Hangzhou City Walls

The Walled City of Hangzhou refers to the ancient fortifications that once surrounded the historic core of Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province in eastern China. Though largely dismantled in the 20th century, the wall was a significant part of Hangzhou’s urban identity and defense system during imperial China, especially when the city served as the imperial capital of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127–1279) under the name Lin’an (临安).

Over the subsequent course of Chinese history, Hangzhou changed hands many times, and every ruler and every dynasty had its own contributions and modifications to the Hangzhou City Walls. While little remains of them today, the fact that Hangzhou was once a walled city is still evidenced by certain place names around town, especially the names of its ten gatehouses.