page_title: Coastal defence and fortification
section_title: China
hierarchical_section_title: Coastal defence and fortification / Coastal defence and fortification by country / China
caption_attribution_description: English: View of the gun platform of the restored fort.
context_page_description: Coastal defence and coastal fortification are measures taken to provide protection against military attack at or near a coastline, for example, fortifications and coastal artillery. Because an invading enemy normally requires a port or harbour to sustain operations, such defences are usually concentrated around such facilities, or places where such facilities could be constructed. Coastal artillery fortifications generally followed the development of land fortifications, usually incorporating land defences; sometimes separate land defence forts were built to protect coastal forts. Through the middle 19th century, coastal forts could be bastion forts, star forts, polygonal forts, or sea forts, the first three types often with detached gun batteries called "water batteries". Coastal defence weapons throughout history were heavy naval guns or weapons based on them, often supplemented by lighter weapons. In the late 19th century separate batteries of coastal artillery replaced forts in some countries; in some areas these became widely separated geographically through the mid-20th century as weapon ranges increased.
context_section_description: China first established formal coastal defences during the early Ming dynasty (14th century) to protect against attacks by pirates (wokou). Coastal defences were maintained through both the Ming dynasty and the Qing dynasty that followed, protecting the coast against pirates, and against the Portuguese and other European powers that sought to impose their will on China.
  Subsequently, the European powers built their own coastal defences to protect the various colonial enclaves that they established along the Chinese coast. One such, a fort built by the British commanding the Lei Yue Mun channel between Hong Kong Island and the mainland, has been converted into the Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence. This tells the story of coastal defence along the South China coast from the Ming dynasty onwards.
caption: View looking north from the gun platform. Taku Forts Museum, China.
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