Tracing the Remnants of Old Beijing's Walls (Part 6: Outer City Gates of Ming and Qing)

After Beijing became the capital, the economy boomed and the population grew enormously. Gradually, the city couldn't accommodate everyone, and the capital's territory began to spill beyond the gates. This outward expansion happened mostly along the main roads leading from each gate, with buildings clustering along both sides, just like the main street outside Zhengyangmen. These clusters formed swelling bulges outside the gates, which were called 'guanxiang'—'guan' meaning gate and 'xiang' meaning surrounding area, like annexed quarters. In the past, every inner city gate had its own small guanxiang, for example Anwai Guanxiang and Chaowai Guanxiang. Nowadays nobody mentions these guanxiang because they've all merged into one continuous built-up area, no longer separate bulges. Only Dewai Guanxiang has survived as a place name, and people still refer to it occasionally. Bus route 55 has a stop at Dewai Guanxiang, then continues to Qijia Huozi, a gap cut through the Yuan dynasty earthen ramparts.

More than a hundred years after the Yongle Emperor moved the capital, the guanxiang districts had become very prosperous. Not only were there people and houses, but crucially, they contributed tax revenue to the court. At the same time, the Mongols from the north often raided the area. The inner city had strong walls, so people could take shelter inside, but the districts outside the walls were easily plundered. By the Jiajing reign, the raids grew so severe that an official submitted a memorial proposing that an outer city wall be built to enclose all the guanxiang districts. The emperor approved. The initial plan was to build an outer wall following the former Yuan Dadu ramparts, but the budget proved astronomical; the treasury simply didn't have that kind of silver. So they decided to build the most critical sections first, and ended up enclosing the tax-richest area south of the three front gates. That's the outer city wall we see now, the southeastern, southern, and southwestern parts of the Second Ring Road. In fact, the entire loop of the Second Ring Road follows the old Beijing city walls.

After the outer wall was completed, several gates were built into it, just like the inner city gates, each with a gate tower, archery tower, and barbican. From east to west, these were Guangqumen, Zuo'anmen, Yongdingmen, You'anmen, and Guang'anmen. Two side gates of smaller scale were also built where the outer wall met the inner wall at either end; later they were called Dongbianmen and Xibianmen. Xibianmen sits right on the northern wall of the Jin dynasty's Zhongdu (Middle Capital), giving us a rough idea of where that ancient city once lay. Construction on the southern outer wall began in the 32nd year of the Jiajing reign (1553) and was largely finished by the 43rd year (1564), when they could finally remove the bamboo scaffolding and iron sheeting.

When the Second Ring Road was built, the outer city walls were all demolished, and the outer gates went too. Then in 2004, as Beijing launched its Central Axis World Heritage bid, the Yongdingmen gate tower at the southern end of the axis was rebuilt according to its original design.

Set into the ground of the gate passage is a marker for the Central Axis.

Looking north through the gate, you can see, far in the distance, the archery tower of Zhengyangmen, with the roof of the gate tower peeking out above it, and beyond that, the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall.

On either side of this broad avenue stand the Temple of Heaven and the Altar of Agriculture. Stand on this road and turn around to see Yongdingmen gate tower from the south.

A few evergreen pines have been planted on either side of the tower.

The afternoon sun, now slanting, hangs on one corner of the gate tower.

Let's have a look at its facade.

The base platform is actually three terrace platforms joined together, so it resembles the platform at Chongwenmen. On it stands a two-storey tower building with a double-eave hip-and-gable roof. The ground floor is surrounded by a colonnaded veranda, while the upper storey has a balustraded balcony, with supporting poles for the eaves at each corner. The tower is five bays wide and three bays deep, with grey roof tiles edged in green glazed trim. The chiwen ridge ornaments on the main ridge are not the usual owl-tailed creatures, but dragon-head watch-beasts, just like those on Zhengyangmen tower and on Deshengmen arrow tower. Above the central archway is a stone plaque reading 'Yongdingmen'. The original Ming dynasty plaque was unearthed a year before the reconstruction in the Altar of Agriculture grounds—yes, the very same plaque from the 32nd year of Jiajing. The plaque now installed is a replica, carved in regular script similar to that of the 'Pingzemen' plaque. There is also a wooden tablet 'Yongdingmen' above, said to have been written by Mr. Shao Zhang, a calligrapher of the early Republican era. Judging by the brushwork, I'd guess the tablet on Zhengyangmen was also from Mr. Shao's hand.

The name Yongdingmen means 'Gate of Eternal Stability'. The southern city was built to fend off Mongol raids, so all five new gates carry the meaning of peace and tranquility. Guang'anmen was originally called Guangningmen, 'Gate of Extensive Peace', and was renamed Guang'anmen in the Qing dynasty. The 'qu' in Guangqumen also implies 'vast'.

Look at the stone lions in front—there shouldn't really be any here historically.

Look at the tower's corner, beautifully lit by the sun.

When Yongdingmen was rebuilt, the original Ming bricks recovered from the demolition were used again in the walls, so this truly is a Ming wall. The tamped earth inside, however, is not Ming, but even if it were, you couldn't see it. The archery tower was not restored, so naturally the barbican wasn't either. The moat that once encircled the barbican has been re-excavated, though, linking up with the southern moat, and indeed there is water—quite a shimmering sheet. The former barbican area has been turned into a public square.

Local residents come here to stroll and fly kites.

Of Beijing's old gates, what remains are the gate tower and archery tower of Zhengyangmen, the archery tower of Deshengmen on the inner city wall, and this reconstructed Yongdingmen gate tower on the outer city wall.

The Second Ring Road follows the line of the old city walls. Further out are the Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Ring Roads. But where is the First Ring Road? You surely know about 'Huangchenggen'er'—the 'Imperial City Wall Remnant'—and the TV series by that name. Old Beijing was a nested city: an outer city, an inner city, and within the inner city, the Imperial City, inside which was the Palace City, the 'Forbidden City'. The Forbidden City had four gates: Wumen (Meridian Gate), Shenwumen, Donghuamen, and Xihuamen.

The First Ring Road is actually the circuit right along the Huangchenggen, but it's far too narrow to be called a ring road. Beijing is also called the 'Four-Nine City', meaning the nine gates of the inner city and the four gates of the Imperial City, and the commoners' world in between. We've already talked about the nine inner city gates and seen a few of their sites. The four Imperial City gates are very familiar: Tiananmen, Di'anmen, Xi'anmen, and Dong'anmen. Tiananmen still stands, but the other three are gone, surviving only as place names. The Imperial City wall ran from Chang'an Avenue eastward along today's Nanheyan and Beiheyan streets. 'He' means river, specifically the Yuhe, the imperial river that flowed to Zhengyi Road. Coming out from Donghuamen gate, walk east along Donghuamen Street to the crossroads where Nanheyan and Beiheyan meet; this was the site of Dong'anmen, demolished long ago. A few years ago, the dedicated excavation aficionados—the 'old diggers'—dug up the foundations of Dong'anmen here, more than two metres below today's ground level. Those should be the original gate's footings.

The ground outside the wall was once bare yellow earth; now it's paved with grey bricks. The base section is Ming brick. This is now the Dong'anmen site.

Originally, the Ming Imperial City wall was along the west side of Nanheyan road, with the Yuhe River outside. This spot was on the river's east bank, a result of moving the Imperial City wall eastward during the Xuande reign. After the new Dong'anmen was built, the old one wasn't torn down; it was called Dong'anlimen, the inner gate, and a bridge was built over the Yuhe between the two gates.

After the Yuhe was covered over, this area became today's Nanheyan and Beiheyan streets. Using Donghuamen Street as a boundary, the wall site beyond the street has been turned into a green park.

Further east is Dong'anmen Street, leading to the northern entrance of Wangfujing Street. The east wall of the Imperial City originally stood on the west bank of the Yuhe, with the river outside. Later, the wall was moved east, enclosing the Yuhe inside. Outside the city was the stretch of Donghuangchenggen, divided into North and South streets, with Wusi Street as the boundary.

The Yuhe had a branch that flowed from the Golden Water River in front of Tiananmen eastward, running along the inside of the Imperial City wall to the junction of Nanheyan and Beiheyan, then merging and flowing south through Zhengyi Road into the southern moat. In 2002, this branch was reopened as an open channel and turned into a park called 'Changpu He' — Calamus River.

Don't guess wildly: that bridge isn't called Calamus Bridge. Along the bank, Person A is reading, and Person B is strolling.

On the shore, locals are enjoying a card game of 'knocking three'.

On the opposite bank lies a 'stone from another mountain', and behind the stone is the southern wall of the Imperial City. Inside the wall, leisure seekers are as quiet as true waters; outside, on Chang'an Avenue, cars dart like startled rabbits.

North of Changpu River, in the east Imperial City quarter, there is an imperial archive called 'Huangshicheng' — the cheng being the same character as 'accomplish'.

The main hall of Huangshicheng is a stone-built beamless hall, with no wood at all; the bracket sets, beams, and lintels are all imitation wood carved in stone. It stays cool in summer and warm in winter, just right for storing books. Modern library stacks are also kept in such lightless dark rooms.

Leaving Huangshicheng and walking north along Nanchizi, you come to an east-west hutong named Pudu Temple Front Lane. So there must be a Pudu Temple inside, and indeed there is. You can see that the whole temple stands on a brick platform; a flight of steps leads up to the front gate.

During the Ming dynasty, this extensive area was called Xiaonancheng (Little Southern City), formally known as Hongqing Palace, but also called Nangong (Southern Palace). Nangong was originally built by the Yongle Emperor as the residence for his grandson Zhu Zhanji, the Heir Apparent Grandson, making it the same age as the Forbidden City. In the 14th year of the Zhengtong reign (1449), Emperor Yingzong (Zhu Qizhen) personally led an expedition against the Oirat Mongols but was captured. His younger brother Zhu Qiyu succeeded to the throne in Beijing as Emperor Daizong and repelled the Mongol forces. A year later, in the first year of the Jingtai era, the Oirat released Zhu Qizhen. Emperor Daizong received the Retired Emperor at Dong'anmen: 'The Emperor received him at Dong'anmen and escorted him into the Southern Palace; the civil and military officials performed the court greeting ceremony.' Thereafter, the former emperor Zhu Qizhen lived in Nangong for a full seven years, effectively under house arrest. In the eighth year of Jingtai (1457), after the 'Incident at the Southern Palace', Zhu Qizhen reclaimed the throne and changed the era name to Tianshun. Zhu Qiyu was deposed and put under house arrest in the Western Garden, today's Zhongnanhai, where he died barely two months later at the age of thirty.

The main hall of Pudu Temple was once the bedchamber of Chonghua Palace in Xiaonancheng, the sleeping quarters of Zhu Zhanji when he was Heir Apparent Grandson, and also the bedchamber of the captive Zhu Qizhen. At the end of the Ming, when Li Zicheng's rebels stormed Beijing, Nangong was burned and fell into ruin. When the Manchu troops first entered Beijing, the regent Dorgon chose this ruined palace to build his residence, known as Prince Rui's Mansion, again using the present main hall of Pudu Temple as his bedchamber. After Dorgon's death from an arrow wound, the Shunzhi Emperor confiscated the mansion. During the Kangxi reign, the northern half was converted into a Buddhist temple, and the Qianlong Emperor later had it renovated. Pudu Temple was a name given by Qianlong. After Qianlong ascended the throne, he renamed his childhood residence in the Forbidden City from Xier Suo to Chonghua Palace as well. Thus, this place was first Chonghua Palace in the early Ming, while the later Chonghua Palace is inside the Forbidden City. 'Chonghua' comes from the 'Canon of Shun' in the Book of Documents: 'This Shun was able to carry on Yao, enhancing the brilliance of his cultural virtue.' Chonghua Palace has a hint of Kaifeng Prefecture's Hidden Dragon Palace about it.

The front gate of Pudu Temple has been preserved, similar to the one I saw at Zhusong Temple, but here with green glazed tiles.

Looking at the gate hall from behind, the roof tiles are half new and half old—could those old ones date from the Qianlong era?

Turn around to see the main hall, the 'Ciji Hall'. This hall once served as the bedchamber for several important figures. Viewing the main hall from the front, its roof shows Ming-dynasty characteristics.

Let's look from the side, too.

The main hall sits on a three-chi white marble xumizuo base, with a grey brick floor, which signifies a very high status—likely a Ming foundation, meant to match the Heir Apparent Grandson's rank. Dorgon probably chose this site for his mansion precisely because of its grand foundations; it may even have been one of the crimes cited when the Shunzhi Emperor posthumously stripped him of his titles. The hall is five bays wide and three bays deep, topped with a single-eave hip-and-gable roof of grey tiles with green glazed edging. Originally, there was a broad yuetai platform in front; when Qianlong rehabilitated Dorgon, a three-bay 'baosha' entrance porch was added on the platform. This baosha has a single-eave 'juanshan' roof, rounded-ridge hip-and-gable style, with green glazed tiles edged in yellow. Together, the main hall and its baosha are encircled by a colonnaded veranda. This hall doesn't use wooden pillars and partition windows; instead, its walls are built of grey brick. The glazed wall tiles at the bottom are unusual: they are not very tall, yet their top edge is higher than the sills of the windows. Such large rectangular lattice windows are rare; only the Kunning Palace in the Forbidden City has windows of this size. Because the Pudu Temple hall is brick-walled, it really did need such large windows for light.

Step under the eaves and look up.

This roof structure isn't heavily bracket-based; it looks more like a crossbeam construction.

Stepping inside confirms that.

Overhead is a ceiling of double-dragon hexi pattern panels, the old parts dating from the Qianlong period.

Between the beams and lintels in the hengpi panels, there are several Qianlong-era painted decorations of an utterly distinctive style. These aren't standard hexi or Suzhou-style decorative painting; they are individual motifs—birds, flowers, insects, fish, pots and jars—and even a steamer basket of xiaolong soup dumplings!

Take a closer look at those pots and jars, especially that basket of dumplings. That isn't Chinese painting at all; it's Western Baroque still-life, reminiscent of the 18th-century French painter Chardin. While Western influence was trickling in during the Qianlong period, Western painting had hardly reached a place like this, especially a Buddhist temple. Could Dorgon have commissioned them? Even less likely—Western influence hadn't even started then. These ancient paintings on the hengpi panels are truly intriguing! I chatted with the staff at the entrance, but they knew nothing about the origins or meaning of these paintings. They did, however, know about the new paintings on display inside.

Currently, the hall hosts an exhibition of ink paintings by Mr. Fan Yuzhou, an exponent of the splash-ink school. Mr. Fan is said to be a 29th-generation descendant of the great Fan Zhongyan. However, his ink paintings are far removed from the ink art of Fan Zhongyan's era—probably more than twenty-nine generations distant.

In any case, Pudu Temple holds some amazing paintings. It's thanks to Mr. Fan's remarkable exhibition that I had the chance to enter the hall and see those ancient paintings on the beams. The staff said the main hall is normally closed; visitors can only view its exterior and the gate hall from the courtyard. Pudu Temple is now free to enter. The courtyard is a playground for children from the surrounding hutong neighborhoods; the kids run around joyfully while their mothers sit under the trees scrolling on phones—no one knitting anymore. Occasionally, someone rents the hall for a painting or other cultural exhibition.

After the Shunzhi Emperor confiscated Dorgon's mansion, the Kangxi Emperor remodelled it extensively. The northern half became the temple that barely survives today as Pudu Temple. The southern half was turned into various storehouses. While some place names inside Chaoyangmen include 'cang' (granary), in these hutong we find 'ku' (storehouse): Denglongku (Lantern Storehouse), Ciqiku (Porcelain Storehouse), Duanku (Satin Storehouse).

The above covers the east wall of the Imperial City and its eastern gardens. The north wall ran along today's Ping'an Avenue; the northern wall of Beihai Park is a section of the Imperial City wall. Di'anmen stood at the present Di'anmen intersection.

The west wall is more complex. The northern section is now Xihuangchenggen North Street, where the famous Beijing No. 4 High School is located. Further south, it becomes Xihuangchenggen South Street. On this street is Prince Li's Mansion, once the residence of Prince Li Daishan's descendants during the Qing dynasty. The Ministry of Civil Affairs used to occupy it, and now it's said to house the State Organ Affairs Bureau. The boundary between North and South streets is Xi'anmen Avenue, where the Imperial City wall turned east, running along the north side of Xi'anmen Avenue to the corner of Fuyou Street. The former Xi'anmen gate was right there, at the Wenjin Street end of the Fuyou Street intersection. So Xi'anmen and Dong'anmen don't line up; Xi'anmen was farther north. The west wall then followed the east side of Fuyou Street down to Chang'an Avenue. Beihai, Jingshan, and Zhongnanhai are all within the Imperial City. Along Chang'an Avenue, you can still see parts of the old Imperial City wall; the outer wall of Zhongnanhai is certainly part of it, as are the southern walls of Zhongshan Park and the Working People's Cultural Palace.

Tiananmen is solemn and grand, but the other Imperial City gates were much simpler. They didn't have towering gate platforms; they were just three-arch brick gateways. Everything inside the Imperial City belonged to the imperial household or served it. So, old Beijingers talking about the 'Four-Nine City' exclude the Imperial City itself. This tells you where the First Ring Road lies: south—Chang'an Avenue; north—Ping'an Avenue; east—originally Nanheyan and Beiheyan streets, later Donghuangchenggen South and North streets; west—Fuyou Street, Xi'anmen Avenue, and Xihuangchenggen North Street.

Beijing's city walls have been demolished, leaving almost no trace. And not just Beijing; capital cities abroad have also torn theirs down. The walls of Paris are gone, though I once saw a remaining city gate relic there.

The ancient Roman walls were also pulled down; what remains is a fortress on the wall, the Castel Sant'Angelo below.

After the walls of Madrid, Spain, were demolished, the former gate sites became squares. Here is Puerta del Sol.

It seems the fate of capital city walls is much the same everywhere. Beijing rebuilt one gate tower, Yongdingmen, but to rebuild several more would be extremely difficult and, anyway, unnecessary. Yongdingmen was reconstructed to support the Central Axis World Heritage bid.

With this, we've covered Beijing's city gates and walls, and seen a few of their remnants.

(End of the series)