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| 城 chéng |
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| Explanation: city |
| 城市 city 县城 county town |
古文字中，“城”左边像城墙之形，右边是兵器，表示“守卫”之意。古代城墙根据建筑材料的不同，可分为土城、石城、砖城。一般来说土城多是古城。现在北京还保留了一段元代土城的遗址。“万里长城”就是长达万里的城墙。因为古代的“城镇”都有城墙围着，并有士兵防卫。因此，“城”在古代也可以指“城市”，这后来成了“城”的常用义。
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In ancient script, the left half of the character 城 resembles the shape of a city wall while the right half represents a weapon; thus the character 城 means 守卫 (safeguard; protect). Ancient city walls can be divided into earthen, stone, and brick city walls, according to the materials used in their construction. Generally speaking, most earthen city walls are more ancient. One section of a Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368 A.D.) earthen city wall is still preserved at a site in present-day Beijing. The Great Wall of China or 万里长城 (the ten thousand li Great Wall) is a protective wall which once spanned ten thousand li or approximately five thousand kilometers in length. Ancient cities and towns were all surrounded by city walls and defended by soldiers. Thus 城 was also used to indicate 城市 (city) in ancient times and later came to represent its most common meaning.
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