Shenweilou

[Kim]

Among the many towers in the eastern part of Hebei, Shenweilou (神威楼 - invincible might tower) is without doubt one of the most unique, beautiful and most interesting of them all.

Shenweilou tower:



Shenweilou tower:



Shenweilou tower:



Stone tablet above the door:



Missing stone tablet close to the tower:



Decoration of the tower:



Notice the unusual door:



Interior of the tower:



Screen wall with missing stone tablet opposite the tower:



Shenweilou with the eastern part of Baiyangyu Great Wall in the background:



Shenweilou:

[chinoook]

Very nice and superb photos, as always from you.
Is the tower sited in the "inner side"?


-chinoook

[Kim]

Originally Posted by chinoook

Very nice and superb photos, as always from you.
Is the tower sited in the "inner side"?


-chinoook

Thanks, I will post some more pictures from the western part of Baiyangyu later next week.

The tower is located on the outside of the wall and can clearly be seen on Google Earth: 40°12'14.30"N 118°43'2.34"E

[andarchen]

One of Kim's photos as picture 1 below ,there are two square holes under both side of arrow hole on sidewall of Shenweilou,they were called Leishikou(Chinese:雷石口 , English:The hole for dropping the thunder stone), besides Leishicao(Chinese:雷石槽 English:The beveled groove for dropping the hunder stone) was carved beneath Leishikou .
The thunder stone is a weapon made by round or rectangular stone filled with powder as picture 2&3,
You can see more Leishicaos were blocked on Simartai GW as picture 4 , Picture 5 is viewing from Leishicao above .

[Bryan]

This is a fantastic thread. Thanks for the great info and excellent photos. The Shenweilou tower is fascinating.

I have often gotten the impression that the Great Wall was built in places by building the towers first, separately, and then building the wall in between later to connect the towers. I don't know if this is true but appearances have often led me to suspect it.

The Shenweilou tower has the opposite characteristics. It appears that it was possibly added after the mail wall was completed. It sits outside the wall and it has many very unusual features. Do you think it's possible?

Any opinions or information about towers being built before or along with the main wall would be appreciated!

[Kim]

Originally Posted by greatwallforum

This is a fantastic thread. Thanks for the great info and excellent photos. The Shenweilou tower is fascinating.

I have often gotten the impression that the Great Wall was built in places by building the towers first, separately, and then building the wall in between later to connect the towers. I don't know if this is true but appearances have often led me to suspect it.

The Shenweilou tower has the opposite characteristics. It appears that it was possibly added after the mail wall was completed. It sits outside the wall and it has many very unusual features. Do you think it's possible?

Any opinions or information about towers being built before or along with the main wall would be appreciated!

I often have the impression that the wall was there first and then the brick towers was added later when the wall was renovated in the late Ming dynasty.

At some places it seems that when the wall was renovated and bricks was added, the towers was build first and then the wall as connected to it. Often there is no bond between the tower and the wall. It might be that special teams were in charge of building the towers and when the tower was completed they moved to the next location leaving others to join the wall and towers.

Shenweilou was completed in 1593. I'm not sure exactly when the wall was renovated.

[andarchen]

Originally Posted by Kim

I often have the impression that the wall was there first and then the brick towers was added later when the wall was renovated in the late Ming dynasty.

At some places it seems that when the wall was renovated and bricks was added, the towers was build first and then the wall as connected to it. Often there is no bond between the tower and the wall. It might be that special teams were in charge of building the towers and when the tower was completed they moved to the next location leaving others to join the wall and towers.

Shenweilou was completed in 1593. I'm not sure exactly when the wall was renovated.

Kim had deeply studied in GW. Ming's general Qijiguang (Chinese :戚继光) is the key person on brick towers renovation ,thanks Wiki has information of Qijiguang in detail in English .towers renovation had mentioned in paragraph of "Years on the northern frontier",you are invited to read it .

Link :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi_Jiguang

[Kim]

This is the inscription at Shenweilou:



The text is (some of the characters are traditional and later changed):

Right: 游击将军张世忠题: Guerrilla warfare General Zhang Shizhong

and

Left: 万历丙申仲夏吉立: Established in midsummer, bingshen year of Wanli

Bingshen is the 33rd year of the 60 year cycle.

Wanli was the emperor between 1572 and 1620. 2016 is the next bingshen year, so during Wanli's rule 1596 was the bingshen year (2016 - 7x60). At this time Qi Jiguang was already dead (1588).

Does anyone know who Zhang Shizhong (张世忠) was?

[andarchen]

Originally Posted by Kim

Does anyone know who Zhang Shizhong (张世忠) was?

A guy nick name Xiaohu (小虎) had checked ancient book about general Zhangshizhong (张世忠) after finished his adventure GW in Heibei east .
Here is translation of second paragraph of his posting:

Two names of Zhangshizhong was written in "Yongpingfuzhi"(English: Records of Yongping county), one in Jiajing emperor should be excluded , another one in Wanli emperor should be right person.Only few words as "Zhongyi troop ,Guerrilla warfare " on him was written in book .Zhongyi troop should be part of Santun army .
Xiaohu's posting link :
http://www.thegreatwall.com.cn/phpbb...8349&forumid=1.


By the way , there were only two persons had responsed on topic of stone stairs built outside wall near Shenweilou in Chinese forum, and Xiaohu is the guy who was full support your comments ,another one is uncertain .

[PWCCA]

Wow, this tower looks fantastic. This may be a stupid question but are there many towers like this with the tiled roof still intact?