Jingshan Park

Jingshan Park is located in the north of the Forbidden City on the central axis of Beijing. Here you can have an overlook on the panoramic view of the Forbidden City. It was originally an imperial garden in Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties and now a public park for citizens to have a leisure time. The main buildings include garden doors, Qiwang, avilions, ShouHuangDian (Hall of Imperial Longevity), Xingqing Court, Yongsi Hall and so on.

Two-storey Qiwang Pavilion is situated in the south of the park, at the foot of the hill facing the South Gate. Originally it had a memorial tablet to Confucius. Yongsi Hall is located in the north of and Guandedian were utilized as mouring sites for dead emperos during Qing Dynasty. Nowadays, there are used as a Children’s Palace, music school and library. And portraits of ancestors laid in the ShouHuangDian (Hall of Imperial Longevity).

The park covers an area of 230,000 square meters. The mountain inside is 43 m high with a circumference of 1015 m. the area of lawn inside is 1100 square meters. Although it doesn’t seem so high, it is a perfect spot to have an overlook of the Forbidden City, even many famous attractions in Beijing. To the north, you can get a clear view of the ancient Drum and Bell Towers, a classical feature of Chinese cities. To the west, you can see Beihai Park and its hill-top White Pagoda.


Take a picture of the panoramic view of the Forbidden City

The history of Jingshan can date to the Liao and Jin Dynasties. The 45.7-metre high artificial hillside was built in the Ming Dynasty completely through the dirt excavated in building the moats of the Forbidden and adjacent waterways. It is particularly remarkable when one thinks about that all of these materials were relocated just through manual work and animal strength. Jingshan is composed of 5 separated peaks, and on the top of each hill lays a tailor-made pavilion. All these pavilions were applied by authorities for collecting and amusement functions. These 5 peaks also extract the close to traditional axis of principal Beijing.

Based on the dictates of Feng Shui, it is beneficial to site a house to the south of a nearby hill (and it is additionally useful, getting safety from cold northern winds). The Grand Palaces in the other capitals of earlier dynasties were located to the southern hillside. It is widely recognized as Feng Shui Hill. It is also identified as Coal Hill, a immediate interpretation of its aged well-known Chinese title

It is said that the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Chong Zhen, committed his suicide by hanging himself of a tree inside the park in 1644.