Beyond Historic Center Towards World Heritage City

Lyu Zhou, director of the National Heritage Center of China’s Tsinghua University, often shares his insights on cultural heritage protection at professional forums and with the media. Lately, Lyu, also head of the compilation team of the Central Axis application to the World Heritage List, shared some behind-the-scenes stories with China Pictorial as the application reaches the “final sprint” stage as part of China’s 2024 overall application project.

An Incomparable Masterpiece of Urban Planning

“Roughly speaking, the convex-shaped layout of Beijing consists of an inner part in the north and outer range in the south,” wrote Liang Sicheng, a renowned expert on Chinese architecture, in his 1951 article “Beijing—The Incomparable Masterpiece of Urban Planning.” “The Forbidden City is the core of the inner city and beyond, but it is the Central Axis that dominates the layout of the entire city.”

According to Lyu, the evolution of Beijing’s Central Axis is synchronized with the core area of the ancient capital city. It tells stories from the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) to modern times. After more than 750 years, it is the largest-scale and best-preserved central axis of an ancient capital in China and also the longest-existing city axis worldwide.

In the West, urban axes are also quite common. For example, an important axis of Paris starts from Musée du Louvre and runs through the Arc de Triomphe, Tuileries Garden, Place de la Concorde, Place Charles de Gaulle, and many other famous city landmarks along the baseline of Champs-Élysées. But in Lyu’s opinion, Western urban axes are only partial cityscapes resulting from urban transformation. In contrast, Beijing’s Central Axis determines the urban layout by implementing traditional Chinese concepts of city building.

“Most ancient Chinese cities appeared as administrative centers, characterized by urban hierarchy, which is fully manifested in Beijing’s Central Axis,” Lyu said. “In contrast, most Western cities were formed based on the settlements of commerce and handicrafts, showing a sign of free growth. Churches, markets, and city halls all played an important role in a city while the palaces of princes and nobles were only one pole of a city.”

“This reflects a difference between Eastern and Western civilizations,” he added.

Telling China’s Story to the World

Beijing started preparation work on the World Cultural Heritage application for the Central Axis in 2011. Since the Central Axis has already been commemorated by World Heritage sites such as the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven, what is its unique value specifically? As per Lyu, the core lies in its “systematic uniqueness,” which empowers it to “tell China’s story to the world well.”

Different from the Forbidden City featuring “outstanding royal architectural value” and the Temple of Heaven symbolizing “a heaven-and-man relationship,” the Central Axis is more about the influence on Chinese urban planning and the ideal cityscape. “Nowadays, the Central Axis of Beijing is still closely connected to millions of lives,” said Lyu. “For example, the Great Hall of the People serves as a venue for political events; Tiananmen Square is a center for national ceremonial activities; the National Museum of China offers historical and cultural education.”

World Heritage sites are selected based on six cultural criteria, at least three of which can be applied to Beijing’s Central Axis, according to Lyu. Specifically, as dictated by Criterion III, namely “to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared,” the Central Axis demonstrates the state, city, and social order rooted in Chinese civilization and embodies the traditional Chinese aesthetical ideas of “honoring the middle” and pursuing the beauty of symmetry. It’s also a witness to the formation of the “diversity in unity” pattern of the Chinese nation and the continuation of Chinese civilization over thousands of years via its respect for the order of the capital city of the Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 B.C.) three thousand years ago and its creation, development, and improvement in the Yuan, Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. It reflects the inclusiveness of Chinese beliefs as well. For example, the Temple of Heaven is dedicated to the God Haotian and the Temple of Agriculture dedicated to the gods of wind, rain, thunder, and lightning, mountains and rivers, agriculture, etc.

Beijing’s Central Axis has formed a unique urban space featuring rich layers and contrasting scenes, in line with the ideal capital planning paradigm in Rites of the Zhou—The Artificers’ Record, a classic work on science and technology in ancient China. And it is constantly evolving with the development of Beijing. For example, Tiananmen Square, an important urban construction achievement in contemporary Beijing, still reflects strict symmetry in design and layout of important monuments, echoing “Criterion IV: to be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history.”

The origins of Beijing’s Central Axis in the Yuan Dynasty were even documented in The Travels of Marco Polo, the first work dedicated to introducing China and Central Asia to Europeans. The Central Axis also witnessed the transformation of Chinese society from the feudal era to modern times, thus meeting “Criterion VI: to be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance.”

“When we share the story of Beijing’s Central Axis with the world, academic references are necessary, but they still can’t be quoted blindly and excessively,” Lyu emphasized. “Highlights should incorporate Chinese outlooks on order, lifestyles, and aesthetic pursuits.”

Livening up Cultural Heritage

A total of 30 contestants were named cultural influencers for Beijing’s Central Axis at a speech contest on November 13, 2022. The contest, part of the Competition for the Transmission and Promotion of Beijing’s Central Axis, attracted more than 30,000 participants worldwide since its kickoff in July. Participants aged between three and 86 painted a vivid picture of the Central Axis in multiple languages such as Chinese, English, and French.

“In the finals of the contest, children from places outside Beijing like Jilin Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region shared their insights on Beijing’s Central Axis as well,” beamed Lyu. He profoundly appreciated how the application project aroused cultural awareness and confidence across China.

Lyu opined that revitalizing cultural heritage means helping society understand and recognize the historical and cultural values expressed in it. The inheritance, promotion, and innovation in this regard are not only reflected in the continuous development of the city’s new urban construction along the north-south extension of the Central Axis but also in the constant improvement of living environments in the old district of the city as well as endless inspiration for contemporary life and cultural creativity.