The Guangzhou Daily reported Monday that a well-protected Chinese Ming Dynasty castle has been discovered recently in Nanxiong, south China's Guangdong Province.

Located in the wild mountains in Nanxiong, Shaoguan city, in the north of Guangdong Province, the ancient castle dates back almost 630 years ago to 1377 A.D. of the Ming Dynasty, when people living in central China fled wars, moving to the south, building their haven.

The ancient castle is built of black bricks on granite footstones, looking to the south and occupying over 10,000 square meters, with over 600 rooms.

The castle is a nuttily defensive building with 9-meter high and 70 to 170-centimeter thick walls, with shooting holes every three meters. There are still many traps in the city.

There are two gates to each castle passageway, a 6-centimeter thick steel gate and a 10-centimeter thick wooden gate.

The castle has the name of Huangwucheng, which implies that all owners living there are surnamed Huang. So far there are only ten families living in the ancient castle.

(CRI.cn August 13, 2007)