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If you visited Beijing in 1950s, you would have seen the most beautiful and...
Like the Great Wall of China, Beijing’s ancient city fortifications were also the massive military defense works dotted with gates, towers and circled by the city moats. Today almost all the city walls around Beijing have been demolished and left with very few relics to be remembered.
The old Beijing, probably the most splendid capital at that time in the world, now only live in our dream. Having some basic knowledge of its old city wall helps you better appreciate the modern and fast developing Beijing on your Beijing tour.
Heap of excrement beside a city wall and a man with a wheelbarrow in the background. Photo by Frank Nicholas (American) on April 30, 1915.
In 1900, the Eight-Nation Alliance army torn apart the west section of the wall near Yongding Gate for the makeshift railway.
Liang said "Dismantling one gate tower is like cutting one piece of my meat; demolishing a section of the city wall like ripping off my skin". He once proposed a romantic and practical proposal.
He suggested the building of a new city on the west of the old Beijing city with the old city turned into a huge living museum.
He also wanted to build the 40km long city wall ( inner city wall and outer city wall ) into a dimensional loop city park. On the top of the 10-meter wide city wall, built with flower beds planted with lilac, roses and more bushes; placed with round chairs.
At a summer dusk, it is a nice place for thousands of people to cool down and take a break; in autumn, stand on the top and have a panoramic view of the city; corner towers can be tailored to house exhibition rooms, reading rooms, tea booths, a unique dimensional loop city park in the world!!
The remnant city wall is about 1.5km in length, which has been transformed into a public park. The Ming Wall Relics Park is composed of two parts: the wall relics itself and the southeast corner tower of the former inner city in Ming and Qing Dynasties.
The glories of Old Beijing lasted into the twentieth century, hope you can still enjoy having the dream and experience the marvels of the past beauties of Beijing that would have been the most beautiful capital city in the world.
If you don’t want to go the do-it-yourself route and prefer the hassle-free escorted tours, here are some options for guided tours to Beijing:
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