Tianyou Gate of Dongjing City

In June 1622, the Jurchen leader Nurhaci ordered the construction of a new capital on the east bank of the Taizi River. He abandoned the old Ming fortress of Liaoyang, finding it too damaged and difficult to defend against local rebellions. The new city, Dongjing, rose quickly as a diamond-shaped stronghold covering three-quarters of a square kilometer.

To meet the tight deadline, builders worked with frantic speed. They rammed earth to form walls eleven and a half meters high, stuffing the core with recycled materials. Laborers threw in rough-textured millstones, broken steles, and crushed rocks, leaving a physical record of their haste. They faced the exterior with cool, grey-blue bricks. On the southwestern side of the southern wall, they erected Tianyou Gate. Directly aligned with this entrance, on an elevated mound four hundred meters north, stood the Octagonal Hall where Nurhaci ruled.

With the sharp ring of chisels, stone carvers shaped a rectangular lintel for the gate, cutting bilingual inscriptions into the stone. On one side, they carved old Manchu script; on the other, Chinese characters declared the gate's completion in the auspicious Renxu year of the Tianming era.

This grand capital lasted only a brief moment. In March 1625, Nurhaci abruptly decided to move his capital to Shenyang. Over four days, a massive migration departed through Tianyou Gate. To build the new palaces in Shenyang, workers dismantled Dongjing's walls, administrative offices, and seven other gates. They loaded the bricks onto creaking wooden carts, leaving Dongjing in ruins.

Only the sturdy brick-arch base of Tianyou Gate survived this systematic dismantling. For centuries, it stood alone amidst crumbling earth. In 1997, workers rebuilt the flanking brick walls and added a two-story wooden gate tower over the original archway. Today, the original bilingual stone lintel rests in the Liaoyang Museum, while the restored gate stands in a quiet public park. Visitors can touch the cold stone of the ancient brick vault, feeling the physical remnants of an empire's rapid rise and sudden flight.