Wanping Fortress and Lugou Bridge (Marco Polo Bridge)
Wanping Fortress was built in 1638-1640, in the Ming Dynasty for defending Li Zicheng (李自成) peasant rebellion. At the beginning it was named as Circumpolar Town “拱极城”, in 1928, it was renamed as Wanpingcheng “宛平城”. It has only two gates, the east gate named Ever Prosperous Gate “永昌门” , then renamed as “威严门” Majestic Gate, the west gate named as Favorably Govern Gate “顺治门”.
View Wanping, 宛平城 in a larger map
Though in Chinese, it is still called as a town or a city, but from the beginning, it functioned as a millitary fortress actually, it is not big in size, from west to east 640 Meters, and from south to the north 320 Meters, make it a half-square shaped.
To the west of the fortress, there is the Yongding River, and the Marco Polo Bridge or Lugou Bridge “卢沟桥”, as the bridge was the major way to communicate to the Inner Mongol and the South of China, the fortress later came to be a commerce joint, where concentrated many shops, teahouses, inns and temples.
The Fortress and the Bridge were famous in the Marco Polo Bridge Incident on July the 7th of 1937. Now in the center of the fortress, locates the Memorial Museum of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japan, and to the south out of the city, there is a sculpture square in memory of the War.
The East Gate.
The West Gate, facing to the Lugou Bridge.
The south city wall of Wanping.
Tips:
Visiting into the Wanping is free of charge, but it is impossible to climb up the wall right now. If you want to visit the Bridge, ticket is 20yuan/person.
Plan of the Memorial Museum
