Zhengyangmen (Qianmen)
Beijing's main southern inner-city gate, commonly known as Qianmen, comprises a gate tower and an archery tower; it ranked first among the nine inner-city gates of the Ming and Qing and held the status of the 'national gate': the gate tower dates to the Ming Yongle reign, and its present form is the result of repeated restorations after it burned down in 1900
Visitor info
- Opening hours
- 09:00-16:30
- Ticket
- Gate tower free (reservation required) · Archery tower CNY 10
Price is indicative — final quote on inquiry.
Beijing's main southern inner-city gate, commonly known as Qianmen, comprises a gate tower and an archery tower; it ranked first among the nine inner-city gates of the Ming and Qing and held the status of the 'national gate': the gate tower dates to the Ming Yongle reign, and its present form is the result of repeated restorations after it burned down in 1900. The troops of the 1949 founding-ceremony parade set out from beneath the gate, making it one of the witnesses to the founding of the People's Republic. Climbing the gate tower is free (reservation required), and the archery tower hosts an ancient-architecture exhibition; facing the southern end of Tiananmen Square, it is the landmark starting point of the southern section of the Central Axis.
Getting there: Metro Line 2, Qianmen Station
Photos


More in Beijing
- Summer Palace
Kunming Lake, the Long Corridor and Marble Boat of the imperial resort.
- The Forbidden City
The world's largest palace complex, 9,999 rooms of Ming and Qing emperors.
- Mutianyu Great Wall
The restored, less-crowded Great Wall section with a toboggan descent.
- Temple of Heaven
Where emperors prayed for harvest; morning tai chi in the cypress park.
- Tiananmen Square
One of the world's largest city squares, about 880 m long north to south and able to hold a million people—the core space of Beijing's Central Axis: the founding ceremony of the PRC was held here on October 1, 1949; the Monument to the People's Heroes stands at the center, the Great Hall of the People on the west, and on the east the China...
- The Palace Museum (Forbidden City)
Completed in the 18th year of Ming Yongle (1420), the imperial palace where 24 emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties lived and ruled, formerly the Forbidden City: covering 720,000 sq m with over 8,700 rooms, the world's largest and best-preserved wooden palace complex