Changlemen, City gate in Beilin District, China.

Changlemen is a main entrance gate of the Xi'an City Wall featuring traditional Chinese defensive architecture and stone construction. The structure displays classic building techniques and functions as a fortified city access point with multiple entry passages.

Changlemen was built between 1374 and 1378, when the Ming Hongwu emperor's expansion of the Xi'an prefectural city added a new east gate. Its main tower, first raised in 1378, was damaged by the 1501 earthquake, rebuilt in 1526, burned by Li Zicheng's troops in 1643 and rebuilt in 1656 under governor Chen Jixin. The gatehouse was restored in 1994 to Ming and Qing forms.

The gate's name, Changle, means "lasting joy". Its lintel bears an inscription by Zhang Fengyi, Shaanxi's military governor, dated June 1912, the first year of the Republic. Outside the gate runs Dongguan Zhengjie and inside Dong Dajie, the roads that still carry the old east-west route through Xi'an.

Visitors need to register online with their real names in advance to access the gate and surrounding wall sections. Nearby visitor centers offer practical services such as bicycle rentals and storage facilities.

The gate's name plaque above the main passage was inscribed in June 1912 by Zhang Fengyi, then military governor of Shaanxi. The archer tower, first built in 1378, has been repaired and altered over successive dynasties but still stands. The gate's watchtower, built in 1636, was demolished in the early Republic when a bridge was laid across the moat.