The Zhongzhou Road in Beijing

About the Zhongzhou Road

Zhongzhou Road of Beijing starts from Yongdingmen at the southern end and ends at the Drum and Bell Towers at the northern end. It’s 7.8 kilometers in length and is like the backbone of Beijing. The Zhongzhou Road first passes through Yongdingmen, Tianqiao Bridge, Qianmen Street, and Zhengyangmen. Zhengyangmen are called Qianmen but its official name is Zhengyangmen. Behind Zhengyangmen people can see the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall, the Monument to the People’s Heroes, the national flagpole, and then Tian’anmen. On the left- and right-hand sides of Tian’anmen are the Great Hall of the People and the National Museum of China. Behind Tian’anmen is Duanmen, the gate for royal ceremonies in ancient China, and the three halls and three palaces of the Imperial Palace. Behind the Gate of Divine Might of the Imperial Palace are Jingshan, Di’anmen, and the last two buildings on Zhongzhou Road: the Drum Tower and the Bell Tower. It’s called Zhongzhou Road (Central Axis) because it is situated right at the center of the city.

Today in Beijing, the Dongcheng District and the Xicheng District are symmetric, because they are divided according to Zhongzhou Road. In the past, when people came to Beijing by land, they would all enter the city from Fengtai, where they would see Yongdingmen from afar. Seeing the Yongdingmen meant that they almost reached the city of Beijing. After entering Yongdingmen, they would find that the road was wide and there weren’t many people. It was quiet, and they felt that it was easy to enter the city. After walking for a while, they would see a curved bridge, which was Tianqiao Bridge in Old Beijing, and they would find that it became more and more crowded. When they passed the crossroad of Zhushikou and reached Qianmen Street. They would see more and more shops on both sides of the street, some of which were under long-established brands. Further away, an even bigger gate entered their sights. That was the gate that symbolized the capital city status of Beijing. That gate was named Zhengyangmen, and people called it Qianmen.

Similar Arrangements in a Famous Painting

That concept embodies Chinese aesthetics, which is also reflected in the painting of “Along the River during the Qingming Festival.” As we know, this painting is the greatest treasure of the Palace Museum in the Imperial Palace. The scene it depicted begins in the same way as Zhongzhou Road, from the countryside. People are offering sacrifices at their ancestors’ tomb in the suburb. It begins with one or two persons and a few houses, and then one can see a string of wheel carts, more people, and a village. Gradually, it becomes more and more crowded.

Moving forward, you can see a market, and there are boats on the river. Moving further, you will see the gate of the city of Bianliang in the distance. When you see the gate, you see people coming in and out of it, which is a hectic scene. Behind the gate, what you can see are still busy streets and markets, but not palaces. The imperial palace is not in this painting, which makes people feel that there is still a lot more to see after entering the capital city. But the painting already comes to an end here. After entering the city, it was up to the audience to imagine how bustling and prosperous Bianliang was and how grand the imperial palace was.

Buildings on the Zhongzhou Road

Qianmen, first and foremost, was grand in architecture and was the front gate of the capital city. It was the overture of Zhongzhou Road, after which there came a climax. After entering Qianmen, people realized that the buildings around them had an obvious characteristic, that is, their colors were different. From Yongdingmen to Qianmen, the buildings they saw were mostly featured with grey walls and grey tiles. The Tower Gate, though looked grand, was, too, built with big grey bricks. After entering Qianmen, however, the buildings looked entirely different in color. Those buildings had red walls and yellow glazed tiles, which are characteristic of the imperial palace. Today, what people can see is that after entering Qianmen, they come to a significant landmark, that is, Tian’anmen Square, which is one of the largest squares in the world.

In the past, behind the gates of Qianmen, there was Qianbulang (Thousand-Pace Corridor) on both sides, where over 100 rooms were situated symmetrically. They were reception rooms where officials waited to be seen by emperors. With these rooms on both sides, the road in the middle was quite narrow, and it was not as spacious as Tian’anmen square today. At that time, it was but a rather long and narrow square, which was a straight passage in the south-north direction. The two sides were the same so that one would not look sideways and could only look ahead.

The buildings on the Zhongzhou Road could be compared to a piece of grand music: behind the gate of the imperial palace, there was Tian’anmen, in front of which were huabian (ceremonial columns) and imperial guardian lions. Behind Tian’anmen was Duanmen, which also had red walls and yellow glazed tiles and looked the same as Tian’anmen. Behind Duanmen was the Meridian Gate, and behind the Meridian Gate was the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Here, the music of Zhongzhou Road came to its climax. It was the hall where emperors were enthroned the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Imperial Palace. Emperors sat on Zhongzhou Road because they thought that only by sitting on Zhongzhou Road could his country be kept stable, and his ruling viewed as rightful. In their minds, Zhongzhou Road symbolized the ultimate supremacy.

A Prince’s Personal Experience of Beijing

During the Guangxu era of the Qing Dynasty, Prince Ferdinando of Italy came to Beijing to meet the emperor. Before he came to Beijing, he took a train from Qinghuangdao to Qianmen, the Gate of the Country. After entering Qianmen, he said that he came to China to meet the emperor because his king sent gifts to the emperor. In diplomacy, if you fail to meet the number one in charge, i.e., the emperor, you fail in diplomacy. So he insisted on meeting the emperor. Prince Ferdinando arrived in Beijing on the 1st of July, the daytime was quite long, and the sky was not dark until quite late. He thought, wouldn’t it be easy to meet the emperor on the very evening when he arrived? However, officials from the Ministry of Rites told him no, and that it was not that easy to meet the emperor. He suggested the next day and was not possible. The officials thought that he must be very tired after traveling such a long distance, and he had to rest well so he could be in good shape when meeting the emperor. So he was told to rest for a day.

After resting for a day, Prince Ferdinando said, “Now that I am in good condition, can I meet the emperor?” Again, his request was denied, and he was told to learn Chinese etiquette. He was given a tour of the Summer Palace. After touring the Summer Palace, Prince Ferdinando again requested to meet the emperor. Again, he was asked to rest for another day and was finally allowed to meet the emperor four days later. He was asked to wake up early in the morning at four or five o’clock to meet the emperor. He thought the Chinese emperor was quite diligent and woke up so early to meet an envoy. What he didn’t know was that it was complicated to meet the emperor.

At five o’clock, he was carried to Qianmen on a sedan chair. He saw a gate on a red wall with yellow tiles and thought he was going to meet the emperor behind that gate. After entering the gate, he found there was a long path behind it, and it took him very long to reach the end of the path. That was what we call the imperial path. Looking up, Prince Ferdinando saw an even bigger gate, which was Tian’anmen, with Huabiao, imperial guardian lions, and Jinshui Bridges in front of it. He thought the emperor was behind that gate. After crossing a Jinshui Bridge and entered Tian’anmen, he found yet another identical gate behind it, which was Duanmen, the gate for royal ceremonies. After entering Duanmen, he thought now that he had entered the gate for royal ceremonies, he should see the emperor. But what he saw was another even grander gate behind it. This building was called Yanchi Tower. With structures on both sides of the tower stretching forward, it looked as if the Imperial Palace was spreading wings to embrace him.

Prince Ferdinando thought this must be the gate where the emperor was. He was carried to the Meridian Gate on a sedan chair, where he was asked to change to another sedan chair. At that time, officials of the Ministry of Rites told him that he had just entered the Imperial Palace. Prince Ferdinando then realized that after such a long journey, he had just arrived at the Imperial Palace. It was seven o’clock, and the sun was about to rise. After entering the Meridian Gate of the Imperial Palace, Prince Ferdinando found a huge square, which was the Meridian Gate Square, and more Jinshui Bridges. After crossing a Jinshui Bridge, he was led through Zhaodemen, the gate on the left-hand side of the Gate of Supreme Harmony, and then Zuozhongmen (left middle door), and Zuohoumeng (left back door).

Finally, he reached the Palace of Heavenly Purity, where he was asked to wait to meet the emperor. They met at the Hall of Mental Cultivation, which was next to the Grand Council. By the time Prince Ferdinando entered the Hall of Mental Cultivation, it was already ten o’clock. The meeting didn’t last long; it took only about twenty minutes. After coming back, Prince Ferdinando wrote about his experience, which has been documented in records now. He wrote that he saw with his own eyes those buildings along Zhongzhou Road, Which were truly unlike any other buildings in the world, and that he truly felt that his life was worth it after visiting the Imperial Palace in Beijing. He thought it was amazing and aesthetically pleasing.

The Rhythm of Zhongzhou Road

Talking about the rhythm of Zhongzhou Road, it was coming to its climax at the Hall of Supreme Harmony, but the climax didn’t end abruptly there. Behind this hall were the three palaces of the Inner Court, including the palace for the Emperor and the palace for the Empress. There were more buildings on Zhongzhou Road until finally, it brought one up to the Wanchun Pavilion on Jingshan. Jingshan was the highest point of Beijing, on which you could enjoy the view of the entire city. To view Zhongzhou Road from south to north, Wanchun Pavilion on Jingshan was the best viewpoint. At Jingshan, the piece of music of Zhongzhou Road reaches its climax. After Jingshan, it immediately descended to a lower point, and the section from the Shouhuang Hall to Di’anmen served as a buffer: The buildings in this section had the same style as the Imperial Palace, with yellow glazed tiles on their roofs.

After coming out of Di’anmen, the environment changed again, and you were back to the city of Beijing. Finally, you could see the tall Drum Tower and Bell Tower, and the music of Zhongzhou Road came to a nice ending. The Drum and Bell Towers used to be used to announce the time, and the announcements could be heard throughout the city. Zhongzhou Road ended here at the Bell Tower, which could be called a perfect ending of this piece of music. Around this area situated many hutongs and siheyuans (courtyard houses) of Beijing, and the music of Zhongzhou Road disappeared in these siheyuans.

The Temple of Heaven & The Drum and Bell Towers

From the prelude to the climax, which continued to the highest point, and then to the ending, Zhongzhou Road was just like a piece of music, and after walking through it, people felt that they couldn’t appreciate it enough. They enjoy recalling this journey repeatedly because they could feel the beauty in its rhythm. It was like a long scroll of s Chinese painting, which one could, from right to left, appreciate slowly and study thoroughly. There were 24 solar terms in the lunar calendar, and there were 24 drums in the Drum Tower.

During the solar terms such as Chunfen, Xiazhi, and Qiufen, there would be performances of beating the drums, which symbolizes the change of the solar terms. It was used to announce the time at night. Beating drums at night might scare people. So every Chinese hour, that is, today’s two hours, which was called “yigeng” in ancient China, the bell would be rung. It was said that the bell would be rung for 108 times. The melodious chimes would put kids to sleep if they hadn’t. The chimes were melodious and had echoed. The Echo Wall of the Temple of Heaven gives echoes when you speak in front of it. This technique was also used in the Bell Tower. It was said that the Bell Tower functioned like a giant speaker, and when the bell was rung, its echoes traveled slowly till they reached places far away, and the echoes would last for a long time. Like what was mentioned, they would not wake people up, because the echoes were very soothing. People at every corner of the city could hear the bell once it was ringing.

People used to follow Beijing time, which was the standard time and the most accurate time announced by the Drum and Bell towers. There were drum and bell towers in other cities announcing the time as well, but only the time announced here was truly Beijing time, the time in the city of Beijing. Zhongzhou Road of Beijing reflected Chinese Culture, in which the central location is viewed as the most important position. The design of the capital city, surely, had to follow this principle as well. As mentioned, the central location is viewed as the most important. The place where emperors were, i.e., the imperial palace, the hall where emperors were enthroned and even the throne on which emperors sat had to be placed at the center. This philosophy of putting the most important person or thing at the very center is at the center of the Chinese culture.

The Four Temples

On the left- and right-hand sides of Zhongzhou Road, there are the Temple of Heaven, the Temple of Earth, the Temple of the Sun, and the Temple of the Moon. The four temples were arranged with the Hall of Supreme Harmony, that is, the hall where emperors where enthroned, at its center, and the layout followed the rule of “Heaven in the south and Earth in the North.” The Temple of Heaven was situated in the south outside of Qianmen, while the Temple of Earth was situated in the north outside of Andingmen. The Temple of the Sun was situated outside of Chaoyangmen, while the Temple of the Moon was outside of Fuchengmen. In fact, the city of Beijing, including the people of the city, live within heaven, earth, the sun, and the moon. Life here should fully comply with the law of nature, and heaven, earth, the sun, and the moon should all be placed at the right location.

Yin, Yang, and the Five Elements

With Zhongzhou Road as its backbone, the city of Beijing was arranged following the principle of Yin and Yang. After entering the Qianmen of Beijing, one will find Congwenmen in the east and Xuanwumen in the west, which followed the rule of “Wen at the left-hand side and Wu at the right-hand side,” a rule that cannot be mistaken about. In fact, it is common to find two identical places or buildings in the city of Beijing “wen at the east and wu at the west.” Even today the extension of Zhongzhou Road, the Bird’s Nest was built on the east side of the city, and the Water Cube was built in the west. The positions are not interchangeable. The Bird’s Nest is of the character of yang, while the Water Cube is of the character of yin. Though the Bird’s Nest was built with steel, real bird nests are made of grass and tree branches, which belong to the element of Wood. The Water Cube has the element of Water, which is of the character of yin. Yang and yin are arranged on the east and west side of Zhongzhou Road.

So even today, in this modern world, people can’t ignore Zhongzhou Road if they want to follow the traditional Chinese culture in Beijing, because the layout of the city was designed with Zhongzhou Road at its center. Yin and yang and the five elements were embodied in the design of Zhongzhou Road and the Chinese people pay a lot of attention to yin and yang and the five elements. There is a map about the most important part, or the climax, of Zhongzhou Road: the biggest building in the front is the Hall of Supreme Harmony, followed by the Hall of Central Harmony in the middle, and the Hall of Preserving Harmony at the back. These three buildings are what people call the climax of Zhongzhou Road. Below these three buildings are three levels of steps, which form a Chinese character: Tu (earth). The character of “Tu” is formed with two horizontal strokes and one vertical stroke. Out of the five elements of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth, the last element of “Earth” is supposed to be placed at the center. The five elements can form either a generation cycle or an overcoming cycle.

Therefore, in the past, cities were designed with the five elements placed in the city to form a generation cycle. It was part of the traditional Chinese culture. The traditional Chinese culture of putting the most important thing at the center, and placing other objects with the characters of yin and yang symmetrically on the left and right hands of the center was fully reflected in the design of the buildings on Zhongzhou Road and its surroundings.

The Birth of the Zhongzhou Road

The Zhongzhou Road today originated from the Zhongzhou Road of the capital of the Yuan Dynasty founded by Mongolian. Kublai Khan came to Beijing after his grandfather Genghis Khan conquered it. After Kublai Khan came here, he wanted to build a big city here as Dadu (the capital) of Yuan. He had only one requirement of the capital: The characteristic of the Mongolians had to be built into it. They lived a nomadic life: they went to places where there was water. So the element of water had to be built into the capital city. Water is crucial for a city. With water, there is life, which was what Kublai Khan wanted. Therefore he had to find some Chinese experts.

He found a designer by the name of Liu Bingzhong. This gentleman was a master of Chinese culture. He knew yin and yang and the five elements, the “I Ching,” and the Bagua. He also knew Confucianism, and how to govern a country and how to build a city. It was said that the way Liu Bingzhong met Kublai Khan was also unique. The person Kubai Khan summoned was Master Haiyun. When he was summoned, Master Haiyun found that this young man of Liu Bingzhong was 27 the year he met Kublai Khan and was very knowledgeable, so Master Haiyun brought him to meet Kublai Khan. In the meeting with Kublai Khan, Master Haiyun originally was supposed to talk about Zen and Chinese Buddhism. After the talk, Kublai Khan found that Liu Bingzhong not only knew Buddhism, he was a monk and a Taoist priest himself.

Liu knew how to design a layout according to yin and yang. Kublai Khan was very happy, so he asked Liu Bingzhong to stay to work for him, and he kept Liu Bingzhong with him as a key advisor of his. When he planned to build the capital of Yuan, he commissioned it to Liu Bingzhong. Therefore, Liu Bingzhong was the founder of the culture of the city of Beijing and its first planner. There was one thing that Liu Bingzhong did very successfully, which was that he integrated the nomadic culture and the agricultural culture in the Central Plain seamlessly. First, he followed the requirement of Kublai Khan, and built water into the city, from the perspective of yin and yang and the five elements. Water is of the character of yin, so it has to be put in the west part of the city.

In the eastern border was the east bank of Shichahai. Today, there is a bridge called Houmen Bridge, which is its colloquial name. Its official name is Wanning Bridge, and it is well preserved. The bridge was in front of the Drum Tower, where the central point or the central axis of the capital city of Beijing was set in the Yuan Dynasty. Once the central axis was defined over there, the water area was all allocated to the western part of the city. So Zhongzhou Road was defined in the Yuan Dynasty.

Changes Made to the “Road” and the Beijing City

Major changes were made to the road in the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, sent a trusted general of his, by the name of Xu Da, to Beijing. After entering Beijing, Xu Da led his army and marched along the Grand Canal, and met up with the army led by Chang Yuchun. Xu Da took the Grand Canal to enter Beijing, and the city gate he attacked was Chaoyangmen, which was called Qihuamen at that time. When Beijing was taken, the Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty fled from Jiandemen at Beitucheng. He exited form Juyong Pass and fled back to the Mongolian Plateau.

After entering Beijing, Xu Da found that Beijing was too big, and the northern part of it was not easy to be governed. There were not many houses in the north part, so he decided to chop the north part off from Beijing. He chopped off the area between Beitucheng and the North 2nd Ring Road of today with a distance of five li in depth from Beijing and rebuilt the northern wall of the city, which is today’s North 2nd Ring Road. After that, when Zhu Di, the Yongle Emperor of Ming moved the capital city to Beijing, he found that the city was too small. So he expanded it. The northern part had already been chopped off, so he couldn’t expand the city northwards. Instead, he expanded it towards the south. The southern wall of the capital of Yuan was situated at Chang’an Avenue, and by the time of Ming, it was moved to the “Qianshanmen (three gated in the front) of today, which was about two li further south.

Since the entire city was shifted southwards, when it was time to re-design the imperial palace, the entire palace had to be shifted southwards as well. This shift created an extraordinary phenomenon, which was the creation of the Ming Dynasty. First, the entire imperial palace of the Yuan Dynasty could be reused. It was a square-shaped structure including the Palace of Heavenly Purity and the Palace of Earthly Tranquility of the inner Court of today’s Forbidden City. It was located where Jingshan is today. So the Ming Dynasty created a hill to put the former imperial palace under the ground. It happened that the imperial palace of Yuan had no moats. Today, the Imperial Palace is surrounded by a moat called the Tongzi River. So Zhu Di dug the Tongzi River and heaped the earth here into a hill in the shape of a sycee, which covered the imperial palace of Yuan under the ground.

Initially, the hill served the purpose of deterrence. But putting the former palace underground, it symbolized that the former dynasty would not revive, and the country of the Ming Dynasty would be stable. Second, Zhu Di built his imperial palace in front of the hill. The new imperial palace was located to the south of the imperial place of Yuan, and it had the hill at its back, which, according to Chinese customs, was an ideal location for buildings. Sunshine in the front and a hill at the back. And water to its left, and a road to its right. The ideal ecological environment of Zhongzhou Road had been created.

At the time of the Jiajing Emperor, the Mongols came back again. They came directly to Beijing City. It was said that one of his vanguard troops had arrived at outside Andingmen. The Ming Dynasty felt threatened. They thought the city was not formidable enough and needed to be fortified. They decided to build an outer city for Beijing City. So they started to build another ring of walls, the outer city of Beijing. They intended to circle the entire Beijing City, namely a small square inside a big square. The inner city is in the center. The imperial city is inside the inner city. And the Forbidden City is in the imperial city. Then build an outer city outside the inner city. But at the time of construction, civil engineering faced a problem. After they completed the construction of the south outer city, they ran out of funds and could not go on the engineering. So there is only the south city. Eventually, the north side becomes the inner city, and the south side is the inner city. This structure is called “convex” shape (Tu), or official’s hat city, like the hat we wear.

Alterations Made in the Qing Dynasty

The Ming Dynasty inherited Zhongzhou Road from the capital of the Yuan Dynasty and shifted the entire capital city to the south. After the army of Qing entered Beijing, they found that the culture of the Central Plain or the culture in Beijing had been well developed, so they inherited the culture of Beijing entirely. Because when Li Zicheng and his army withdrew from Beijing, the imperial palace was severely damaged, so after the army of Qing took control of Beijing, they had it rebuilt. One of the significant changes was made of the names, which, from today’s perspective, would not be able to be done by later generations.

The three halls of the Imperial Palace, as mentioned, were built during the era of Zhu Di. The first hall was named Fengtian Hall, and Fengtian meant that emperors were doing things according to the will of Heaven. The name was borrowed from a hall in Nanjing. The second hall, the Hall of Central Harmony, was like a beautiful pavilion. Its roof was similar to an imperial canopy and was thus named Huagai (imperial canopy) Hall. The last hall was named Jinshen Hall, which meant that emperors were diligent in governing the country, and it was a good name. The names were changed during the era of Jiajing. The Jiajing Emperor was a cousin of his predecessor, so he had to emphasize his ruling authority.

Traditionally, Chinese people do not advocate for extremism. But the Jiajing Emperor named the first hall Huangji Hall, the second Zhongji Hall, and the third Jianji Hall. When the Qing Dynasty started its rule, it found that the names had to be changed. They should indicate external peace and internal harmony, so the Chinese characters of “he” (harmony) and “an” (peace) were used in the names. For internal harmony, the first hall was named the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the second the Hall of Central Harmony, and the third the Hall of Preserving Harmony. Supreme harmony is the best status, which refers to the harmony in the entire universe, and the harmony between Heaven and Earth, and yin and yang.

Central harmony reflects the Confucius view of the doctrine of the mean, which emphasized on keeping equilibrium and harmony by being imperial and fair. Last but not least, preserving harmony is the ideal outcome in the Chinese culture of harmony. Outside the Imperial Palace, there was Tian’anmen in its south, and Bei’anmen in its north was renamed Di’anmen. There were also Dong’anmen in its east and Xi’anmen in its west. The layout of these buildings complied with the principle of “internal harmony and external peace,” which changed the cultural atmosphere of Beijing.

The Imperial Palace was the Forbidden City in the Ming and Qing dynasties; then it was turned into the Imperial Palace Museum.

The Genius of Liu Bingzhong’s Planning

Another unique feature of Beijing is that all names of bus stations besides an interchange indicate its location relative to the interchange. For example, East Jianxiang Bridge, West Jianxiang Bridge, South Jianxiang Bridge, and North Jianxiang Bridge. These names tell you the location of the bus stops, which is something that other cities are unable to do. When Kublai Khan asked Liu Bingzhong to design the city, he put the old city aside and started to plan a new one in an open space from scratch. Also, he planned according to the exact directions of South, North, East, and West, because the imperial palace must be situated facing straight south. Therefore, it’s very easy to find directions in Beijing. In older cities, such as Shanghai, Dalian, Tianjin, and Guangzhou, which are port cities, many roads led to the ports. The roads were built in such a way that they could shorten the distance to the ports. Many cities in the world are located next to ports, and roads in those cities do not follow the north-south direction. Instead, they start from the focal point of the ports. It is not the case in Beijing. It spread from the center to the outside.

Symmetry or Asymmetry

Beijing is surrounded by mountains from three sides and faces the sun. The center is dense with rivers passing through. The No. 1 prefecture of the whole of Hebei Province is called Jizhou. It is the location of Beijing that has accomplished the Beijing City. So many foreigners think it is unique in the world’s cultural heritage, unique in urban planning and construction too.

The Chinese people are quite flexible about symmetry. It doesn’t mean that the right and left must be precisely the same and it has never been the case. There is a core concept, that is, the asymmetry in the symmetry. And that is the real beauty. The Chinese origin of symmetry was based on “Rites of Zhou: Records of Trades.” In which it says, for an imperial city, first set the imperial seat, then the ancestral hall on the left and the Altar of the Soil on the right. The left is to sacrifice the ancestors. Now it is the Working People’s Cultural Palace, known as the Imperial Ancestral Hall in the past. The right is the Altar of Soil dedicated to the God of Soil and God of Grains. It is symmetrical.

The Water Cube and the Bird’s Nest are on either side of the central axis. But they are asymmetric in away. It was agreed that the Water Cube, opposite the Bird’s Nest had to be associated with water. According to the yin and yang theory, it had to have something to do with water. The Bird’s Nest is round, so the building was built into a cube. The Bird’s Nest has a steel frame, hard, so this building consists of membrane structure.

Zhongzhou Road’s Role in Modern Beijing

The Zhongzhou Road still plays a very important role in today’s development. The development of Beijing City has experienced three milestones. The first milestone is the Beijing City built by Zhu Di. He built the Forbidden City and the inner city. The outer city was completed in the Jiajing Period. By then, the city took its current shape. In the second phase, the Beijing City underwent great changes, mainly in the 20th century. The feudal dynasty declined, and the Republic of China was first established. Then the People’s Republic of China was founded. These are two historical events. At the founding of new China in 1949, the leaders wanted to stress the importance of people being the masters of the country. So the Tian’anmen Square underwent the second transformation. This transformation was linked to the state founding ceremony.

Before the founding ceremony, a lot of places were chosen, and it was agreed finally that Tian’anmen Square was the most suitable. But at that time, the Tian’anmen Square was still very small. It underwent a transformation in the Republic of China, but it only removed the reception rooms at either side of the emperor’s Thousand-Pace Corridor, and it was still very small in a narrow shape. It was very inconvenient for the tanks to go through the small gates from the left and right gates of Chang’anmen. In the end, two slogans were placed on both sides of the Tiananmen Tower and a portrait of Chairman Mao in the middle, in line with the Zhongzhou Road culture in bilateral symmetry. The two slogans were “Long live the People's Republic of China” and “Long live the People's United in the World,” in which the word “People” is emphasized. So the Tian’anmen Square was transformed like that.

To commentate the patriotic martyrs since the Opium War, the Monument to the People’s Heroes was to be built. The Monument should be a special building that stands out. Based on the idea of center worship, it was to be placed in the middle of the Zhongzhou Road. The stone needed to build the Monument was originated in Shandong. The stone was over 100 tons and was shipped to Beijing at that time. Then the Monument to the People’s Heroes was built.

Summary

All in all, Zhongzhou Road has a cohesive force. China is a country with many people and vast land. All in all, Zhongzhou Road has a cohesive force. China is a country with many people and vast land. One of its most prominent characteristics is the unity of people, which is the essence of the idea of “center worship,” an important cultural characteristic of China.