Courtsey of the Central
Intelligence Agency
Courtsey of the The
Perry Castaneda Library Map Collection
Beijing's city walls have a long history. Rebuilding and extension
operations were carried out on the city during the Ming Dynasty.The city
acquired a permanent shape in the middle of the 16th century. The construction
of the city of Beijing was carried out under well-thought out overall planning.
Going further northward from Tian An Men, the central axis enters the Forbidden
City and runs through the Duan Men Gate, the Wu Men Gate, the Tai He Gate,the
Tai He Palace,the Bao He Palace and the Qian qing Palace. The Di An Gate
and comes to an end at the Bell Tower and the Drum Heaven and the southern
tip of the axis has the Temple of Heaven and the Temple of the Land God
and the Grain god. Further north stand the Temple of the Sun and the Temple
of the moon. situated at parallel locations in the south and the north
are the Trmple of Earth and the Temple of Heaven and Beijing's streets
fan out with this central line as the axis.
Beijing used to comprise an inner city and an outer city, both of which were surrounded by high walls with gates on all for sides. The inner city had nine gates and rhe outer had seven. The names of the gates have been handed down to this day though all of the walls have been demolished. Almost all of the gates have also been pulled down except the centr