Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 3
Views on Three Milestones in the Construction
of Beijing City
3.1
The City Plan of Beijing Through the Centuries
'If you do not understand the past of Beijing City, you are unable to know the present
of it and of course it is impossible for you to estimate the future of it too. The devel-
opment of a city is a continuous process in which the past, present and future are
situated on the same chain of time'.
1
Beijing is a world-famous city of history and
culture, whose planning and construction has deep historical and cultural origins.
Especially on the newly selected location through the Yuan and Ming dynasties, the
favorable conditions of river and lake water system were fully utilized. The convex
contour of closely combined inner and outer cities in spatial structure was fi nally
completed in accordance with the planning principles which come down in one con-
tinuous line of the construction of capital city in China since the ancient time and
above all with the consecutive renewals and reforms. At the center of it, there goes
through a middle axis from north to south, i.e. starting from the Gulou and the
Zhonglou (the Drum-tower and the Bell-tower) in the north running down to the
Yongdingmen (a city gate) in the due south, the length of which is approximately
8 km. This spatial structure of organic combination of inner and outer cities had been
perfectly preserved up to 1949, the year of the establishment of New China.
