At end of the 16th century, a government official of the Zhang family, Zhang Wudian (张五典) had witness the famine in nearby Henan and Shandong province and foresaw upcoming turmoil for southern Shanxi. He thus decided to build a castle to protect the Zhang clans and their wives of the Dou family. Since the mid-Ming dynasty, Douzhuang castles was therefore nicknamed the ‘town of the ‘wives of officials’ (夫人城).
Looking for the lost walls
Master Gu became an improvised tour guide and I followed him into Douzhuang.Hearing-impaired, he carried a chalk. From time to time, I was writing my questions to him on the brick walls. He knew the history behind every courtyard, which family lived there and how everything changed. At some point we stopped in front of a gate that also acted as a watchtower near which laid a pile of bricks.
With the famine that ravaged Henan and Shandong province during the Ming dynasty, popular revolts ensued. They spread to the fertile land of Shaanxi. and Douzhuang castle withstood three attacks of peasant armies.
