NANCHANG, April 9 (Xinhuanet) -- An ancient city wall dating to the Song Dynasty (960-1279) has been listed for preservation by the municipal government of Ganzhou, east China's Jiangxi Province.

    Han Zhenfei, curator of the Ganzhou Museum, said the wall measures 3,664 meters long, with intact moat, battlements, tower and cannon buttress. Tens of thousands of wall bricks were inscribed with 521 types of messages and articles.

    Ganzhou had spent around 20 million yuan (about 2.4 million US dollars) in restoring the original look of the city wall and beautifying the surrounding environment, said Han.

    Under the support of the central and provincial governments, Guanzhou allocated over eight million yuan (about 967,352 US dollars) to launch repair and reinforcing work to the city wall.

    The municipal government had established a green belt along theeastern part of the city wall and invested over four million yuan (about 483,676 US dollars) in pulling down irrelevant buildings aside the wall and resettling the residents.

    Besides, the municipal government had checked the construction of the International Shopping Center, which was merely several meters away from the wall.

    The brick city wall was enlisted state-level cultural relic in 1996. Archaeologists said that it would be of great value for the studies of city construction and development in ancient China. Enditem