A critique of Samuel Hawley's The Imjin War: Japan's Sixteenth-Century Invasion of Korea and Attempt to Conquer China — Part 2: The second invasion

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A critique of Samuel Hawley's The Imjin War: Japan's Sixteenth-Century Invasion of Korea and Attempt to Conquer China — Part 1: The first invasion

Recently, Samuel Hawley's book titled 'The Imjin War: Japan's Sixteenth-Century Invasion of Korea and Attempt to Conquer China' was translated and published in China, which marked for the first time China's readers can learn about Imjin War from a western perspective. I was only made aware of this fact after a friend of mine (who would like to remain anonymous) informed me and requested my help to translate a book review/critique of this book from China. So, with permission from the critic, here is the part one of the translated article.

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Chinese fortification: an overview of parts and terminology — Part 2: Gate and moat

UPDATED JUNE 10, 2024

2. The gate

The second part of this series will provide an overview on various components of Chinese gate, as well as their names. As before, italicised names are likely modern terminology.

2.1 Cheng Men (城門, lit. 'Wall gate')

As with all fortifications around the world, the gate is the most vulnerable—and often the most heavily fortified—part of a Chinese city. The Chinese term Cheng Men can refer to both the gate door itself, as well as the gatehouse securing the entrance. For clarity's sake I will separate gatehouse, gateway tunnel, and gate doors into three sections.

Gatehouse

Zhonghua Gatehouse of the city wall of Nanjing.

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