Section 3 Beacons in Inland and Coastal Areas

When government power was unified beacon communication was generally set up at borders and roads toward places where administration and military officials were. But in situations that under feudal separatist rules, multiple regimes coexisted, such as "The Three Kingdoms" "Western Jin and Eastern Jin" "Southern and Northern Dynasties" and "Southern Song", beacon towers were set up along inland major rivers and borders. The Wu of "The Three kingdoms" set up "Guanhou" at borders. "Chihou" was sent when fighting a bottle. "Fenghou" was set up along the river at the border with the Wei. In "South-North Dynasty" period, beacon communication was also popular. Similar to the Wu and Eastern Jin, Southern Dynasties also used beacon. Beacon in Northern Dynasties carried on that of earlier dynasties. By Song Dynasty, beacon became more flourishing. It was called "eyes and ears of the military" and combined with other communication methods such as couriers and post delivery.

Beacon appeared later in coastal areas. In Song Dynasty, to prevent from the disturbance of pirates, 36 Beacon towers were set up at places of higher level and were convenient for communication in Wenzhou area. Once enemy appeared, smokes, gongs and flags were used at daytime and fires and gongs were used at night to deliver the message. Flags, gongs, fire woods excrements of sheep, torches and firewood containers were equipped in each beacon tower to replace wolf smoke.

Since the last years of the Yuan, there were many pirates on coastal areas. At the beginning of the Ming, defense and beacon tower were set up along coastal areas. During the reign of Emperor Jiaqing, the disturbances of pirates reached its summit, so beacon towers were added. During the reign of Emperor Hongwu of Ming Dynasty, administrator of Wenzhou often instructed to provide beacon towers with weapons, horses, soldiers and stocks of firewood. It was required to carefully observe the situation, if there appeared pirate ships, beacons would be lit to give alarm signals. 10 inspection offices were set up along the coastal area, under which there were 93 beacon towers. On the 12th years of Emperor Hongwu, 83 beacon towers were added. During the reign of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty, to defend Zheng Chenggong's expansion toward north, beacon towers were also set up along the coast in Zhenan, which were scattered in all directions and corresponded to each other. UP to now, there are many beacon tower relics in Zhenan area. Furthermore, Yantai at Jiaodong peninsula of Shandong province is the relic of beacon tower of Ming Dynasty, and it is the origin of the name "Yantai". In Shunzhi period of Qing Dynasty, beacon towers at coastal areas were mostly abandoned. Later, beacon towers at border areas were also scarcely used.

By the last years of the Qing, beacon communication finished because by then the menace Chinese nationalities faced was the invasion of capitalistic imperialistic countries. Meanwhile by late Qing, telegraph communication was getting popularly used, which was firstly used in military communication. Beacon communication was interior by comparison with telegraph. Therefore, beacon communication system which had lasted for over 2,000 years and was mainly used in military defense had finished its historical errand. However, ancient beacon communication played an important role in consolidating border defense, assuring national safety. It becomes the symbol of Chinese ancient cultures.