Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
MING-DYNASTY B
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A True Chinese City
Běijīng can properly be said to have been a Chinese city only during the Ming dynasty
(1368-1644), when the Emperor Yongle (whose name means perpetual happiness) used
over 200,000 prisoners of war to rebuild the city, construct its massive battlements, rebuild
the imperial palace and establish the magnificent Ming Tombs. He forced tens of thousands
of leading Chinese families to relocate from Nánjīng, the capital founded by his father, and
unwillingly settle in what they considered an alien land at the extremity of the Chinese
world. Throughout the Ming dynasty, Běijīng was constantly under attack by the Mongols,
and on many occasions their horsemen reached the very gates of the city. Mongol bandits
roamed the countryside or hid out in the marshes south of the city, threatening communica-
tions with the empire.
During the time of the Khitans, Běijīng was sometimes called Yānjīng, or the 'City of Swal-
lows'. This is still the name of a beer produced by a local brewery.
Beefing Up the Great Wall
Everything needed for the gigantic enterprise of rebuilding the city - even tiles, bricks and
timber - had to be shipped up the Grand Canal, but in time Běijīng grew into a city of
nearly a million residents. Although farms and greenhouses sprang up around the city, it al-
ways depended on the Grand Canal as a lifeline. Most of the canal was required to ship the
huge amounts of food needed to supply the garrison of more than a million men that
Yongle press-ganged into building and manning the new Great Wall. The emperor was
fearful of a resurgent Mongol threat. The Mongols had been pushed out of China as the
Ming came to power in 1368, but they were still formidable, and by the dawn of the 15th
century, they were itching to reconquer the rich lands to the south of the Great Wall. This
Wall, unlike earlier walls, was clad in brick and stone, not pounded earth, and the Ming
emperors kept enlarging it for the next 250 years, adding loops, spurs and watchtowers. For
long stretches, the fortifications ran in two parallel bands.
