Nantou () is a historical monument in Shenzhen, China. It was the former administrative centre of Xin'an County. It was formerly a walled city facing Qianhai Bay. The city was on the sea route in South China and was regarded as the gatekeeper of the Pearl River and

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, sou ...

. The walled city is also known as Nantoucheng (), "walled city of Nantou". The inhabitants of Nantou extended south along Taishanwan to Chenwuwei (), including Guankou () and Shiqiaotou ().

History

The history of Nantou dates back to 331 CE. It was known as Dongguan () as it was the capital of Dongguan Prefecture, which was, amongst others, the areas covering present-day Dongguan,

Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern provi ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

, Huizhou, Zhongshan,

Zhuhai Zhuhai (, ; Yale: ''Jyūhói''), also known as Chuhai is a prefecture-level city located on the west bank of Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern Guangdong province, People's Republic of China, on the southeastern edge of P ...

and

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

prior to any European settlements. At the same time, it was also the administrative centre of Bao'an, then one of the six counties comprising Donggguan. Since then, it has been repeatedly reported to be prosperous in the salt industry. In 736 CE, during the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

, the city itself was fortified with imperial troops and became known as Tunmen (). The current walled city was built in 1394, at almost exactly the area of Dongguan, when the government of the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

revived the coastal defence after the fall of the

Mongol The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member ...

-led

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fif ...

. It then remained as the administrative centre. Historic reports suggested that the Ming dynasty admiral

Zheng He Zheng He (; 1371–1433 or 1435) was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat, fleet admiral, and court eunuch during China's early Ming dynasty. He was originally born as Ma He in a Muslim family and later adopted the surname Zheng conferr ...

and his crew once sailed pass Nanshan and encountered dangers in the area during the treasure voyages. He went on land and prayed for luck in the Tianhou Temple in Chiwan, which was near to the town itself. In 1573, 7,608 families, or 33,971 inhabitants, who lived around Dongguan prefecture, moved into the town by the order of the government. Xin'an County was since established. Nantou gradually lost its prestige as the completion of the Kowloon-Canton Railway made the market town of

, east of Nantou more prosperous. The administrative center of the county was moved to Shenzhen in 1953, and remained there until 1979, when the entirety of Bao'an County was renamed Shenzhen and elevated to city status.

Layout

Nantou has an area of roughly 70,000m². The town is of an irregular quadrilateral shape, with the widest points east to west, and north to south being 680 metres and 500 metres respectively. Eight of the nine streets in the town still exist.

City walls

The foundation of the city walls of Nantou were built using yellow sand. Defensive trenches existed all around the city. Today, almost all of the city walls with the exception of a few sections to the north (currently located within Zhongshan Park), the south gate and the east gate were demolished. The south gate measures 10 metres wide and 4.5 metres tall. A gate tower built atop was destroyed.

Heritage destruction

There were three periods of heritage destruction that took place in Nantou: The first was during the

Kangxi period The Kangxi Emperor (4 May 1654– 20 December 1722), also known by his temple name Emperor Shengzu of Qing, born Xuanye, was the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1661 to 1 ...

of the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

, during the Great Clearance took place between 1661 and 1669. Xin'an at that time ceased to be a county. Most inhabitants in the town were displaced to other counties to the north. Many buildings in the city and the city walls were destroyed to build a boundary wall 50 '' li'' inland. The second was during the Japanese occupation in the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific T ...

when the Japanese built fortifications on the walls. The third and most recent was after Shenzhen was designated a Special Economic Zone in 1980, when surrounding areas start to be rapidly developed. At this time, large numbers of migrants settled in Nantou. A number of historic buildings, including much of the city walls were again demolished to make way for crammed multi-storied townhouses. Some of these townhouses uses the stone cut off from the city walls. The vast majority of them are unplanned and illegally built (more than 900). The town is gradually turning into what is known as an urban village.

Restoration efforts and current status

A number of historic buildings in the town have undergone preservation efforts. However, the effects were fairly minute. The Shenzhen government renamed the town Xin'an Ancient City () and built a museum known simply as Nantou Ancient City Museum in their attempt to revitalize the town as a historic trail. There are still around 40 buildings in the city dating back to the

or the first half of the 20th century. Nantou District, the official name of Nanshan District between 1983 and 1990, was named after the town. Being then the largest town in the district, Nantou subdistrict also took its name from the town. There are currently more than 20,000 inhabitants living in Nantou.

References