The old saying goes that ‘Rome was not built in a day’. We take it almost as an inherent truth that great cities do not spring into being fully formed, but are developed incrementally over time. Beijing, however, presents a different story.
Beijing differs from other ancient capital cities around the world, such as Athens, Rome, or Istanbul, whose premodern forms primarily grew out of the natural evolution of urban space according to changes in population, economic wealth and political power. As the capital of a vast empire, historic Beijing was unique because it came into being as a ‘planned entity’ (Liang, 1986).
Born to be old: An 800-year-old city carrying a 3,000-year-old tradition
The actual construction that made Beijing the capital city it is today took around 20 years in the 13th Century, but its planning strictly adhered to principles laid out 3,000 years ago in the ancient Chinese Confucianism classic the Zhou Li, or the Rites of Zhou.
- ‘Here, where Heaven and Earth are in perfect accord,
- where the four seasons come together,
- where the winds and the rains gather,
- where the forces of yin and yang are harmonised,
- One builds a royal capital.’
Though compiled later in the Spring and Autumn period, which began in the 7th century BC, the Chapter text ‘Record of Construction’ of the Zhou Li already set forth the conditions for the site selection of a capital city as early as the 11th century BC. The above poetic description was no random vision, but an expression of a rich geomantic system that explained ideals of place. Mountains and rivers, sunlight and wind—all elements of the natural environment were carefully observed and recorded in order to calculate the exact place where a city representing the heart of the empire would be able to prosper.
The book also specified the proper layout of a city, with guidelines illustrating in great detail what a good capital city should look like. It stated that such a capital should be laid out in a square so as to align with the four directions, north, south, east and west. Three city gates should be built on each side and interconnected via gridded streets. According to the Zhou Li, the inner organisation of a city should reflect the order of the universe itself, with every social function having its proper place. The court was to be placed in the centre, facing south, with the market behind, and an altar for paying respects to ancestors on the left and another for worshipping the gods on the right. It sets forth plans for the layout of main streets, with access designed hierarchically to lead from the most public to the most private spaces.
The actual design and construction of Beijing took place during the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368). It was built to be a strategic and ideal city, in the shape of a square, perfectly situated on the geomantic point representing the central place of power on earth. The guidelines set forth in the Zhou Li’s Records of Construction were materialised in almost every scale and dimension. Everything was planned, from the capital’s placement within the empire’s geographic environment—with attention paid to the major mountains and rivers to locate the city’s most symbolically central point—to the width of residential lanes, so as to guarantee the proper social hierarchies, good circulation of traffic, and sufficient sunlight and ventilation.
In the Ming dynasty, Beijing was enlarged from its original square shape to a shape by including the Temple of Heaven to the south, and the urban waterway system was reorganised. The Qing dynasty inherited the city of the Ming, adding its own aesthetic preferences and decorative details. In terms of architecture and urban design, the same ancient Chinese principles prevailed.
Typically, other older Chinese capitals were destroyed when a new dynasty came to power. But Beijing, an ‘unparalleled masterpiece of urban design’ (Wheatley, 1971), stood solid and intact through 800 years. By crystallising Chinese philosophy and cosmology in its physical manifestation, it is the ultimate example of ancient Chinese urban planning, and perhaps the largest single work of art in the world.
If we use the modern language of urban design to summarise, some of the main features of the historic city of Beijing would be as follows:
- Site selection according to geomantic omens, a perfect location with all natural environmental elements well-considered, balancing the forces of Yin and Yang
- The north-south central axis of 7.8 kilometres, the spine of the city, which dictates the capital’s spatial order and symmetry, and gives it a clear orientation
- The city walls of the Yuan and Ming dynasties, the big square in which every house will identify itself with the grid of the city and the earthly world
- The consideration of natural landscape elements in its design, which serves practical functions such as providing water for urban usage, but also shows how Daoist aesthetics balanced and completed the Confucian order of Beijing’s urban planning, softening severe, square rigidity with natural shapes and curving lines
- The chessboard street patterns, with fishbone lanes dividing and connecting neighbour-hoods used for commerce and social congregation, just as much as for transportation
- An absolutely horizontal composition, with only one type of building (courtyard house) of one-storey high, forming a uniquely open and graceful skyline
- Unity and variety in form, colour and decorative details, with a hierarchy achieved through a play of symbols, where their accurate organisation creates a kind of visual symphony in space.
All of the features listed above were part of a holistic urban planning vision that reflected the integral, complete philosophy of what ancient Chinese people thought made up the ideal human habitat. Theirs was a philosophy of order and harmony. As an entirely designed space, the old city of Beijing was the best illustration of this ancient philosophy.
It is common in urbanism today to put more emphasis on the idea of an urban fabric before thinking about individual architectural elements. But from the very beginning, those planning the old city of Beijing were already thinking about the capital in such a way, coming up with an open yet well-structured plan which succeeded in flexibly adapting and accommodating actual on-the-ground realities as time went on and dynasties alternated. Beijing has for centuries functioned as what Richard Sennett terms an ‘open city’ (Sennett, 2006).
