jiuyan Tower is located in the core position of five groups in the construction of Beijing Great Wall Cultural belt. The north-south direction is the link between Yanqing and Huairou Great Wall, the east-west direction is the bridge connecting Gubeikou group and Juyong road group, and is also the node of the great wall of San town in history, which has very important strategic significance.

In Yanqing District, the Jiuyan Tower has a unique position. The Great Wall in Yanqing is mainly divided into the Badaling section, Dazhuangke section, east roadside section, Nanshan roadside section, and branch line of the Great Wall. The Jiuyan Tower is the starting point of the east roadside Great Wall and South roadside of the Great Wall and is the best stone Great Wall preserved in Yanqing. It is the essence of Yanqing Great Wall. The whole wall is composed of gravel earth core and rubble stone masonry.

Up to now, more than 10 inscriptions have been found around Jiuyan Tower. Most of them are poems praising its majestic posture and expressing the author's heroic mind. This also shows that Jiuyan Tower has a unique position.