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Central Axis of Beijing
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How it came to be
The Beijing Central Axis is a 7.8 km line through the heart of old Beijing, running from the Bell and Drum Towers in the north to Yongdingmen Gate in the south, lined with former imperial palaces and gardens, sacrificial structures and ceremonial and public buildings. UNESCO notes that its layout follows the ideal capital described in the Kaogongji, an ancient text on the crafts.
The axis goes back to the Yuan capital Dadu. In 1264 Kublai Khan visited the palace on Jade Island in Taiye Lake and was so taken with the site that he ordered his capital built around it. Liu Bingzhong planned the city and supervised its construction, and a year after founding the Yuan dynasty in 1271, Kublai proclaimed it his capital under the name Dadu. Building was not completed until 1293.
Later structures were added and improved under the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1636-1912). Yongdingmen, the front gate of the outer city, was built in 1553, torn down in the 1950s to make way for new roads and rebuilt on its old site in 2005. The Central Axis was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2024.
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