Remains of Small East Gate

The Small East Gate once standing in the east of Tainan City, safeguarding its residents. The remains have not been restored yet and there are trees running across it. Investigation by the National Cheng Kung University's Department of Engineering indicates that the remains of Wengcheng Fort may exist underground. The Small West Gate was moved here from the urban area in 1970, which makes the view rather interesting.

Sections of the Small East Gate are located between the Dadongmen (Great East Gate) and the Dabeimen (Great North Gate). The city wall was made of wood in 1735. It was in 1775 that the magistrate built another city wall with wood outside the original wooden gate and added the south gate there. In 1788, the magistrate changed the walls in the east, south and north gates into clay walls. At that time, the east gate section had already changed into a clay structure.

In 1862 and 1874, the clay wall was seriously damaged in an earthquake. Fortunately, the authorities and local businessmen raised funds to repair the wall. After Taiwan was ceded to Japan in 1895, the city wall was demolished for urban development. In 1915, the east gate and its walls were demolished, except a section of about 200 meters still survives. About 65 meters of the surviving city wall is covered with thick trees. In 1988, the southern section of the wall was also demolished when the National Cheng Kung University built its curtain wall.