Shou County City Walls

The city walls of Shou County are among the best-preserved in eastern China — a nearly complete circuit of brick-faced earthwork walls enclosing the historic core, with four original gate towers still standing at the cardinal points. The walls were substantially rebuilt during the Song dynasty on much older foundations (the site served as the Chu state capital Shouchun in the third century BCE), and the current structure reflects several centuries of maintenance and repair.

Walking the top of the walls — accessible from the main gates — gives a clear view over the old city and the surrounding agricultural plain. The gates themselves are substantial two-story tower structures with multiple arched openings, and the Tongfei Gate on the north side (the main entrance) is particularly imposing. The walls circuit is about 7 kilometers and takes two to three hours at a leisurely pace.

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A story
The walls of Shou County have been tested by floods more than by armies. The Huaihe valley floods catastrophically every few decades, and the walls — which stand up to nine meters high and enclose the old city on all four sides — have served as flood barriers for centuries. In the devastating 1938 floods, when the Yellow River was deliberately breached, water surrounded Shou County for months but the walls held and the historic core survived.