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| KHLONG PRATU JIN (คลองประตูจีน) |
| Text & maps by Tricky Vandenberg - May 2012 |
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| Khlong Pratu Jin or the Canal of the Chinese Gate is part of a waterway running through the middle of Ayutthaya from north to south. The canal ran from the Chikun Bridge to the Chinese water gate (Pratu Jin) one of the eleven water gates a that time; and was an extension of Khlong Pratu Khao Pluak. The canal was in fact a shortcut (khlong lat) through the oxbow of the Lopburi River and connected the old Lopburi River, present Khlong Mueang in the north with - what is today - the Chao Phraya River in the south. The north-south canal was filled in last century and is at present inexistent, with the exception of a small stretch of water between Wat Tha Sai and Wat Racha Praditsathan near Pratu Khao Pluak. The canal, starting from Saphan Chikun, was crossed by two bridges, being Saphan Khun Mueang Jai and Saphan Talat Jin. Khlong Pratu Jin is mentioned in the Royal Chronicles of Ayutthaya as being a battle front line in 1733 (See Khlong Pratu Khao Pluak). On the east bank of Khlong Pratu Jin were Wat Khun Mueang Jai and Wat Tha Jin, while on the west bank stood Wat Chatthan and Wat Mae Nang Muk. |
| (Detail of Phraya Boran Rachathanin's map drafted in 1926) |
| (Pratu Jin canal on Bellin's map - 1750) |
| (Pratu Jin canal on Kaempfer's map - 1690) |
| (The Chinese Gate on Vingboon's map) |