Vm-4355-Beijing-Observatory-city-view-from-the-top-platform

Jianguomen () was a gate in the

city wall A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...

that once stood in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

and is now a transportation hub to the east of city centre. At Jianguomen bridge, the eastern

2nd Ring Road The 2nd Ring Road () is the innermost ring road highway which encircles the city center of Beijing, People's Republic of China. (The first ring road had been a circular tram route.) The ring road can be divided into two parts: the original ring ...

divides

Jianguomen Inner Street Jianguomen Inner Street () is a major street in urban Beijing. It forms part of the extended Chang'an Avenue. Its path begins after the Dongdan intersection heading east until Jianguomen Bridge. During its short run, it crosses with the inters ...

to the west from

Jianguomen Outer Street Jianguomen Outer Street, also transliterated as Jianguomen Wai Avenue () is a major street in urban Beijing. It forms part of the extended Chang'an Avenue. It runs from Jianguomen Bridge in the west through to Guomao on the east. It runs thro ...

to the east. A sub-district, Jianguomen Subdistrict is named after the gate.

History

Jianguomen was not one of the 16 original gates in Beijing's 15th century

Ming The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

-era city wall. The gate was an opening on the east side of Beijing's inner city wall that was created in 1939 during the Japanese occupation of the city to enable access to the industrializing eastern suburbs of the city. The gate was formally named the ''Jianguomen'' in November 1945. At that time Beiping, as the city was then known, returned to Chinese rule. The oldest landmark at Jianguomen is the famous

Beijing Ancient Observatory The Beijing Ancient Observatory () is a pretelescopic observatory located in Beijing, China. The observatory was built in 1442 during the Ming dynasty, and expanded during the Qing. It received major reorganization and many new, more accurate i ...

. In the 1970s, numerous embassies of Western countries opened in the area northwest of Jianguomen. In 1973, the Beijing Friendship Store was moved from

Wangfujing Wangfujing () is a shopping street in Beijing, China, located in Dongcheng District, Beijing, Dongcheng District. The majority of the main area is pedestrianised. Since the middle of the Ming Dynasty there have been commercial activities in ...

to Jianguomen Outer Street. The Jianguo Hotel, just east of Jianguomen, opened in 1982, was the first Sino-foreign hotel joint venture in Beijing.

Local transit

The

Jianguomen Station Jianguomen Station () is an interchange station on Line 1, Beijing Subway, Line 1 and Line 2, Beijing Subway, Line 2 of the Beijing Subway at Jianguomen (Beijing), Jianguomen in Dongcheng District, Beijing, Dongcheng District and Chaoyang Distric ...

of the

Beijing Subway The Beijing Subway is the rapid transit system of Beijing Municipality that consists of 25 lines including 20 rapid transit lines, two airport rail links, one maglev line and 2 light rail lines, and 463 stations. The rail network extends acro ...

is an interchange station for Lines 1 and 2 of the

. Many

Beijing Bus Public bus service in Beijing is the among the most extensive, widely used and affordable form of public transportation in urban and suburban districts of the city. In 2015, the entire network consisted of 876 routes with a fleet of 24,347 bus ...

routes stop at Jianguomen South (建国门南).

History

Local transit

References

See also