Ancient City of Hancheng, Shaanxi

The ancient city of Hancheng, the city was first built during the Sui and Tang Dynasties. In the fourth year of Dading in the Jin Dynasty (1164), the city wall was built with soil. In the thirteenth year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty (1640), Xue Guoguan, the prime minister of the city, proposed to the court for approval, advocating local officials and gentlemen to donate funds to change the soil city wall into a brick city wall. The four city gates are inscribed with 'East with the Yellow River', 'Liang Yi West Lapel', 'Pubei Hancheng', and 'Longmen Shengdi'. In order to protect the ancient city, the municipal government made a decision in the early 1980s to protect the ancient city area and build a new city area, so that the ancient streets are well protected. The main street that runs through the north and south of the ancient city of Hancheng is the main street, which is dragon-shaped, reaching a kilometer long, slightly curved, like a dragon lying horizontally; the Jin Dynasty pagoda at the top of the Yuanjue Temple on the north side of the ancient city is like a dragon head, and the ancient stone bridge at the south end is like a dragon tail. The dragon-shaped main street has 72 lanes that crisscross, are orderly, and accessible in all directions. There are more than 5,200 houses in the ancient city, including more than 770 buildings and shops and houses of certain protection value. The ancient shops along the main street are Ming and Qing buildings, most of them are two-story buildings, with warehouses upstairs and shops downstairs, front shops and rear residences, brick and wood structures, and blue brick gray tile sloping roofs, which are typical of the northern ancient city. The well-preserved concentrated courtyards in the ancient city include Zhang Lane, Gaojia Lane, Bozi Lane, Nanying Temple Lane, Wanwan Lane, etc. There are 13 ancient buildings with more than 70 buildings protected in the block, with a large number, large scale and various types, especially the Confucian Temple, the City God Temple, and the Dongying Temple are connected into a piece, reaching more than 700 meters, which is a major feature of the ancient city.