Beijing’s Central Axis
(北京中轴线的历史痕迹)
4 min read
Just inside the north side of Beijing’s former city wall stand the Drum Tower and the Bell Tower (opening image), both built in 1272 during the Yuan dynasty (元朝). Together, the two towers offer panoramic views of central Beijing. Looking directly south from the Drum Tower, the line of sight aligns with a sequence of historic structures that together form Beijing’s Central Axis, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site on August 1, 2024.
The image below shows Beijing’s former city walls. Like all Chinese imperial capitals, historical Beijing was laid out in a strictly north–south orientation, with a rectangular plan emphasizing symmetry. Although Beijing’s city walls were demolished in the 1950s to accommodate urban expansion, today’s First Ring Road and Metro Line 2 still trace the complete outline of the former walls.
The Central Axis runs south from the Drum Tower through the heart of historical Beijing and consists of former palaces, gardens, and ceremonial structures. When establishing their capital Dadu (大都) on the site of present-day Beijing, the Yuan rulers followed principles set out in the Kaogongji (考工记), an ancient technical manual on crafts and urban planning believed to date to the 4th century BCE. After the Yuan dynasty, the Ming and Qing dynasties (明清), from the mid-14th to the early 20th century, continued to maintain Beijing as their imperial capital, further reinforcing the Central Axis.
One city block south of the Drum Tower lies Wanning Bridge (万宁桥; image below). Built during the Yuan dynasty, the bridge marks the northern terminus of the historic Grand Canal, itself a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Stretching approximately 1,800 kilometers from Beijing in the north to Hangzhou (杭州) in the south, the Grand Canal is the world’s longest artificial waterway, with its earliest sections dating back to the 5th century BCE.
Continuing south from Wanning Bridge brings us to Jingshan (景山), now Jingshan Park and the highest point in central Beijing. Formerly a private imperial garden just north of the Forbidden City, Jingshan was the site of a dramatic historical moment. On April 25, 1644, as rebel forces approached the capital, the last Ming emperor, Chongzhen (崇祯皇帝), fled the Forbidden City and hanged himself from a tree in Jingshan, marking the fall of the Ming dynasty. By 1636, the Manchus had already established the Qing government, and their army was stationed outside the Great Wall. Shortly after the collapse of the Ming, Qing forces entered Beijing, defeated the rebels, and established their imperial court there, inaugurating the Qing dynasty in the same year.
South of Jingshan lies the northern entrance to the Forbidden City, now the Palace Museum (故宫博物院) and a UNESCO World Heritage Site (first image below). Constructed between 1406 and 1420, this vast palace complex comprises 980 traditional Chinese buildings spread across 180 acres. Designed in classical palatial style, most structures face south and emphasize bilateral symmetry and horizontal breadth rather than height, with red walls and columns and yellow glazed roof tiles. The second image below, adapted from Stories of Ancient Chinese Architecture (Shanghai Translation Publishing House), presents a schematic plan of the Forbidden City. Today, the Palace Museum houses more than one million works of art dating from the Bronze Age to the early 20th century, including paintings, ceramics, bronzes, stone seals, and steles.
Traversing the kilometer-long palace complex from north to south brings us to Tian’anmen (天安门), the monumental south gate of the Forbidden City, whose iconic tower was completed in 1417. The first image below shows the gate during the late Qing period (circa 1900). Passing through Tian’anmen leads to the northern end of the Tian’anmen Square, one of the largest public squares in the world, capable of accommodating up to one million people. At the southern end of the nearly kilometer-long square stands Zhengyangmen (正阳门), commonly known as Qianmen (前门; second image below). Ask a local Beijinger where to eat Peking duck, and you will likely be directed to the Qianmen area.
Approximately two kilometers south of Qianmen is the Temple of Heaven (Tiantan, 天坛), a ceremonial complex where Ming and Qing emperors performed rituals to pray for favorable weather and abundant harvests. Three principal structures align along Tiantan’s north–south axis. At the northern end stands the circular, triple-gabled Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests (center of the first image below), constructed entirely of wood without the use of nails. Further south are the Echo Wall and the Imperial Vault of Heaven (middle image). At the southern end lies the Altar of Heaven (third image), a three-tiered white marble platform set within a square courtyard. The UNESCO World Heritage Convention describes Tiantan’s layout and symbolism as expressing “the relationship between earth and heaven—the human world and the divine world—which lies at the heart of Chinese cosmology, as well as the special role of the emperor within that relationship.”
Exiting Tiantan to the south brings us to Yongdingmen (永定门), which marks the southern terminus of Beijing’s 7.8-kilometer-long Central Axis. Comprising a gate tower and a battlement watchtower, Yongdingmen was once the most heavily fortified entrance to the historical city. Although the original structures were demolished in 1957, they were reconstructed in 2003 according to historical records and original designs.
The cultural origins of Beijing’s Central Axis can be traced to the Kaogongji’s ancient urban-planning ideal that symmetry promotes harmony, stability, and social order. From the Yuan through the Qing dynasties, successive emperors used the city’s axial layout and monumental architecture to project imperial authority and their perceived centrality in the world. Together, the ceremonial spaces and iconic structures along the Central Axis narrate the enduring story of Chinese civilization.
Additional resources for readers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWvADwBLXAg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIv35flsTOo
Photo credit: ChinaDaily.com, UNESCO World Heritage Convention, Baidu.com, Shanghai Translation Publishing House