Yanping Ancient Fortress in Xiamen

Xiamen City, Fujian Province.

    The Yanping Fortress is located northeast of Jimei Swimming Pool, under the ancient banyan tree in front of Yanping Tower. Because Zheng Chenggong was once conferred the title of "King of Yanping" by the Ming Dynasty emperor. In 1660 (the 17th year of the Shunzhi reign of the Qing Dynasty), when Zheng Chenggong's general Liu Guoxuan defended Jimei, he built a fortress gate, which was a military defense along the sea. Later generations called it "Guoxing Fortress", "Xunwei Fortress", and "Jimei Fortress". To this day, there is still a rusty and mottled ancient cannon preserved on the left side of the fortress gate. In order to commemorate and showcase the patriotic spirit of national hero Zheng Chenggong, Mr. Chen Jiageng chose the "Guoxingzhai" site as the site of Jimei Elementary School in May 1919. In 1922, a three story building was built and named Yanping Tower. The four characters "Yanping Old Fortress" were engraved on a giant stone next to the gate of the stone fortress. During the Anti Japanese War, Yanping Tower was destroyed by Japanese artillery fire. In 1953, Mr. Chen Jiageng rebuilt Yanping Tower, a four story building with ethnic style. And taking advantage of the terrain, the hill slopes were used to build three layers of granite with 24 steps, serving as the grandstand for the seaside swimming pool, which was named "Yanping Pool".