Brief story about the Great East Gate
In 1725, the Qing government started the construction of Tainan's walls and city gates, which were made of wood; in 1736, all the wooden gates were replaced by brick-and-stone ones; in 1788, the gate was expanded into a two-story structure.
In Japanese colonized era, most of the walls and some of the other gates were torn down due to the enforcement of urban planning, and the Great East Gate became part of a roundabout; after WWII, the land around the gate was occupied by illegal buildings, and there's once a traditional market nearby. In 1955, the gate collapsed due to a typhoon, only its stone foundation remained. It was later rebuilt in 1970s as what it previously looked like, and the gate was assigned third class historical site in 1985.
雍正三年(西元1725年)，朱一貴事件後，台灣府建城，大東門是當時最先建造的城門，為木造柵門；乾隆元年(西元1736年)，平定朱一貴前手下吳福生的叛亂後，改建為磚石城門；乾隆53年(西元1788年)，林爽文事件後，大東門改建為兩層建築。在日治時期，因施行市區改正計畫，大部分的城牆被拆除，東門城被規畫為圓環而得以保存。二戰後東門城周邊被違建佔用，一度變成菜市場，1955年東門城因颱風倒塌，僅存基座，重建後於1985年公告為三級古蹟。
A poem about the gate
In early 1930s, Lien-Heng the poet and historian returned to his hometown, Tainan; he went up the Great East Gate and wrote the following poem：
約在1930年代初，文人連橫回到台南，登上城門後留下了下面這首詩：
迎春門遠眺──臺南府城已毀，惟迎春、寧南1兩門尚存
迎春樓上對春風，北衛南屏2一望中。
拂水兩行垂柳綠，燒空萬朵刺桐紅。
彌陀寺古歸遼鶴，羅漢門高斷塞鴻。
省識興亡彈指事，遺民猶說草雞3雄。
- 迎春門、寧南門分別為大東門、大南門
- 北衛、南屏分別指後來擴建的艮方、巽方砲台，艮方砲台現已消失、巽方砲台遺址則位於光華街修禪院內
- 草雞指鄭成功，其中草代表草字頭、雞在十二地支中對應到「酉」，加起來就像「鄭」字左邊。
(sorry, I have no idea what its english version could be)
What do you think about the poem?
Where is the gate on the map?
Down below is part of the map titled "Plan de la ville de T'aï-ouan-fou", drawn in 1874 by students of Fouzhou naval college, they came to Taiwan with French officer MM. P. Giquel, who assisted the imperial commisioner Shen-Bao-Zhen (沈葆楨) in fortifying Taiwan after Mu-dan-she incident (牡丹社事件).
Do you see the Great East Gate and the two artillery battery? Zoom in and see if there are some other familiar locations on the map!
下圖是1874年法國軍官日意格率領福州船政學堂學生所繪的府城地圖一隅，在圖中有沒有發現東門城或是其他的地標呢?
