Shuangfeng Zhai, Historical fortress in Renhua County, China.
Shuangfeng Zhai is a rectangular fortified compound of lime and grey brick covering 4,164 square metres in Shitang village, Shitang town, Renhua County, Guangdong. It has one main tower and four gun towers linked by 9-metre-high, 1.2-metre-thick walls, and is surrounded by a 13-metre-wide moat 1.5 metres deep.
Shitang village notable Li Zisheng raised 30,000 silver yuan to build the fortress against bandit raids; work began in 1899, the 25th year of the Guangxu reign, and took twelve years. It collapsed before 1949 and was rebuilt after the People's Republic was founded. During the Great Revolution the Shitang township peasant association, led by the Communist Party, worked inside, and from 1927 held out there for nine months against right-wing Kuomintang repression.
The name Shuangfeng Zhai comes from the horizontal plaque above the main gate reading "Shuangfeng Baozhang" (Double Peak Protection), not from two mountain peaks. The fortress was originally called Shitang Zhai. During the Great Revolution, the Shitang Township Peasant Association, led by the Chinese Communist Party, used the fortress as its office.
Shuangfeng Zhai stands in Shitang village, Shitang town, about 19 km west of Renhua county seat in Guangdong. The rectangular compound covers 4,164 sq m, with a moat 13 m wide and 1.5 m deep around it; the walls linking the main tower and four gun towers are 9 m high and 1.2 m thick. Visitors walk the grounds and the moat edge rather than climb hills.
The name comes not from peaks but from the horizontal plaque above the main gate reading "Shuangfeng Baozhang" (Double Peak Protection); the fortress was originally called Shitang Zhai. Its moat is 13 m wide and 1.5 m deep, and the walls linking the main tower to the four gun towers stand 9 m high and 1.2 m thick.
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