Shanghai Old City Wall and Dajing Ge Pavilion (Shanghai Gu Chengqiang Dajing Ge)

Description:

• In 1553 during the Ming Dynasty, Shanghai built a city wall to defend itself against Japanese pirates. Following the course of today's Renmin Lu and Zhonghua Lu, the wall measured 8.1m (27 ft.) high and 4.8km (3 miles) around, and had 10 gates. All that remains today is 50m (164 ft.) of wall at this intersection of Dajing Lu and Renmin Lu (the rest was pulled down in 1912). The visible section of the remaining wall dates to the Qing Dynasty, as is evident by brick markings bearing the names of Qing emperors Xianfeng (1851-61) and Tongzhi (1862-74). The newly rebuilt Dajing Ge Pavilion atop the wall was one of the 30 towers along the structure. There's a small exhibit here on life in the old Chinese city.

• © Frommer's 2013