Wanping Fortress

A small walled garrison town in the southwestern outskirts, guarding the eastern end of a historic stone bridge over a river. Built in the seventeenth century to protect the approach to the capital, its rectangular brick ramparts and gate towers survive largely intact. The fortress gained lasting significance as the site where fighting in 1937 marked the opening of full-scale war, and shell scars are still pointed out on its walls. Within stand a museum commemorating that conflict and the celebrated lion-lined marble bridge.