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Chengmen Stockade, or the also called Chengmenzhai 城门寨 in Chinese, is one of the major attractions in the 48-Stockade Scenic Area. Standing at the junction of Laopeng,Sanwang,and Lianghekou Village, the Chengmen Stockade is a mountain, 845 meters above sea level.
 

What to see?

The Ancient City Wall built on the mountain

Chengmen, " 城门 chéng mên“means " City Gate" in English. The Chengmen Stockade  is famous for the ancient castle which was constructed on the top of the mountain in ancient times.  The mountain is surrounded by deep cliff on the south,and the man-made stone walls on the other three sides. Nobody can reach the top of the mountain without lift. The stone wall has a height from 3 to 30 meters. It was recorded that the castle was constructed by Gneral Lei Man  in 880 AD , in the Guangming 1st year of the Emperor Tang Xizong, during the Tang Dynasty ( 608-906 AD).

Chengtuo Stockade
Located at the foot of Chengmen Stockade, the “Chengtuo Stockade” is hidden by its stockade rock and has never been discovered until 2009. Piled up by five huge round red sandstones, Chengtuo Stockade is shaped by a dustpan-sized rock at its top, looking like a sliding weight of a steelyard. It reaches a height of over 20 meters and is as smooth as a mirror. It is said the stockade’s name “Chengtuo” (chèng tuó in Chinese means sliding weight of a steelyard) is originated from the rock’s shape.

Geologically, Chengmen and Chengtuo Stockades were shaped by running water and weathering on the basis of folds and breakage incurred by the eastward movement of Hunan and Guangxi after the Ordovician.

Legends of  Chengmen Stockade
The local legend says that Li Zicheng (1606-1645), the famous leader of peasant up-rising in the late of the Ming Dynasty(1368-1644), ordered to bury the treasures in various cellars when he was chased by the army of the Qing Dynasty(1645-1911), He also entrusted his son to a family surnamed Jiang and gave the treasure map to them. The Jiang family’s descendant Jiang Guangye, one of the richest men in China during the late Ming Dyasty(368-1644) and the Qing Dynasty(1645-1911), discovered the Chengmen Stockade, 10 kilometers away from his house when he was planning to build a summer resort. During the work at his summer resort in Chengmen Stockade, Jiang Guangye foundded Chengtuo Stockade, but left the project unfinished because of his failure to get on well with the villagers.