Mark Meek's Ideas: Beijing

Beijing is an extremely old settlement but was established as the "northern capital" by the Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan. The Mongols established the Yuan Dynasty in China. It has remained the capital of China for most of the time since then, the Yuan, Ming and, Qing Dynasties, and then the modern Republic of China.

Nationalist China, which is now Taiwan, had Nanjing and Chungking as capitals for a few years. Beijing is at the northern end of the Grand Canal, which links China north to south, Hangzhou is at the southern end.

The following scenes begin at what can be considered as the focal point of China, the portrait of Chairman Mao over the Tiananmen Gate. Mao proclaimed the creation of the People's Republic of China from here on October 1, 1949. But China itself is about five thousand years old. The first three images are from Google Street View.

The gate leads to the Imperial City, which surrounds the Forbidden City. This is the complex of palaces and pavilions that was the governing center of imperial China. The Meridian Gate, with protruding wings on either side, leads across the rectangular moat surrounding the Forbidden City.

In the following image from Google Street View, the Forbidden City is the rectangular area, enclosed by a moat and surrounded by the Imperial City. The Forbidden City is indicated by the red dot.

There are multiple scenes following. To see the scenes, after the first one, you must first click the up arrow, ^, before you can move on to the next scene by clicking the right or forward arrow, >, After clicking the up arrow, you can then hide the previews of successive scenes, if you wish.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.90703,116.3913783,3a,75y,346.03h,94.56t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipO4qafYoq5ctkBJ2_5p60j0suPX7OIvTNALVXCC!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipO4qafYoq5ctkBJ2_5p60j0suPX7OIvTNALVXCC%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi4.0563016-ya117.05209-ro3.54362-fo100!7i5376!8i2688

To the south of the Tiananmen Gate across Chang'an Avenue, which is the main east-west axis of Beijing, is Tiananmen Square. Chang'an is the old name of Xian, which was China's original capital city. In the satellite image from Google Earth, Tiananmen Square is the elongated rectangle indicated by the purple dot.

On this vast square is the mausoleum of Chairman Mao, the founder of modern China, and the Great Hall of the People. I can remember from childhood watching U.S. president Nixon's visit to the Great Hall of the People. This was the beginning of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and China.

The first three images of Tiananmen Square are from Google Street View. The first image is the Monument to the People's Heroes and the Mausoleum of Chairman Mao. The third image is of the Great Hall of the People.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9053212,116.397587,3a,75y,104.52h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipOOG5ctXZlMi5Ju5hdoUAOQwoGzgRrPKhgE3Og!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipOOG5ctXZlMi5Ju5hdoUAOQwoGzgRrPKhgE3Og%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-3.3846793-ya106.78065-ro-1.528246-fo100!7i5472!8i2736

The following views begin in the middle of the Forbidden City. Does anyone remember when McDonald's restaurants used to be styled like a pavilion in the Forbidden City? I am sure that this is where the idea came from. The Forbidden City is where China was ruled from for about five hundred years, until the founding of the modern republic. The wide moat surrounds the rectangular Forbidden City. The first nine images are from Google Street View.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9174375,116.3975936,2a,75y,354.79h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1szWNCKS9Z-6EAAARGZ1vvFg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DzWNCKS9Z-6EAAARGZ1vvFg%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D227.46472%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

These images are in the area of the Meridian Gate. The first three images of the Meridian Gate are from Google Street View.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9138998,116.3960387,2a,75y,110.09h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1siKAY8fyzXaEAAAREq-bSMg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DiKAY8fyzXaEAAAREq-bSMg%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D115.48841%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

The first of the following images is looking at the way into the Forbidden City from the opposite direction, from the north looking southward. This entrance gate is the Gate of Divine Might, it is the entrance from the north just as the Tiananmen Gate, which has the portrait of Chairman Mao, is from the south. The door of the Tiananmen Gate is arched but that of the Gate of Divine Might is rectangular.

The two gates are aligned on an axis, which is the main north-south axis of Beijing. The gates within and to the Forbidden City, such as the Meridian Gate, are also aligned on this axis. In fact, that is where the Meridian Gate gets it's name. This north-south axis continues far to the north of the Forbidden City, along which are the original Bell Tower and Drum Tower. The north-south axis also continues far to the south, past Tiananmen Square.

The following views are actually taken from a hilltop. It is Jingshan Hill, on which is Jingshan Park. The Ming Dynasty, who built the Forbidden City, supplanted the Yuan Dynasty (Mongols) who had made Beijing their capital. When the moat was dug around it, they piled the dirt and stone on top of the ruins of the Yuan buildings, and that is where Jingshan Hill came from. The first two images, looking southward from Jingshan Hill to the Gate of Divine Might, are from Google Street View.

In the satellite image from Google Earth, Jingshan Hill is the dark green park area indicated by the yellow dot. Notice how the four dots, yellow, red, purple and white, form a straight line. This is the north-south axis along which Beijing is aligned.

Genghis Khan destroyed a city that had been in what is now Beijing, although some of the ruins of it can still be seen. His grandson, Kublai Khan, founded a city centered under what is now Jungshan Hill, but then the Ming Dynasty buried that and built the Forbidden City, in the early Fifteenth Century, just to the south.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9246609,116.3967602,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1sAF1QipOj4lge6pPKQIv9KACt732kBSBFyct_eL67Vnk_!2e10!3e12!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipOj4lge6pPKQIv9KACt732kBSBFyct_eL67Vnk_%3Dw203-h113-k-no!7i4160!8i2336

This is another view from Jingshan Hill, which looks over the Forbidden City.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9250992,116.3968433,3a,75y,127.58h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipPBfWXU_IebjnTbI2BKZwDqcdiW8HWSbe5WrStT!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipPBfWXU_IebjnTbI2BKZwDqcdiW8HWSbe5WrStT%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya135.09982-ro-0-fo100!7i7200!8i3600

The following scenes are to the south, south of Tiananmen Square, which is south of the Imperial and Forbidden Cities. The pedestrian walkway is the north-south axis continuing to the south. To the south of the Mausoleum of Chairman Mao, in Tiananmen Square, is the large gate, the Zhengyangmen Gate, and the Archery Tower, the stone building with the many small windows. The gates through both of them are aligned on this same north-south axis.

The white dot at the bottom, in the image from Google Earth, shows where the Archery Tower is located.

The first three images are from Google Street View.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.8967831,116.3917578,3a,75y,180h,90t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipNraHdxaXZLjOswZPCzJ-Va1JLjbF4UikdNLh8B!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipNraHdxaXZLjOswZPCzJ-Va1JLjbF4UikdNLh8B%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya265.09225-ro0-fo100!7i8704!8i4352

It might thus be said that the center of Beijing is where the main street, Chang'an Avenue, crosses this historic north-south axis through the Forbidden City, because Chang'an Avenue is the main east-west axis. This represents modern China meeting old China.

Remember that the city of Xian, which was China's original capital, is also called Chang'an. This keeping to the same cities since ancient times, but with the center of the city not necessarily in the same place, illustrates how Chinese history has operated. There might be a modern Chinese city, with a park in the city that has the ancient ruins of the original city.

Elsewhere in Beijing there is the cylindrical Temple of Heaven. Over here, about 4 km from the Forbidden City, most of the roofs are blue. The first three images are from Google Street View.