China Daily Global Edition (USA)
SPOTLIGHT SHINES ON BEIJING’S CENTRAL AXIS
Exhibition highlights the need to protect cultural heritage along ancient route
Some 50 old black-and-white photos displayed at an exhibition that just ended in Zhongshan Park, Beijing, gave visitors a sense of the historical and cultural significance of the Chinese capital’s Central Axis.
The exhibits also served as a reminder of the need to protect cultural heritage along this route.
The prints, from the 1860s to the 1940s, are the work of domestic and foreign photographers and institutions, including ItalianBritish photographer Felice Beato, Chinese lensman Lai Afong, Zurich Lithograpic Co and Tongsheng Photo Studio.
Gai Jianzhong, research center director at Zhongshan Park and co-curator of the exhibition, said: “These images were exhibited for the first time as original photos within the context of the Beijing Central Axis. They will undoubtedly provide a new framework and reference system for the study and display of Chinese historical images, especially those related to Beijing’s urban history.”
He added that the greatest significance of the photos is that they depict some of the primitive conditions of buildings along the Central Axis, which will help with future restoration and preservation work.
Selected from more than 10,000 old photos of the Central Axis, the prints were displayed based on locations along the axis from south to north.
The exhibition showcased images of the key heritage sites on the axis, including Yongding Gate, Zhengyang Gate, the Altar of Land and Grain, the Imperial Ancestral Temple, Jingshan Park, the Temple of Heaven, and the Bell and Drum towers.
Gai said, “My aim in curating the exhibition was to show the original prints to visitors. As there was no need for the exhibition to be overly luxurious or visually appealing, our display may have seemed a little basic, featuring only white walls and a relatively small number of photos.”
Zhongshan Park was the venue for the first photographic exhibition in China, which was staged by Beijing’s Light Society in June 1924 at the Laijinyu Pavilion.
Chen Wanli, one of the society’s founders, displayed more than 60 of his works. After the exhibition, he selected 12 of these works for a personal photo album.
Ancient setting
In addition to hosting photographic exhibitions, Zhongshan Park is home to the Altar of Land and Grain, one of 15 historical sites along the Central Axis, which is believed to be the world’s oldest and longest-surviving urban axis.
Gai said the basis for constructing the axis can be traced to the Zhou Dynasty (c. 11th century- 256 BC).
The Book of Diverse Crafts from the Rites of Zhou, which documents regulations for building a national capital in ancient China, states that the layout of such a city should be based on the location of the ancestral temple to the left of the axis and the altar on the right. The book also mentions that the layout on both sides and the extension of urban functions all relate to the Central Axis.
The 7.8-kilometer Central Axis, outlined initially by Kublai Khan, founder of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), was further developed and improved during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. Gai said the location of imperial palaces, temples, altars and marketplaces was ingeniously arranged.
The axis, the most representative and important part of old Beijing, was the core of the ancient city’s spatial pattern, he added. The term “spatial pattern” refers to the perceptual structure, placement, or order of objects, including the space between them.
Liang Sicheng, a renowned monuments architect who designed the national emblem of the People’s Republic of China, once described the axis as the greatest north-south central axis in the world. He wrote that it stretches across the entire city, running for about 8 km, and that Beijing’s unique and majestic order originates from establishment of the axis.
Gai said: “Because the axis is not a fixed entity, it is ‘alive’. Many experts, including myself, once viewed it as a mere collection of architectural relics, with each relic seen as a fragment of a historical story.
“But these fragments of history are static. Their significance lies not in the buildings themselves, but in the fact that the axis now enters the lives of Beijing residents through exhibitions and various other activities. In this way, these historical relics have become closely intertwined with people’s lives.”
Parks have taken on the role of preserving most of the heritage sites along the axis. The 15 such sites, evenly located on both sides of the center line, include the Temple of Heaven, the Temple of Agriculture, the Imperial Ancestral Temple, the Forbidden City and Jingshan Hill. They have all been open to the public since the Revolution of 1911, better known as the Xinhai Revolution, which was launched by Sun Yat-sen.
“As these sites are easily accessible to the public, people can better understand history, respect it, and thus gain an increased awareness of the need to protect cultural relics,” Gai said.
Although human activities at the heritage sites may pose safety challenges to wooden structures and some relics made from stone, these risks can be eliminated by the use of technology, Gai said, adding that certain areas of the Forbidden City are currently off limits due to heritage protection work.
Legislative protection
Over the years, the Beijing municipal government has implemented enhanced protection measures to preserve cultural relics along the Central Axis, with the aim of better conveying their historical and cultural value.
Since 2011, the municipal government has strengthened efforts to protect the axis.
On May 25 last year, the Standing Committee of Beijing Municipal People’s Congress passed a regulation on safeguarding cultural heritage along the route.
Ling Ming, deputy director of the Beijing municipal cultural heritage bureau, said the regulation defines protected heritage locations on the axis, and plans to conserve them. It proposes promoting the inheritance and use of cultural heritage along the axis by giving priority to protection efforts.
Using the regulation to organize and guide activities related to the protection, inheritance and use of cultural heritage on the axis can address the problems of safeguarding this heritage, Ling added.
Qin Hongling, a legislator and professor at Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, said work to protect cultural heritage on the Central Axis still faces many challenges. For example, the inheritance and use of such heritage need to be taken full advantage of, but there is still no solid coordination mechanism for this protection.
The protection rules provide strong legal guarantees for safeguarding and inheriting historical and cultural heritage along the axis, Qin added.
Even in the ancient city of Beijing, which boasted significant historical structures, urban management facilities and public buildings, crowds of tourists — particularly during holidays — while enjoying the beauty of this ancient architecture, seldom paid attention to the need to protect it.
A website managed by the Beijing municipal bureau of culture and tourism reports that in the first six months of last year, nine tourists were added to a blacklist of inappropriate behavior, including one who climbed over fences to damage flowers and trees at Jingshan Park.
Regulations state that such breaches are unforgivable, and that any damage to immovable cultural relics, and ancient buildings and trees in the protected area of the Beijing Central Axis should be punished.
Behavior causing loss of public or private property in violation of the regulations should be punished with a fine, and the offender held responsible, the regulations state.
Qin said protection of the Central Axis is covered by local legislation approved by the Beijing Municipal People’s Congress, while the Great Wall, the Peking Man heritage site at Zhoukoudian, and the 13 Ming imperial tombs in the capital are protected by municipal government regulations. Local legislation is generally believed to be more effective than local government rules in China.
In addition, the need to protect intangible cultural heritage on the Central Axis, as stated in the regulation passed in May last year, means that traditional folk customs not only embody the collective memory of the axis among Beijing citizens, but also reflect the folk culture of the capital’s natives and traditional Chinese architectural techniques, Qin added.
The regulation also encourages residents living within the protected area of the axis to take part in cultural activities to preserve their memories of Beijing’s historical culture and promote the integration of such culture with modern life.
Qin said the regulation is aimed at improving public participation in the use and inheritance of cultural resources. The term “public participation”, which features prominently in a chapter title of the central axis protection regulation, has rarely been seen in previous legislation related to conserving heritage, she added.
Ancient wisdom
The Zhongshan Park exhibition only attracted modest attendance over the past three months, with visitors paying little attention to the elegantly arranged displays of cultural sites from different historical periods.
Models of the Central Axis running south to north and of the cultural heritage sites on both sides of it were positioned in the main area of the exhibition.
The black-and-white photos, which were displayed on a side wall of the 110-square-meter exhibition space, were aesthetically pleasing under the spotlights.
Guo Qinghong, 46, a teacher at the Western Academy of Beijing in Chaoyang district, visited the exhibition last month and said the model of architecture along the Central Axis inspired her. She plans to create such a model at her school for students to learn more about the history of the axis and the cultural heritage situated along it.
“In this bustling capital city, ancient traditions are often overshadowed by modern structures in the latest architectural designs. However, the wisdom of ancient people also deserves to be treasured. Getting students to learn about the history of the Central Axis and its related heritage is one way of renewing interest in historical sites,” Guo added.
Gai, the research center director, said the exhibition at Zhongshan Park gave visitors an insight into the planning and construction of the ancient city of Beijing.
“This unique exhibition also offered a rare opportunity for Beijing citizens to truly experience the historical essence of the city and the surrounding environment along the Central Axis,” he said.