The Taipei City Walls were established in 1884. In 1875 the Qing Dynasty established the Taihoku Prefecture. Shortly thereafter, the Taihoku Prefect Chen Xing-ju ordered the foundation of a new prefectural capital, with enclosing wall in 1879.[1] However the soil proved too soft to support so heavy a structure, and the project was halted. Subsequently, governor of Fujian Cen Yu-ying and Taiwan magistrate Liu Ao undertook successive surveys to determine the proper location of the wall's foundations. Craftsmen were recruited for the construction in 1842, and the wall was completed in 1884. Nearly five kilometers in length, it could be accessed by five gates. Jieng Fu Gate to the East; Bao Cheng Gate to the West; Li Zheng Gate to the South; Cheng En Gate to the North; and an auxiliary southern entrance known as Chueng Xi Gate. The North Gate Auxiliary South Gate, and the buttresses of the East Gate were of particularly exquisite design. In the first years of the Japanese colonial rule, the city's walls and the West Gate were destroyed as part of the cities restructuring plan.[2] After Taiwan's retrocession in 1945, the East, South, and Auxiliary South Gates were rebuilt, but the original appearances were not maintained. The North Gate alone retains its original appearance. Its design is a 2-story closed blockhouse of solid construction with traditional Chinese wooden roof truss and streamlined carved ornamentations.[3]