Táorán Tíng Park 陶然亭公园
太平街19号
Part of A Better Guide to Beijing’s coverage of South of Qián Mén
The park dates from only 1952 and is named for a pavilion at the southern edge of an island in the middle of one of its lakes. The ‘Happy and Carefree Pavilion’, which originally dates from 1695, was named from a line in a Táng dynasty poem.
Most of the park is a playground for adults, including those doing calligraphy with giant brushes, flying kites in a desultory manner, knitting, or playing mahjong, Chinese chess, or cards, or simply cooling their feet in the lake.
The southwest corner has two pavilions moved from the Zhōng Nán Hǎi government compound and a collection of copies of famous pavilions from elsewhere in China. The Táorán Tíng itself is part of a group of buildings that also has a revolutionary history and is described as ‘the most famous of the four famous pavilions in China’. It dates from 1695 when it was built by the supervisor of the imperial kiln, and one of the halls in the adjacent Temple of Mercy, a former convent, is said to date from the Mongol Yuán dynasty (1279–1368). There’s a rare even earlier relic from the Liáo dynasty (907–1125) in the form of an inscribed pillar.
There was considerable secret revolutionary activity here from 1925, and both Zhōu Ēnlái and Máo Zédōng were photographed under scholar trees, which no longer exist but which have been replaced with transplants. There are minor exhibitions of stelae and carved stones, mixing oddly with another of revolutionary photographs. A shop selling revolutionary memorabilia is not as popular as it once was, since the masses now have more choice where they shop and what for.
▶ Táorán Tíng Gōngyuán, Tàipíng Jiē 19, t 6353 2385, 6am–9pm. ¥2 park, ¥5 upwards when there are floral displays; ¥10 pavilion. m Táorán Tíng (Line 4). b to 陶然亭公园北门 (north gate): 40, 59, 613. 北京南站 (south gate): 特3, 特12内环, 特12外环, 20, 53, 63, 72, 84电车, 运动102线, 122, 458, 485, 692, 741, 821, 958, 997.
Next in South of Qián Mén: An Early Bar Street (story)
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For discussion of China travel, see The Oriental-List.
