Fishing town
Encyclopedia
Song Dynasty
The Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
. One of the most notable events was the death of Mongol leader Möngke Khan
Möngke Khan
Möngke Khan , born Möngke, , was the fourth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire from July 1, 1251 – August 11, 1259. He was the first Great Khan from the Toluid line, and made significant reforms to improve the administration of the Empire during his reign...
near the city, which forced the immediate withdrawal of Mongol troops from Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
and East Asia
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...
and prevented the Mongolian Empire from expanding towards Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
.
Although the Mongols and the Southern Song were united in their fight to bring down the Jurchen Jin Dynasty, their pact broke immediately afterwards, and the Mongols launched an aggressive war against the tenacious Southern Song that lasted for more than a third of the thirteenth century. In the period from 1243 to 1279, Fishing Town experienced more than two hundred military confrontations in a miracle of "persistent resistance" that endured for thirty-six years.
The ancient Fishing Town covers an area of 2.94 square kilometres. Situated on a hill surrounded by water on three sides, it is located about five kilometers east of Hechuan
Hechuan
Hechuan is a district in the northern part of Chongqing, China, located at the meeting point of the Jialing, Fu and Qu rivers, with a history of 1500 years...
, Chongqing
Chongqing
Chongqing is a major city in Southwest China and one of the five national central cities of China. Administratively, it is one of the PRC's four direct-controlled municipalities , and the only such municipality in inland China.The municipality was created on 14 March 1997, succeeding the...
, near the confluence of the Qu, Fu and Jialing
Jialing River
The Jialing River is a tributary of the Yangtze River with its source in Gansu province. It gets its name from its crossing the Jialing Vale in Feng County of Shaanxi. It was once known as Langshui or Yushui .-Overview:...
rivers. The terrain is precipitous yet beautiful. About seven hundred years ago, Yu Jian built a fortress here to resist the Mongols during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279).
Though numbering more than ten thousand and led by the Great Khan Möngke
Möngke Khan
Möngke Khan , born Möngke, , was the fourth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire from July 1, 1251 – August 11, 1259. He was the first Great Khan from the Toluid line, and made significant reforms to improve the administration of the Empire during his reign...
himself, the Mongols were unable to take the tiny fortress. Yu Jian won many brilliant victories, culminating in the deaths of Mongke and his vanguard General Wang Tege. According to some sources, Möngke might have been wounded by a cannon blast at Fishing Town and eventually died on August 11, 1259 (although according to some accounts he died of accident or illness while campaigning). As it contains many historical sites—a naval wharf, drilling grounds, watch towers, and a fortification with built-in cannons—Fishing Town has been designated a major national cultural and historic site by the State Council.