Anzhen Fort

Anzhen Fort was built during the reign of Emperor Guangxu in the late Qing Dynasty. At that time, banditry was rampant. The local gentry Chi Jia and his son built this earthen fort to resist bandits. It took fourteen years to complete. It is said that before building the fort, Chi Jia and his son went to Beijing many times to observe the architectural style of the imperial city. After returning, they learned from it and designed this Hakka enclosure personally. This fort faces east from west, with a square front and a semicircular back. It is built against the mountain and gradually rises. From a distance, it has distinct layers and extraordinary momentum. It is no exaggeration to call it a castle. The walls of Anzhen Fort are thick and deep. The outer walls are made of thick stones and rammed earth. There is an open-air training ground in front of the fort that can accommodate thousands of people. There are 5-meter-high corner towers on both sides of the front of the fort, and the inner walls are covered with 180 shooting holes and 90 viewing windows. The main gate has two layers of wooden doors and iron doors, and there are two water holes on the top to prevent fire attacks. The nearly perfect defense design made the building impregnable at the time. No wonder it has successfully resisted the siege of bandits many times in history. The main entrance of the fort is an arched gate made of huge stones, more than ten feet high, with three large characters "Anzhen Fort" on it, and couplets on both sides: "Be content with preparing for a rainy day, and be calm and peaceful in the wind of Zhenguan." The internal building is two-entry, symmetrical on both sides, rising gradually with the terrain. From a distance, the roofs are stacked in layers and staggered. The house is divided into upper and lower floors, each with an inner corridor, hall, bedroom, study, granary, kitchen, toilet, well and sewer, which can accommodate more than a thousand people. The fort is gorgeously decorated, with carvings, paintings, clay sculptures and murals everywhere. The stone steps in the castle are all odd in number, which is regarded as a yang number; the number of stairs and window lattices must be a multiple of "nine"; the front patio is large and the back patio is small, and the two together resemble the Chinese character "Chang", symbolizing "prosperity"; at the water outlet in the middle of the patio of the main building, there is a crab-shaped water filter ornament, which symbolizes the protection of the "wealth" of the house... There are many details in the castle that conform to the traditional layout, which is a little fun during the visit.