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The existing Datong City Wall is the fifth year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty (1372). General Xu Da was ordered to build a new town on the basis of the old city of Liao, Jin and Yuan, which is slightly square, with a length of 1.8km from east to west, 1.82km from north to south, a circumference of 7.24km and an area of 3.28km The city walls are all based on regular stone bars, slates and masonry, and are compacted with "three concretes" on the basis of the original city walls.
The height of the wall is 14m, the upper width is 12m, and the lower width is 18m. Around the city wall, there are 54 watchtowers and 96 wopu. There are 580 pairs of buttresses on the four walls, representing the number of villages under the jurisdiction of Datong at that time. There are turrets at the four corners of the city wall and military platforms outside the four piers. There are four gates in the city, namely Donghe Yangmen, Nanyongtai Gate, Xiqingyuan Gate and Beiwuding Gate.
There are towers above the four gates, and the moon tower, arrow tower, watchtower and turret stand at intervals. Outside the four gates, there are the urn city, the moon city and the moat. The city wall is tall and majestic, solid and steep, well guarded, and all kinds of defense facilities are complete. It is a famous town with distinctive features in the history of ancient military architecture in China.
Because it occupies a very important position in the northern border defense, it has played an important role in many battles. Therefore, it has always enjoyed the reputation of "a prominent town" and "the key to the north".