The Beijing city fortifications were a system of walls with towers and gates constructed in the city of Beijing, China in the early 1400s and mostly demolished in the 1950s and 1960s. The entire perimeter of the Inner and Outer city walls stretched for approximately .
Beijing was the capital of China for the majority of the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, as well as a secondary capital of the Liao and Jin dynasties. As such, the city required an extensive fortification system around the Forbidden City, the Imperial City, the Inner City, and the Outer City. Fortifications included gate towers, gates, archways, watchtowers, barbicans, barbican towers, barbican gates, barbican archways, sluice gates, sluice gate towers, enemy sighting towers, corner guard towers, and a moat system. It had the most extensive defense system in Imperial China.
After the collapse of the Qing dynasty in 1911, Beijing's fortifications were gradually dismantled. The Forbidden City has remained largely intact and has become the Palace Museum. Most of the Inner City fortifications were demolished 1965 for the construction of the 2nd Ring Road and Line 2 of the Beijing Subway. Some fortifications remain intact, including Tiananmen, the gate tower and watchtower at Zhengyangmen, the watchtower at Deshengmen, the southeastern corner guard tower, and a -long section of the Inner city wall near Chongwenmen, just south of the Beijing railway station. The latter two components now form the Beijing Ming City Wall Ruins Park. Almost all of the walls of the Outer City and all of its gates were demolished during the 1950s. Yongdingmen was completely reconstructed in 2004.
History
The city of Dadu, the forerunner of Beijing in the Ming and Qing dynasties, was built in 1264 by the Yuan dynasty. Dadu had 11 city gates. The eastern, southern, and western sides had three gates per side, and the northern wall had two gates. The three eastern gates, from north to south, were called Guangximen (), Chongrenmen (), and Qihuamen (). The three western gates, from north to south, were called Suqingmen (), Heyimen (), and Pingzemen (). The three southern gates, from west to east, were called Shunchengmen (), Lizhengmen (), and Wenmingmen (). The two northern gates, from west to east, were called Jiandemen () and Anzhenmen ().
In August 1368 General Xu Da of the Ming dynasty captured the city from the last Yuan emperor, Emperor Shun.《明史纪事本末》、《纲鉴易知录》卷八"History of the Ming Major Events", "Gang Jian Yi Zhi Lu" Juanba Xu Da decided that Dadu's fortification system was too large to defend during a siege, so he ordered the city's northern walls rebuilt to the south of the original location. This construction pre-empted the planned northern expansion of the city. The new wall was constructed with an extra layer of bricks, further strengthening the city's defenses.《北京城垣的保护与拆除》,《北京规划建设》1999年第2期"Beijing city wall protection and removal," "Beijing plans to build" 1999 2
The original northern walls were abandoned after 1372, but were still used as a secondary defense during the Ming dynasty. During the rebellion of An Da, there were some Ming troops stationed at those gates. Only a small part of the northern and western sections of the Dadu city walls remain, as well as parts of the moat system in those areas. The southern half of the rammed earth wall of the barbican at Suqingmen is also still visible today.
In 1370, the Hongwu Emperor granted his fourth son, Zhu Di (later Yongle Emperor) the title 'King of the Yan dependency', whose capital was at Beiping (present-day Beijing). In 1379, the new palace was completed, and Zhu Di moved in the subsequent year.
In 1403, Zhu Di changed the name of the city from Beiping ("northern peace") to Beijing ("northern capital"). In 1406, he began planning a move of his capital from Nanjing to Beijing. At that time, Beijing was just the capital of the dependency of the kingdom of Yan; therefore it did not have very extensive fortifications. Extensive expansion and reconstruction work would be needed to meet the defence requirements of the new capital for it to withstand the sporadic Mongol incursions from the north. This marked the beginning of the construction of the Ming sections of Beijing's fortifications.
Construction work on the Xinei ("inner west") began in 1406, upon the foundations of the Yan King's Palace. It was finished the following year. In 1409, Jianshouling was completed at Mount Tianshou in the Changping District. In 1416 construction of the Forbidden City complex began, in a style that imitated the original Nanjing Imperial Palace. The Forbidden City's halls, palaces, and pavilions, such as Taimiao, Ancestor Hall, Mount Wansui, Taiye Lake, residences of the Ten Kings, residences of the imperial princes, residences of the officials and the Drum and Bell Towers were built at this time. The southern city walls were moved south by to allow more space for the future Imperial City complex. In 1421 the capital of Ming dynasty China was officially moved from Nanjing ("southern capital") to Beijing ("northern capital"). The Temple of Heaven, the Temple of Earth and Xiannong Temple were built in what was then the southern suburbs. Some sources indicate that the central axis of the city was moved eastwards to subdue the previous dynasty's Qi (new Qi comes from the east, where the sun rises daily).见 明清时期的北京城 。 此派观点认为，明代兴建北京宫殿时，将中轴线向东平移了150米左右，将元代宫殿中轴置于西方方位、即"白虎位"或"杀位"上，在风水学说中为魇镇前朝王气的做法，同时也为在紫禁城西侧开挖筒子河提供了空间。今北京故宫内武英殿东边的断虹桥即元代宫城崇天门前的周桥，其依据为该桥桥面原极华丽，桥面上有汉白玉石雕云龙瑞兽，此做法在辽、金、元宫殿中只用于宫城正门之前居中位置的御桥。断虹桥桥面花纹在明初被朱元璋下令凿平。此外，从明清北京城市中轴线的位置来看，其轴线位置偏东，正阳门与崇文门之间的距离要小于正阳门与宣武门之间的距离。Visit Beijing during Ming and Qing dynasties This school of thought believes that when Beijing was being constructed during the Ming dynasty, the center axis shifted east by about 150 meters, which puts the center axis of the Yuan dynasty palace to the West, that is, the "white tiger position" or "kill position" which according to Feng Shui it is a way to suppress the former dynasty's qi, and at the same time also providing space for the Tongzi river at the west side of the Forbidden City. Today inside the Forbidden City in Beijing off the east Wu Ying Yuan Miyagi Hongqiao namely Chong-day week in front of the bridge, on the basis of the original bridge deck very ornate, white marble stone carving Yunlong auspicious on the deck, this practice in the Liao, Jin Yuan palace just before the center position for the main entrance of the Royal Miyagi bridge. Hongqiao deck off pattern in the early Ming emperor ordered chipping. In addition, from the position of the axis of the Ming and Qing Beijing city view, its axis eastward from Zhengyang and Chongwenmen is less than the distance between ZhenYangMen and Xuanwumen.
A second expansion of the city occurred between 1436 and 1445, on the orders of Emperor Ying of the Ming dynasty. Major works included the addition of an extra layer of bricks on the interior side of the city walls, creating the southern end at Taiye Lake, construction of gate towers, barbicans and watchtowers at nine major city gates, construction of the four corner guard towers, setting up a Paifang on the outside of each major city gate and replacing wooden moat bridges with stone bridges. Sluices were built under the bridges and revetments of stone and brick were added to the embankment of the moat.
The newly expanded city wall and moat system was 45 li () around the perimeter, providing formidable defence. The Imperial Tombs were built on the outskirts of the city. Changping city, a supply city, interior sections of the Great Wall and other distant fortifications were built for the protection of Beijing during a siege.
The city faced many invasions from the Mongols. In 1476 construction of an outer city was proposed. In 1553, a large rectangular outer city wall and moat system was completed to the south of the original city, forming a shape similar to the "凸" character. This defensive perimeter was maintained for nearly 400 years.
The wall and moat defense system was retained unchanged by the Qing dynasty (1644–1912). However, the imperial city was completely redesigned. Many houses that had been used as residences by Ming dynasty inner cabinet officials were converted into housing for commoners, as were many imperial officials' offices, servants' quarters, warehouses, and hay storage barns. The Han Chinese were forced to live in the Outer City or outside the city, as the Inner City residences became exclusively homes for the Eight Banners—Manchus related to the emperor. Additional housing was built in the Inner city for imperial relatives, along with Buddhist temples of the Gelug sect. The "Three Mounts Five Gardens" park in the western suburbs was also built at this time.
When the British first arrived in Beijing during the Qing dynasty, they recorded the four sectors of the city on newspaper as: Chinese City (Outer City), Tartar City (Inner City), Imperial City and Forbidden City.
Dismantling
Historical records indicate that when Li Zicheng retreated from the city in 1644, he ordered that the Ming Imperial palace complex and the major city gates be set afire.《明史纪事本末》、《甲申传信录》"History of the Ming Major Events", "A Shenchuan Xin Lu" But in 1960, when the walls were finally dismantled, the workers realized that the Dongzhimen and Chongwenmen towers and gate sections were the Ming originals.
The wall and moat systems were well maintained during the Ming and Qing dynasties, right up until 1900. It was not permitted to drill holes or cut arches in walls. Any damage—even just a single missing brick—was swiftly reported to the authorities and repaired.
Much damage was done to the fortifications during the Boxer Rebellion (1898–1901). The Righteous Harmony Society burned down the gate tower at Zhengyangmen, and its watchtower was destroyed by Indian troops. The watchtowers at Chaoyangmen and Chongwenmen were destroyed by artillery fire from Japanese and British forces, and the guard tower at the northwest corner of the Inner City was destroyed by Russian cannons. British troops tore down the western section of the Outer City walls at Yongdingmen and the city walls surrounding the Temple of Heaven. They moved the terminus of the Beijing–Fengtian Railway from Majiapu, outside the city, to the grounds of the Temple of Heaven, where the British and American forces were headquartered. This was the first time since the Ming dynasty that the city walls had been breached. In 1901, British troops tore down the eastern section of the Outer city walls at Yongdingmen to allow an extension of the railway eastwards to Zhengyangmen. This enabled the construction of the Zhengyangmen East railway station (the present Qianmen Station). Here, British embassy and consulate staff could board trains to travel to the port city of Tientsin (now Tianjin) in the event of the need to retreat. British troops also tore down the eastern section of the Outer city wall near Dongbianmen for the construction of the Beijing Dongbianmen-Tongzhou feeder railway.
The Imperial government of Qing China collapsed in 1911. Between 1912 and 1949, the Republic of China Beiyang government and Nationalist government all undertook minor deconstruction and adjustment work. When the Beijing circum-city railway was built in 1915, the sight towers at the northeast and southeast corners were dismantled and the side walls of the guard towers at these corners had arches built as passageways for trains. The barbican and sluice gates at Deshengmen, Andingmen, Chaoyangmen, and Dongzhimen were dismantled for the passage of trains. The barbican at Zhengyangmen was dismantled to ease traffic in the Qianmen area. Arches for trains were cut in the city walls near Hepingmen, Jianguomen, Fuxingmen and several other minor gates. The walls of the Imperial city were fully dismantled, except for the south to southwest section.