The Ming Dynasty Wall Relic Park, Beijing

4 more images

I walked until the east side corner of that wall. I saw the giant restored wall entrance with a tall building, Corner Tower. I paid Y10 as admission to visit the site including the Tower. The great part is there were no other tourist at the site, even it was the 6th day of National Holiday. I went up to the wall. I visited the Corner Tower, and saw the two duty rooms, few iron cannons, and a flag post stone.

The signboard was written as:

" The Ming City Wall Site Park is located in the central part of Beijing ranging from southeastern corner tower in the east of Chongwen Men in the west. It covers an area of 15.5 hectares with 3.3 hectares occupied by the city wall and southeastern corner tower and 12.2 hectares of greenery patches.
Originally built in 1419, the 17th year of the Yongle period, the city wall in the Ming dynasty was about 40 kilometers long in total. The current 1.5 kilometer city wall, which used to be part of the Beijing inner city wall, is the only section left from the Ming Dynasty and becomes a feature in Beijing. The southeastern corner tower, built in 1436, the first year of the Zhengtong period, is the largest of its kind existent in China and a key historical and cultural site under state protection.
The city wall was in poor condition due to year of neglect and destruction. In order to protect cultural heritage and restore the elegance of the ancient city, the Beijing municipal government was determined to improve the environment surrounding the city wall, renovate the wall itself and establish the Ming City Wall Site Park.
The Park was designed in a simple way to highlight the fragmentary beauty of the city wall. Surrounded by ancient trees and luxuriant grass, the city wall and corner tower stood solemn and stately as if telling the great changes of the city they have witnessed. Spots in the park noted for long history and rich connotations such as 'old tree by the Ming wall" , "strolling along the fragmentary wall", "charming ancient tower" and "crenellations covered with verdancy" display the profound culture of the Chongwen district and induce fantastic reveries."

In Chinese: 明城墙遗址公园 (Ming Cheng Qiang Yi Zhi Gong Yuan)

Admission: Y10

4 more images

On 6/10/2011, I took a bus to Beijing Railway Station to check out the train ticket in the morning. The bus was passing Chongwenmen East Road, I saw this ruin giant brick wall along the park next to the street. I stopped at the next bus-stop to see what it was. It is the " The Ming Dynasty Wall Relic Park". I realized that I could walk east along the wall, I could reach the Beijing Railway Station anyway. So, I did.

The park outside the wall is amazing with old trees, stones, benches, and beautiful way to look at the ancient walls. Being there, I could relate the pass and the present. The wall is next to the modern highway with fancy cars, shop-lots, and condominium. The things surrounding the wall could have you to imagine of how far Beijing has come to have the infrastructure they have today.

In addition, the display of the Beijing-Feng Tian Railway (京奉铁路) outside the wall was part of the history in this area. The signboard was written as:

"The 842-kilometer Beijing-Feng Tian Railway known as Shanhaiguan Linkage Railway before 1907, starts as Zhengyangmen Station in Beijing and ends at Fengtian (presently Shenyang) Station in Liaoning Province. At the end of 19 century, the Britain and Russian fought fiercely for loaning rights to railway building. Finally, the British succeed in signing the contract with the Qing Government and later took control of the railway in 1912, the Beijing-Feng Tian Railway was opened to traffic. The tracks exhibited here is a stretch between Zhengyangmen to Dongbianmen, a section of the Beijing-Feng Tian Railway. They were found in September 2002 during the construction of the Ming Dynasty City Wall Relics Park. "

In Chinese: 明城墙遗址公园 (Ming Cheng Qiang Yi Zhi Gong Yuan)