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North China's Shanxi Province is well known for its historic earthen fortresses built to defend local dwellers against foreign attacks. This unique form of architecture is available throughout the countryside of the province, but most of them are poorly preserved today. Among them, the fortress encompassing the ancient town of Zhangbi Village is an exceptional example.
The fortress is an amazing feat of architecture and engineering. This earthen castle is surrounded by ravines in three sides and faces a mountain in one side. Situated 1,040 meters above sea level, it occupies an area of 0.12 square kilometers, with encompassing walls totaling 1,300 meters. Designers made smart use of landforms to hide the village in loess ravines. Visitors can hardly find the village and its defense works even if they are nearby.
This lesser known historical...