Dongcheng
Temple of Heaven
An altar south of the palace, where Ming and Qing emperors addressed heaven.
The municipality journal
Beijing.
A palace on axis, an altar to the sky, a lake against a hill
Beijing is a municipality of sixteen districts. The journal opens in Dongcheng, with the palace axis and the altar south of it, then the lake in Haidian and the canal's northern end at Tongzhou.
Altar and lake
The Temple of Heaven faces the sky south of the palace. The Summer Palace holds Kunming Lake against Longevity Hill.
Haidian
Summer Palace
A Qing garden of Kunming Lake and Longevity Hill, a public park since 1924.
Closer reading
Read the palace axis, the ruined and rebuilt garden, and the canal as it leaves the capital.
From the journal
A palace set on one line
The Forbidden City in central Beijing puts the outer court in front and the inner court behind, along a single axis.
From the journal
A lake held against a hill
At the Summer Palace, Kunming Lake and Longevity Hill carry a Qing garden that was ruined, rebuilt and opened as a park.
From the journal
Where the canal leaves the capital
Tongzhou is the northern end of the Beijing–Hangzhou canal. The listed waterway goes on for more than 2,000 kilometres.
Three districts
Dongcheng, Haidian and Tongzhou. The other thirteen districts are not in this edition.
Dongcheng
The eastern half of Beijing’s old centre, where the palace and the altar to heaven sit a walk apart.
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The district northwest of the old centre, where the Summer Palace holds a lake against a hill.
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The southeastern district at the northern end of the Beijing–Hangzhou Grand Canal.
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