Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
thoritarian fist. He abolished many of the vital ministries and surrounded himself with a
sort of secret service of eunuchs, who were apparently trustworthy because of the lack of a
penis. Hongwu did, however, have the extreme generosity to give his then 10-year-old son,
Zhu Di, a spectacular gift—the city of Beiping. Hongwu outlived his three oldest sons, so
when he died in 1398 his title was passed not to Zhu Di, but to his grandson Zhu Yuwen, the
son of the late crown prince. The new emperor was a little bitter over his uncle's power up
in Beiping, so he sought to minimize it. Uncle Zhu Di, however, proved to be the mightier
of the two, and after a four-year civil war he took Nanjing and boldly declared himself to
be the Yongle (
永乐
, Eternal Happiness) Emperor.
Finally, in 1403, Beijing took on its modern-day name for the first time. It wasn't yet
the capital, but it was raised to a position of power similar to that of Nanjing. The Yongle
Emperor wanted to do a bit of renovating before he decreed it his capital. So over the next
roughly 20 years he boosted the city with a massive reconstruction program. It's thanks to
Yongle that Beijing took on much of its present-day structure. The inner city wall was com-
pleted, which, though torn down more than 500 years later in 1965, greatly determined how
the city would develop to this very day.
During this time the Forbidden City was also constructed, as was the Imperial City, an
extension of the Forbidden City. This took in the lakes and gardens immediately surround-
ing the Forbidden City and gave the royal set exclusive use of the best recreational areas
to be had in all of Beijing. In 1420 Yongle also bequeathed the Temple of Heaven (Tiantan
Park) to the city. Large sections of the Great Wall were also constructed during Yongle's
time. Finally, in 1421, Yongle seemed content with his city and decreed it the capital of Ch-
ina.
Part of Yongle's reasoning behind moving the capital to Beijing was to better protect
his dynasty against those marauding steppelanders. Not long after his death, however, in-
cursions from the north began once again. So to further fortify the city, the city wall was
extended in the south in 1553. This section protected the southern suburbs and the Temple
of Heaven. Like the inner city wall, this was also torn down in the 1960s, to make way for
the Second Ring Road.
While the Ming dynasty was definitely a time of growth and development, it was also a
particular time of destruction. Winter has always been harsh in Beijing, and the residents at
the time logged the surrounding forests for firewood until they were all but barren. When
the trees ran out, people turned to coal. The impact on the environment would have severe
long-lasting effects on the city.
