Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Besides, in the very front of the imperial city was opened up a new T-shape
court square, out of which the present Tian An Men Square grew. On the two
sides of the court square, many central governmental offi ces and organs were
concentrated symmetrically.
3. As a result of the southward moving of the south wall of the old big city, there
appeared an expanse of open land to the south end of the Heavenly Water Pond.
So a new artifi cial lake was dug out in this place, which linked the Heavenly
Water Pond and made it much larger. The original parts of the lake were called
the Middle Sea and the North Sea while the expanded part of the lake was called
the South Sea. Just to the north of the Forbidden City, a new man-made hill was
piled up with the earth dug out from the South Sea and from moat around the
Forbidden City. This hill was named the Jing Hill or the Coal Hill. The middle
peak of the Jing Hill is 47 m in height. It formed a remarkable point of the central
axis of the whole city and became the new geometric centre of the rebuilt city.
4. On the old site of the geometric centre of the former Dadu City, a new Drum
Tower and a new Bell Tower were put up. The two buildings marked the apex of
the central axis of the whole of the new city.
5. While the city was reconstructed, two groups of buildings were put up just to the
south of the city. The two groups of buildings stood side by side. The one on the
east side was called the Temple of Heaven, a place where the emperors offered
sacrifi ces to the Heaven and prayed for good harvests. The one on the west side
was called the Altar of Mountain and River, a place where the emperors offered
sacrifi ces to the God of Mountain and the God of River. Between the two groups
of buildings, there was a central trunk line which led northward straight to the
middle south gate of the big city. This entrance was called Zhengyang Gate or
Front Gate. In 1553, an outer city wall was built to reinforce the defence of the
imperial capital. This newly-built outer city enveloped the Temple of Heaven and
the Altar of Mountain and River (which was later called the Xiannong Altar).
The old city in the north was called “the Inner City” while the newly-built city in
the south was called “the Outer City”. The combination of the two cities formed
an outline which resembles a Chinese character
ࠨ
meaning “protruding”.
With the Outer City built, the central axis of the Inner City extended southward
to the due south gate of the Outer City. The new central axis was as long as nearly
eight kilometres. The new central line became even more outstanding in the plane
arrangement of the old city of Beijing.
With the Outer City built, the construction of the old city of Beijing was funda-
mentally completed. In 1644, Qing Dynasty—the last feudal dynasty in China's
history—was founded. The rulers of Qing Dynasty also took Beijing as their capital.
They didn't make any more changes in the construction of the city. The city remained
as it had been until the liberation of Beijing City in 1949. This is now what we call
the old city of Beijing (Fig.
1.6
).
This old city of Beijing which was developed on the basis of Dadu City of Yuan
Dynasty, has been considered an excellent example of the construction of feudal capitals
in China's history. It embodied all the better the absolute power of feudal emperors.
