TouchBeijing.com

Beijing was built on a single central line going north and south, as called the axis, which goes from the Yongdingmen at south to the Bell Tower in the north, totally about 8 kilometers long. The whole city was quite balanced according to this line.

I try to explore this axis on a bright autume day, hope though these photos and my brief introduction, you (maybe you are living in Beijing or not) could have some general idea about this central line.

This is Yongdingmen (Gate of Ever Peace), rebuilt in 2003. It was the front gate of the old Beijing City. We start the exploration from here.

This is from the back side of the Yongdingmen, the meddle of this road is the central line of the city, so this picture is directly facing to the south.

Looking to the north, the far end is the Qianmen (Front Gate), the used to be front gate of the inner city. I am now at the outer city, there is still a long way to go.

Here is Tianqiao, where was the slum at the old times.

A china store near Tianqiao.

At the cross of Zhushikou, here there were many jewelry shops. From here we can see the Qianmen,at the not too far end of the street.

Cross the street, turn left, here is called Dashilan, always busy, shops, restaurants, and sure lots of people.

Going to the end of Dashilan street, we can see the Qianmen (nearer) and Zhengyangmen.

Here is Qianmen, the front gate to the inner city of old Beijing. Those little windows on the building were for shooting arrows.

I am passing through the gate.

Here is the main gate, Zhengyangmen Gate. This two-gate system played an important role in repulsing enemy attacks. If the fist gate was breached, the enemy would find themselves outside the city wall and would be fired upon from the tower over the inner gate. Both of these two gate were built in 1420 in the early Ming and renovated in 1977.

Looking to the right, there is the old Beijing Railway Station. Now it is used as a complex of shopping and restaurants, like McDonald???s.

South gate of Chairman Mao???s Memorial Hall. It was first built on Nov. 24th, 1976 and opened to the public on Sep. 9th, 1977 to mark the anniversary of Chairman Mao???s passing away. On the eastern and western side of the building are the memorial rooms for Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Deng Xiaoping and Chen Yun.

The Monument to the People???s Heroes. It was built in accordance with the resolution of the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People???s Political Consultative Conference adopted on Sep. 30th, 1949. The 37.94-meter-high monument was designed by Mr. Liang Sicheng and was started to build on Aug. 1st, 1952. It was completed in Apr., 1958. It is made of 17,000 pieces of granite and marble slabs. On the front of the monument is an inscription in Chairman Mao’s handwriting, Eternal glory to the people’s heroes !

The Great Hall of the People. This building was built in Oct., 1958, and was completed before the Oct.1, 1959. It was one of the ten major projects in the decade 1949-1959. It has a total floor space of 171,800 square meters.

The museum of Chinese History and the Museum of Chinese Revolution. These two museums were built in Nov., 1958 and finished in Aug., 1959. The History Museum displays a history from 1.7 million years ago to the year of 1919, while the Revolution Museum covers the time from 1919 to 1949, the year of the founding of New China.

The flag pole is made of seamless steel tubes. The pole has four joints, weighing 7 tons and as high as 32.6 meters. The material used was treated by a special process, which would allow it to last for more than 20 years. Since May 1st, 1991, the daily ceremony of national flag raising and lowering has been practised. The time for this ceremony is in accordance with the sunrise and the sunset. The national anthem is played by the military band during the holidays and a tape recording is played for ordinary day ceremonies.

Tian’anmen (Gate of Heavenly Peace) is the entrance of the royal city, but not the Forbidden City. Lots of people mixed them, so going through, you don’t need to pay anything.

Duanmen Gate is another passage way to the Forbidden City.

Meridian Gate. In the emperor’s times, this was also a place where grand ceremonies of accepting prisoners of war and annoucements of the new calender took place. In the Ming Dynasty, this was also a place where the emperor punished high officials with sticks. There are three openings in the middle of Meridian Gate and two side ones at the left and right side.

Here is the one of the corners of the Forbidden City.

There are Corner Towers at the four corners of the Fobidden City

Eastern gate, also called Donghuamen. Along this road, you will get to the Wangfujing shopping street, the main shopping street of Beijing.

The moat around the Forbidden City is connected with the moat of the city, which is going back from the lake at the Summer Palace, and going to the Great Canal east of Beijing.

Just behind the Forbidden City, there is the Jingshan Park, or somebody also calls it as ???Coal Hill???. Here was the royal garden. According Chinese Fenshui theory, the hill is protecting the Forbidden City. There is a big budha In the temple on top of the hill, sorry, it is forbidden to take picture inside the temple.

On top of the Jingshan hill, there is no other better place to over look the Forbidden City.

A bird view of the Beihai Park.

The central line going through the Jingshan Park. At the end, there are two major buildings ahead, they are: the Drum Tower (for evening timing) and the Bell Tower (for morning timing)

You may also take a picture like this.

Well, here is the place where the last of Emperor of Ming, hanged himself.

Local people excercise in Jingshan Park.

Drum Tower, where every evening, the drums would be beaten to annouce the end of an official day. Business had to be closed, and people had to stay at home.

Want to climb up it ? there 75 steps waiting for you.

Drums displayed in the Drum Tower, if you want to beat the drums, you can, but you have to pay some money to do so.

An bird look of the axis, on top of the hill by the far end of the picture, is the temple of Jingshan, where I just took a picture towards this building.

If we say the Jingshan is the best place to overlook the Forbidden City, then here should be the best place to overlook local houses, you can compare the difference between these old houses with those new building at the far end.

Bell Tower, if you have good eyesight, you can take a look of the giant bell, and that is the end of the central line, not far behind it, is the Second Road nowdays, which used to be the City Wall.

Looking to the east of the Drum Tower.

At the western side of Drum Tower, there is a very tourist-attacting play, Shi
shahai Lake. We have a map from Mr. Yang Xin, which indicates most of the spots.

Pipe Alley gets its name because of it shape. Look at the Taoist Temple neighboured with a bar

A pipe shop at the Pipe Allay.

Here is the famous Yingding Bridge, a busy place.

Qianhai Lake. You can boat on this lake, or rent a bamboo boat with someone playing music on board for you. Feeling hungry, you can even order a meal from the nearby bars or restaurants.