Nine Dragons Wall

The Datong Nine Dragons Wall, built more than 600 years ago, is one of the three oldest and largest famous glazed walls in China, the other two are in Beijing's Beihai Park and the Forbidden City.

History of Nine Dragons Wall

According to historical data, it was built for the 13th son of Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), and is well preserved until now. It is made up of 426 specially fired glazed bricks, with a height of 8 meters, thickness of 2.02 meters and length of 45.5 meters.

Highlights of Nine Dragons Wall

The Wall Screen can be divided into three parts: pedestal, body and roof.

The pedestal has a rectangular shape and a height of 2.09 meters. Its narrow central part is divided by 75 glazed tiles with images of oxen, dogs, rabbits, deer and other animals. The body design is a green wave at the bottom and a blue and yellow cloud at the top. The entire wall is made up of nine flying dragons, which only have four toes on their feet, since five-toed dragons are for the emperor himself. A dragon with golden scales and glowing eyes is situated in the center, on each side are a pair of light yellow dragons with their heads pointing towards the east and their tails towards the center. Below is a second pair of elegant yellow dragons with their heads and tails pointing west. The third pair is made up of ferocious purple dragons that seem to fight with the sea. The fourth pair are very spirited dragons. The nine dragons are vivid and show their ability to call the wind and control the rain. Surrounding the nine dragons are images of plants, mountains, stones, water and grass. All of these complement each other. In front of the wall is a pond with a stone bridge. The dragons' reflection becomes dynamic especially when a breeze disturbs the water surface. This shows the creativity of the artisans.

The Datong Nine Dragons Wall has great artistic and historical value, making it worth visiting for foreign tourists.