Imperial City

Introduction to the Imperial City and Tiān’ān Mén Square

Almost all visits to Běijīng start here at the heart of imperial power, once the centre of rings of walls within walls, and now the centre of the kind of power that grows out of the barrel of a gun in Máo Zédōng’s phrase, and of…

Imperial City and Tiān’ān Mén Square

Introduction and Contents

Almost all visits to Běijīng start here at the heart of imperial power, once the centre of rings of walls within walls, and now the centre of the kind of power that grows out of the barrel of a gun in Máo Zédōng’s…

Miraculous Máo

Despite his waxen rigidity, Máo Zédōng is not without influence even today. A few years ago, peasants in one Shǎnxī Province village built a temple to him, which was closed down as soon as it was discovered by officials.

Tiān’ān Mén Square 天安门广场

A spur of the Imperial City walls once ran straight south from the Tiān’ān Mén to the Dà Míng Mén, the Gate of the…

The Shock of the New

Since the end of the Qīng dynasty Běijīng has suffered a long series of architectural disasters at the hands of planners with political goals, property developers solely interested in lining their own pockets, and corrupt alliances of the two. The area surrounding the northwest corner of…