The Diaoyucheng (), or Diaoyu Fortress, is a fortress located on the Diaoyu Mountain in

Heyang Town Heyang in Chinese might be represented in different characters referring to 合陽/合阳 * Modern Heyang County, Shaanxi province, PRC. 河陽/河阳 * The historical name of Mengzhou, Henan province. * Heyang Township in Guizhou Province Gu ...

, Hechuan District,

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a municipality in Southwest China. The official abbreviation of the city, "" (), was approved by the State Cou ...

. It is known for its resistance to the Mongol armies in the latter half of the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the res ...

History

The death of Mongol leader

Möngke Khan Möngke ( mn, ' / Мөнх '; ; 11 January 1209 – 11 August 1259) was the fourth khagan-emperor of the Mongol Empire, ruling from 1 July 1251, to 11 August 1259. He was the first Khagan from the Toluid line, and made significant reforms ...

during the siege of Diaoyucheng resulted in the immediate withdrawal of Mongol troops from Syria and East Asia. Although the Mongols and the

Southern Song The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the res ...

were united in their fight to bring down the Jurchen Jin dynasty, their pact broke immediately afterwards, and the Mongols launched an aggressive war against the tenacious Southern Song that lasted for more than a third of the 13th century. In the period from 1243 to 1279, Diaoyu experienced more than two hundred military confrontations in a miracle of "persistent resistance" that endured for thirty-six years. Though numbering more than ten thousand and led by the Great Khan Möngke himself, the Mongols were unable to take the tiny fortress. Yu Jian won many brilliant victories, culminating in the deaths of Möngke and his vanguard General Wang Tege. Sources differ on how Möngke actually died—Chinese sources largely claim that Möngke was mortally wounded by a crossbow arrow (this claim is corroborated by the writings of the Syriac monk

Bar Hebraeus Gregory Bar Hebraeus ( syc, ܓܪܝܓܘܪܝܘܣ ܒܪ ܥܒܪܝܐ, b. 1226 - d. 30 July 1286), known by his Syriac ancestral surname as Bar Ebraya or Bar Ebroyo, and also by a Latinized name Abulpharagius, was an Aramean Maphrian (regional prim ...

) or a stone projectile from a

cannon A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder duri ...

or trebuchet, while Persian sources suggest that Möngke died from infectious diseases like

dysentery Dysentery (UK pronunciation: , US: ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complication ...

or cholera (Chinese sources confirm the existence of an outbreak during the siege).

Location

The ancient Diaoyu covers an area of 2.94 square kilometres. Situated on a hill surrounded by water on three sides, it is located about five kilometers east of Hechuan, Chongqing, near the confluence of the Qu, Fu and Jialing rivers. The terrain is precipitous yet beautiful. About 700 years ago, Yu Jian built a fortress here to resist the Mongols during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127–1279).

Sites

As it contains many historical sites—a naval wharf, drilling grounds, watch towers, and a fortification with built-in cannons—Diaoyu has been designated a major national cultural and historic site by China's

State Council State Council may refer to: Government * State Council of the Republic of Korea, the national cabinet of South Korea, headed by the President * State Council of the People's Republic of China, the national cabinet and chief administrative autho ...

, and on 28 August 2018 it was placed on the World Cultural Heritage Tentative List.

References

{{Chongqing Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Chongqing Geography of Chongqing Forts in China Song dynasty architecture Yuan dynasty National archaeological parks of China

History

Location

Sites

See also

References