Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 1.7
Sketch map of reconstruction of Beijing's old city
1
.
Tian An Men Gate,
2
. People's Conference Hall,
3
. Museum of Chinese Revolution and Museum
of Chinese History,
4
. Monument of the People's Heroes,
5
. Working People's Palace of Culture,
6
. Sun Yat-sen Park,
7
. Palace Museum,
8
. Jing Hill Park,
9
. North Sea Park,
10
. Bell Tower,
11
.
Drum Tower (Redrawn according to Urban Traffi c Map in
Beijing Tourism Atlas
,
simplifi ed ver-
sion, 2nd edition, 1972)
How to bring about the fulfi llment of this new theme is a problem of vital importance
in the new city planning of Beijing.
It seems to be a very diffi cult problem, but actually many valuable experiences
have been gathered during the transformation of the old city of Beijing since libera-
tion, and need to be summed up and brought up to a theoretical height so that they
may give further guidance to the city planning and construction of Beijing later on.
I shall cite only one example here, the reconstruction of the Tian An Men Square for
illustration (Fig.
1.7
).
Tian An Men Square is closer to the centre of the city now than in the past. It was
decided in the city planning of an earlier stage after liberation that the reconstruc-
tion and extension of Beijing should centre around the old city. Today Beijing's new
urban districts have broken the bounds of the former city walls and expanded in
every direction. The limits of extension were roughly set at the third suburban ring
road which is now under construction. Within this limit, the layout of the streets was
to retain, on the whole, the traditional pattern. Beyond it, the main lines of commu-
nication were to radiate in all directions. The plane design of the city preserved the
traditional character of balance and symmetry, thus enhancing the outstanding posi-
tion of the Tian An Men Square which used to be a court square in front of Tian An
Men, the south gate of the Forbidden City. It was nominally a “gate”, but in reality,
