Why do the 17 gates in Chongqing open nine times and close eight times? (Photos)

Chongqing is a special mountainous city. In the buildings surrounded by two rivers and high-rise buildings, some strange city gates and caves can be faintly seen. These caves, which used to live, resist invasion and avoid plane bombing, can be traced back to the Ba caves and the Qin, Han, Ming and Qing dynasties thousands of years ago, which is rare in the world's metropolises. Nowadays, some of these gates and caves are used as hot pot restaurants, some are underground shopping malls, garages and hotels, and summer is a project to benefit the people by enjoying the cool of the public. Recently, the cultural relics department of Chongqing conducted a special investigation on the cultural relics of the city gates and city walls of old Chongqing, put forward plans to protect the ancient city walls and gates of the main city of Chongqing, and suggested repairing the ancient city gates and walls of old Chongqing.

Chaotianmen, the big pier, welcomes officials and connects with Shengcuiweimen, hangs colored satin, and has a colorful (closed) East Watergate. There is a square ancient well facing Zhenwu Mountain, and carp jumps over the Longmen (opened). Nowadays, most old Chongqing people can hum a nursery rhyme called Chongqing Song. This is the mnemonic formula of Chongqing City Gate, which clearly records the names and characteristics of the seventeen city gates in Chongqing.

Generally, the old city of China is built with city walls, with four or more gates in the east, south, west and north. It is really rare that there were 17 gates in the early Ming Dynasty like Chongqing. Moreover, the city gate is 9 open and 8 closed, just like the gossip in the Nine Palaces, which adds another mystery to the mountain city in the fog. The name of the city gate is exquisite, calculating and thoughtful, and it is never as dull and careless as the East Gate, West Gate, South Gate and North Gate. For example, Nanjimen, the word Nanji comes from the Book of Songs: surging Jianghan, the discipline of the South China. Ji Zhe manages the law, and the confluence is also intended to manage all the rivers, so that they will not stagnate and break up. Another example is Qiansi Gate, which also comes from the sentences of Qiansi Cang and Wansi Cang in the Book of Songs, meaning that there are thousands of warehouses inside and outside this gate, and Chongqing people will never be hungry.

There were 17 gates in ancient Chongqing, which conformed to Feng Shui

and emphasized survival. They were built in response to the images of Nine Palaces and Eight Diagrams to show the meaning of Tang Chi as a golden city. Among them, there are nine gates for Lifu to carry the water from two rivers into the city. The other eight gates could have been opened, but then fires broke out frequently in Chongqing, and the government thought that the opening of the Watergate could not control Mars, so they closed all the eight Watergates. Since then, these eight gates have been nominal and only used as decoration.

Jiukai City Gate (Source: Hualong. com)