becoming the central axis of china·beijing｜why is it called a masterpiece of china’s ideal capital order?
2024-10-04
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a central axis embellishes a city.
on october 1, the paper’s national day special planning “becoming china” reporting team walked along the central axis of beijing to experience “a masterpiece of china’s ideal capital order.”
the central axis, which continues to grow in the landscape and over time, is like the annual rings of trees, recording the construction and development history of the most beautiful area.
on july 27 this year, the "beijing central axis" was successfully applied for world heritage and officially included in the world heritage list. the total length of beijing's central axis is 7.8 kilometers, starting from the bell and drum tower in the north, and passing through wanning bridge, jingshan, the forbidden city, duanmen, tiananmen, waijinshuiqiao, tiananmen square and building complex, zhengyangmen, and the road remains in the southern section of the central axis in the south. to the yongding gate at the southern end, there are 15 heritage sites in total, including the ancestral temple, the altar of sheji, the temple of heaven and the altar of xiannong, which are symmetrically arranged from east to west.
someone once said that the development process of human civilization is essentially a process of order construction. the views of order of various cultural types are bound to be clearly reflected in the settlements and urban forms built by people, and beijing’s central axis is the most straightforward embodiment of the ideal capital order.
as explained by the beijing central axis application team, beijing’s central axis has witnessed the chinese civilization’s exploration of building order in the world since ancient times. the pursuit of order is not only reflected in the location, form, color, material and grade of buildings with different functions, but also in other aspects. on the spatial scale of the space, it is also reflected in the behavioral constraints of different classes. this order is the result of the continuous development and practice of chinese civilization, and presents an ideal state in the central axis buildings of beijing.
someone also asked, how long does it take to draw such a line? the answer is 700 years. beijing's central axis was built in the 13th century, took shape in the 16th century, and has gone through three dynasties. what remains today is not just the backbone of a city, it is always engraved with the wisdom and creativity of ancient chinese culture. even though it has experienced great changes in the times, what remains unchanged is that it remains bright.
in the early 1950s, the famous architect mr. liang sicheng once described this group of magnificent buildings: "the most outstanding thing about beijing's deployment is its north-south central axis, which is more than seven kilometers long from south to north. in its center there are large monumental buildings that run straight through the yongding gate in the south of the outer city into the city, and lead straight through the entire forbidden city to the bell and drum tower in the north. they can be seen most clearly from the top of jingshan mountain. the second city has such great courage and can grasp such a spatial concept so calmly.”
beijing's central axis building group is a great, living historical and cultural heritage that still maintains strong vitality. it reflects the creative process of the chinese nation integrating the spirit of civilization into the form of the capital and the built environment. it not only has irreplaceable value in witnessing the development process of chinese civilization, but also profoundly affects the sustainable development of contemporary beijing city.
the paper reporter liu lu
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