The Ming Dynasty City Wall Relics Park

The Ming Dynasty City Wall Relics Park is one of the top-quality parks in Beijing. It is located 3 kilometers from the center of the city, between the southeast turret and Chongwen Gate in the west. It is a scenic spot of ancient architectural relic. It was open to the public in 2002.The Ming City Wall, first built over 580 years ago, in 1419, or the 17th year of Emperor Yongle's reign in the Ming Dynasty, used to run about 40 kilometers. The remaining relic, which is about 1.5 kilometers long, used to be part of the inner city wall of Beijing. It is the longest section of the city wall remains in the city, and an important symbol of Beijing.To preserve the scene of the ancient capital and provide better cultural environment for citizens in the area, the municipal party committee and the municipal government decided to build a Ming city wall relic park by renovating the wall without destroying its weather-beaten look and tidying up its surroundings. The project was launched on Nov. 25, 2001. By Sept. 2002, when its main part was completed, the 1,540-meter-long city wall had regained its grandeur.The design of the park aims at classical simplicity, with over 70,000 square meters of lawns, 110,000 flowers, over 400 large arbors such as Chinese pines and Chinese scholar trees, and over 6,000 shrubs. Pipelines of 28,000 meters have been installed; lighting devices have been installed for the wall, lawns, over 10,000 square meters of roads, paths, and corridors, and the square. Several sights of interest with themes reflecting the appearances of the wall relic and special qualities of landscaping, such as Old Trees and Ming Walls, Stroll among Broken Walls and New Charm of Ancient Tower, have been designated to fully display the cultural and historical elements of the Ming city wall.In 2003 the park underwent stage II landscaping, which added more variety to the plants. Over 300 arbors and shrubs, such as ginkgos, peaches, apricots, crape myrtles, goldenrain trees, magnolias, and over 100,000 flowers (such as marigolds and morning glories) and perennial-root flowers (such as fleur-de-lis and day lilies) have been planted. As a result, a number of distinctive scenic spots, such as Century-old Carriage Track, Sea and Hills, Purple Jade, Mountain Apricot, and Pagoda Trees Protecting the City Wall.Since it was officially opened to the public, the park receives nearly 200,000 tourists from home and abroad each year. In Oct. 2002, President Jiang Zemin paid a visit to it, and expressed great satisfaction with Beijing's efforts to protect cultural relics, the appearance of the ancient capital, and improving the surroundings of people's homes.