The steep and magnificent “Oriental Mecca” --- Diaoyu Fortress  

In the city of west China - Chongqing stood a “miracle town”, which had once changed the whole history of the world, named Diaoyu Fortress.

Like many historic sites in China, the interesting name of “Diaoyu Fortress” was derived from an ancient legend: a long time ago, a number of flood victims ran towards the mountains to escape from the flood. Just when they were starving, a Titan came down from the heaven, sat on a boulder and went fishing to feed the victims. Hence, people named the mountains --- the Diaoyu Mountains to commemorate the Titan. And the town built along the mountains was named Diaoyu Fortress.

Diaoyu Fortress is located on the top of the Diaoyu Mountains, in the east peninsula of Hechuan District, Chongqing. Three rivers (the Jialing River, the Fu River and the Qu River) converge in Hechuan, forming a natural military advantage for Diaoyu Fortress --- easy to defend, but hard to attack. Standing in Diaoyu Fortress and viewing the three rivers converging into one, you can see that you are surrounded by rivers from three sides and steep cliff on one side, you will clearly understand the reason why the place was of vital military importance.

History is the best evidence. The Diaoyu Fortress Battle, famous in the world for the smaller, weaker army overtaking the larger and stronger army, took place here.

In 1235, the war between the Song Dynasty and Mongolia broke out in full scale. It was the longest, most labor-intensive and most difficult war for Mongolia, a force that rose from the 13^th century. The Diaoyu Fortress Battle was one of the most influential battles during this war.

In 1257, Mongke Khan, who had been the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire for seven years, advanced his army, which had conquered Europe, Asia, and Africa on the west side, to launch a large-scale war against the Song Dynasty. Mongke Khan led the principal force of his army to attack Sichuan.

In February 1259, Mongke and his army came in front of the border of Diaoyu Fortress. Having achieved victories in all his battles, Mongke would never image that he had no chance to conquer Diaoyu Fortress, a small city of 2.5 square kilometers. In July of the same year, Mongke was attacked by a bombard and died soon after. 

Mongke Khan’s failure and death had brought about huge influences. American historian Leften Stavros Stavrianos pointed out in the "Global History" that: “After (Hulagu) conquering Allerton and Damascus in the same way, it seems that no force can stop the Mongols to attack Egypt and North Africa, so as to complete the conquest throughout the Muslim world ...... Mongke Khan’s death brought disruption of the united Mongolian ruling circles...... The failure of this army (Mongke’s army) saved the Islamic world, marking the beginning of the decline of the Mongol Empire.”

Mongke’s death first claimed the complete collapse of the Mongol Empire’s plan of destroying the Song Dynasty, prolonging the life of the Song Dynasty to 20 years longer. Secondly, the Mongolian army's third-time west expedition was suspended because of this, alleviating the threat to Europe, Asia, Africa and other regions. Thirdly, Mongke’s death provided an opportunity for Kublai, the younger brother of Mongke to ascend to the throne, who played not just a very important role in the history of China, but in the history of the world. 

The army and the people in Diaoyu Fortress stilll persisted to fight for many years after Mongke’s death. Until 1279 (at this time the Yuan Dynasty had been established for 8 years by Kublai Khan), the defender general of Diaoyu Fortress, Wang Li surrendered to the Yuan Dynasty on condition that no people in Diaoyu Fortress would be hurt. In the Mongolian invading process, all the resistant cities got massacred except Diaoyu Fortress, which had protected its people after 36 years of incessant warfare.   

 During the 36 years from 1243 to 1279, the army and the people of Diaoyu Fortress fought over 200 combats against the Mongolian army and the Yuan Dynasty army.

The Diaoyu Fortress Battle was a defending miracle (36 years of defending) in the ancient and modern world war history. It claimed Mongke’s death and forced the Mongol Empire to withdraw from the Eurasian battlefield. Hence, the whole world highly praised this town for its contributions, such as prolonging the life of the Song Dynasty, alleviating the wars in Europe and Asian, and preventing the Mongolian expansion into Africa. The Europeans called the Mongolian army the "Scourge of God", and they named Diaoyu Fortress to be “God’s Folding Scourge Place” or the “Oriental Mecca.”

As a typical representative of the mountain city fortress defense system, Diaoyu Fortress fully demonstrated its defensive role in the cold weapon era. Nowadays, there is a sandbox model of the ancient Diaoyu Fortress battlefield exhibiting in the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution, highlighting its important position in the history of the Chinese ancient wars.

Today, Diaoyu Fortress has become a world-famous tourist attraction. As one of the best preserved Chinese ancient battlefield sites, tourists can feel its “magnificent, rare, steep, beautiful, defensive, ancient and tranquil” features. It is the only scenic spot in Chongqing, honored with both the National Park of China and the National Key Cultural Unit.

The surrounding mountains have beautiful natural scenery, such as lush vegetation, ancient stone roads, three standing mountains, crisscrossed paths, scattered ponds and dotted villages, making people relaxed and happy.

In the 2.5-square-kilometer main scenic spot, tourists can see the military and living facilities relics of the Song and the Yuan dynasties, such as the city wall, gates, forts, navy pier, arms workshops, marshal mansion, barracks, Tianchi Pond and Naodingping Stage, as well as the religion sites including the Huguo Temple, the Zhongyi Hall, the Impending Reclining Buddha in the Tang Dynasty, the Buddha Caves and the Three Sacred Crags. The natural wonders including the 800-year-old laurel, the Thin Knife Ridge, the Three Turtles Stone and the Misty Rain of Diaoyu Fortress can also be seen. 

Over the years, the local government consistently carried on the "double protection" policy regarding the natural ecology and cultural relics of Diaoyu Fortress, maintaining its “authentic” style through many vicissitudes. Today, Diaoyu Fortress has been ranked the World Cultural Heritage Tentative List, and the local government is supporting its application for the World Cultural Heritage.

The clatter of hooves has disappeared, but the sound of waves never stops. More and more people come from all over the world, climbing Diaoyu Fortress, overlooking the three rivers, and quietly listening to the miracle story of this town.

The scenic spots of Diaoyu Fortress 

Huguo Gate

Huguo Gate is the most magnificent gate in the eight town gates in Diaoyu Fortress. The leaning cliffs on the left and the deep Jianling River on the right make Huguo Gate an important strategic position. If one man guards here, even ten thousand soldiers can not get through. There are several characters on the gate, reading “Huguo Gate” and “the most crucial place in Sichuan.”

Ancient barracks

Ancient barracks are the place where the defense soldiers lived. Roads extending to all directions lead to the barracks, so that the troop can take a quick action and attack in any kinds of military emergency. The ancient barracks were burned during the war, but some barracks were rebuilt on the historic site many years later. 

Huguo Temple

Huguo Temple was built during the Shaoxing years of the Southern Song Dynasty, destroyed by warfare in the Yuan Dynasty, reconstructed in the Ming Dynasty, and repaired by Monk Zhihui, the abbot of the temple in the Qing Dynasty. There is a stone-carved couplet on the gate of the temple, reading: Diaoyu Fortress, exploring the mountains with the help of the three rivers; Huguo Temple, controlling the rivers with the aid of the flying clouds.

Zhongyi Hall

Zhongyu Hall, built in the period of the Ming and the Qing dynasties, is the crucial ancient construction group in Diaoyu Fortress. The hall covers an area of over 4,000 square meters, and the construction area is over 2,000 square meters. The immortality memorial tablets of the military generals of the defensive army are displayed in the hall.

Shizhao County Government

Hezhou Shizhao County Government is an ancient local government, called the “last county government of the Southern Song Dynasty”. Its duties mainly include building the city facility, cultivating, storing grain, handling civil affairs.

Impending Reclining Buddha

The Impending Reclining Buddha was carved out of an impending rock in the late Tang Dynasty. The 11-meter-long and 2.2-meter-wide reclining Buddha was carved with a pleased and natural face expression. It is the unique impending sculpture in China.