The 400-Year-Old Turtle Shaped Ancient City Yongtai Fortress

Yongtai Fortress is a village and turtle-shaped historical fortress town in Gansu, China.

Built in 1608 by the Ming dynasty rulers to defend against attacks from northern minorities, it stationed 2000 infantrymen and 500 cavalry units. The entire fort is enclosed by a rammed earth wall including defensive towers. Due to desertification, the village is now mostly abandoned, dropping from 1500 people in the 1950s to around 100 today.

The influence of the ancestors and grandsons of Yue Zhenbang, Yue Shenglong and Yue Zhongqi on the Turtle City has made Yongtai Turtle City famous. Movies and TV dramas such as Beautiful Big Feet and Snow Flakes Gone were filmed here.