(Photo provided to Xinhua Daily)

About 20,000 bricks from the city walls of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) were newly discovered in Qixia District of Nanjing City, as announced by the Nanjing City Wall Protection and Management Center on April 28.

Dong Yueming, a volunteer with the city wall protection program, played a critical role in finding these bricks, which are now being transported to a warehouse for storage and preservation.

Dong said that these bricks were originally used for a wall at a porcelain insulator factory in Nanjing. The wall, which spans about 300 meters in length and 4 meters in height, features bricks measuring approximately 40 cm long, 20 cm wide and 10 cm thick.

Many of these bricks have discernable inscriptions, providing information about their origins, craftsmen, and kiln operators. For example, one brick was found to have originated from an area in today’s Xinchang Town, Yifeng County of Jiangxi Province. These wall bricks will be used for research, repair and protection of the existing city walls, as well as exhibition.

Over the years, a large number of bricks have been removed from the city walls due to natural and historical reasons. In November 2016, the center launched a protection program to gather information on their whereabouts. To date, the initiative has successfully recovered over 500,000 bricks, raising public awareness of the cultural heritage.