news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

At 11:15 local time on July 27, 2024, the 46th UNESCO World Heritage Conference held in New Delhi, India, passed a resolution to include "Beijing Central Axis - A Masterpiece of China's Ideal Capital Order" in the World Heritage List. So far, the total number of Chinese World Heritage sites has reached 59.

The Beijing Central Axis starts from the Bell and Drum Tower at the north end, and goes southwards through Wanning Bridge, Jingshan, the Forbidden City, Duanmen, Tiananmen, Outer Jinshui Bridge, Tiananmen Square and its buildings, Zhengyangmen, the remains of the southern section of the Central Axis, and ends at Yongdingmen at the south end. The Imperial Ancestral Temple and Altar of Land and Grain, Temple of Heaven and Altar of Agriculture are located on the east and west sides of the Central Axis. The heritage area covers 589 hectares, and the buffer zone covers 4,542 hectares.

Jingshan was the royal garden of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Its layout relationship with the Forbidden City shows the traditional planning concept of Chinese palaces. Jingshan combines tall mountains, beautiful gardens and magnificent palace buildings, greatly enriching the landscape sequence of Beijing's central axis. The building complex is a regular rectangular plane surrounded by a courtyard wall and can be divided into two areas, north and south. The southern part is dominated by the mountain, which is tall and steep. Five pavilions are built symmetrically along the central axis on the ridge. The South Gate of Jingshan and the Qiwang Tower are built along the central axis from south to north to the south of the mountain. Wanchun Pavilion is the tallest and highest-level of the five pavilions. It is located on the top of the middle mountain. It is also the commanding height and important landscape viewpoint on the central axis of Beijing. The Shouhuang Hall complex is built in the middle of the northern area. The three archways in the east, west and south of the south end and the south glazed door form a ceremonial leading space, followed by two courtyards inside and outside. The main hall, Shouhuang Hall, is located in the north of the inner courtyard and is the highest-level building in Jingshan. Jingshan and its unique garden landscape have the dual functions of ceremonial sacrifices and as an artificial mountain for sightseeing and overlooking the entire city, providing testimony to the national etiquette traditions of the Ming and Qing dynasties.

(Photo provided by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage)

Editor: Zhao Junyi