Beijing City Gates

In times of yore Beijing consisted of an outer city and an inner city, with the imperial city (otherwise known as Forbidden City, or the Former Imperial Palace) contained in the inner city. Altogether there were 20 city gates. Entering or exiting these gates by carts and horses was governed by hard-and-fast regulations. The following is a brief introduction of it.

There were nine gates for the inner city, namely, Zhengyang, Xuanwu, Fucheng, Xizhi, Desheng, Anding, Dongzhi, Chaoyang and Chongwen. 

There were seven gates for the outer city: Guangqu, Guang'an, Zuo'an, You'an, Dongbian, Xibian and Yongding. During the Ming Dynasty, to protect south Beijing as a commercial and handicraft centre, the imperial court had planned for the construction of an outer city wall around the imperial city. However, due to financial difficulties, only part of the wall was erected in southern Beijing. Seven gates were opened into this wall for the convenience of local residents.

Access to the imperial city was by four gates, Tian'an, Di'an, Dong'an and Xi'an, which were for the exclusive use of officials and generals going to and from the imperial court. These gates were off limits to commoners.

Few of these gates exist now, as most of them have been torn down, but their names have remained.