Visit Here: Ming City Wall Ruins Park

From far-flung places in our Take the Subway series, we move closer to the city center for a look at a few spots that we think, while they may not be on any Beijing top sights lists, are definitely worth going out of your way to visit.

Leaving the Temple of Agriculture, we head north and east of Qianmen, where we’ll find the…

Ming City Wall Relics Park (明城墙遗址公园 Míngchéngqiáng Yízhǐ Gōngyuán)

First constructed in 1419, this section of the city wall – which spans from Dongbianmen Tower to Chongwenmen – is a mere 1.5 km section of a structure that spanned 40 km, wrapping the outer and inner cities of Beijing in a protective layer. The park section is what remains of the inner city wall.

Why Visit?

Besides getting to know Beijing’s city ramparts, for RMB 10 you can climb atop a mostly reconstructed section of wall to enter the Dongbianmen watchtower. The tower used to be known as the Fox Tower, and is a major location in Paul French’s true crime history Midnight in Peking.

While the watchtower was once the original home of Red Gate Gallery (now located in 798), Beijing’s first foreign-owned art gallery, it now houses a small museum displaying models of the capital’s old gates. Outside, a walk on the wall allows nice views of the city, as well as a vantage point for watching trains as they enter and exit the nearby Beijing Railway Station.

The Details

As mentioned, tickets are RMB 10 and are only necessary if you want to climb to the top of the wall and enter the watchtower. While the surrounding park is open 24/7, the wall and watchtower are only open Tuesdays through Sundays, 8.30am to 7pm.

Ming City Wall Ruins Park 明城墙遗址公园
9 Chongwenmen Dongdajie, Dongcheng District
东城区崇文门东大街9号
Hours: Tues-Sun, 8.30am-7pm (wall/watchtower only)
Contact: 010 6527 0574; 010 6527 0080

READ: Visit Here: the Temple of Agriculture

Images: Vincent R. Vinci