A gateway to the history of Beijing – Zhengyangmen Museum
- By Brian Salter
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E-mail China Today, February 14, 2017
Museum of Historical Moments
The museum itself covers the history of old Beijing, and contains many notable items in its collection. For instance, there is a very long painting of Emperor Qianlong’s first tour to Jiangsu and Zhe-jiang provinces in 1751. It was painted by court artist Xu Yang and consists of a number of scrolls, each measuring 868.6cm×1988.6cm. The original is actually to be found in the National Museum of China, and this is a copy, but it’s still lovely despite that, and few visitors are any the wiser!
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Court painter Xu Yang captured the moment in 1751 when Emperor Qianlong passed through Zhengyangmen. |
The detail is exquisite and clearly shows the entire barbican with the two towers to north and south.
And if you love old photographs, then you will be impressed with snapshots of what this area was like before the rebuilding started in 1914.
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The kilometer zero point for highways in China is located just outside the gate, and marked with a plaque in the ground. |
In order to alleviate traffic congestion, the Moon Fortress enclosure was demolished in 1915 and two side gateways were opened in the walls flanking the Gatehouse tower. Roads were paved; a zigzag ascending path was built for the Archery Tower and decorated in the Western style. So this was what it looked like just after the rebuilding in 1915.
Other famous moments in history were captured at the tower, such as on May 27, 1929, when Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s coffin passed through the Gatehouse when it was conveyed to Nanjing for interment.
On July 7, 1937 the Lugou Bridge (or Marco Polo Bridge in outskirt of Beijing) Incident broke out, marking the beginning of Japan’s full-scale invasion of China and the start of China entering the Second World War. On July 28, Japanese forces captured Beijing and entered the Inner City via Zhengyangmen on August 8.
But on January 31, 1949, Beijing was peacefully liberated; and on February 3 the PLA marched into the city through the gate in a grand ceremony.
Today Zhengyangmen still has an important role to play that not even many Beijingers are aware of. The kilometer zero point for highways in China (the point from which all distances are measured) is located just outside the gate, and marked with a plaque in the ground.
Zero Point was approved by the State Council and installed in September 2006. Four ancient Chinese mythical animals – Qinglong (Green Dragon), Baihu (White Tiger), Zhuque (Vermilion bird), and Xuanwu (Black Tortoise) represent East, West, South, and North. The wheel in the center represents the system of highways radiating to all parts of China.
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