Great Wall - Jiumenkou

Descending from the mountains, I came across a bridge spanning a river. Made of granite stone, the bridge, at about 330ft (100m) in length, had eight shuttle-shaped piers and nine arches. It was aptly named ‘Nine-Arch Great Wall Bridge’.

Flanked between two mountains, the river was an important pass and an original wall was built here in the 5th century. The Ming rebuilt it 900 years later, fortifying the valley and naming it Jiumenkou Pass. Nicknamed the ‘Great Wall over Water’, Jiumenkou was quite unusual as it was the only section of the entire Great Wall that crossed a river. Usually, rivers were seen as natural defence barriers and as such the Wall stopped at the river bank and then started again on the other side.

The bridge provided military control over all the river-crossings and river transportation. It was solidly built with a granite stone foundation of 7,000sqm embedded on the riverbed. Access was via the arches that served as gates, whilst the top was used for defending against enemies. At either end of the bridge were forts that during wartime held prisoners in flooded cells (water prisons).

Nearby was a secret tunnel carved beneath the Wall. At just over half a mile long (1km), the tunnel had one entry and two exits. It was used to station troops, store food and weapons and sneak up on the enemy from the rear. It is estimated that as many as 1,000 soldiers could stay in the tunnels.

Following archaeological excavations in the 1990s, many artifacts including cannons, blue and white porcelain bowls and big jars have been uncovered giving historians and military experts insight into life on the Wall.

Crossing the bridge, I head into the hillside for a bird’s eye view of the rocky mountains, the flowing river and the formidable bridge that ties it all together.



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