Commercial Central Place Structure in Beijing Metropolis

Abstract

The original Beijing was established 3000 years ago as a border trade town. After the middle of the thirteenth century, it became the capital of feudal China. After 1949, it turned into the capital of new China, a big metropolis with prosperous commerce. The transformation of Beijing’s commercial centres underwent several stages of development:

• 1. Dadu, capital during the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368), was planned according to an ancient code, the ‘Study of Engineering’, by which the imperial courts should be located in the city at the core to the south, with the market places concentrated behind them. The so-called ‘Bell and Drum Towers Bazaar’ was situated between two towers and a water storage pond to which the rear of the Grand Canal was connected. This triangular district was both a trade area and a wharf, together comprising the first generation of the commercial centre of Beijing.

• 2. During the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1912) dynasties, the pattern of the city walls changed, including abandoning the northern city area and extending the inner city southward. The city’s commercial centre moved from the Towers Bazaar to the Front-court Market and then to Qianmen. The seeds of capitalism began to sprout and Beijing became the commercial centre of the Chinese Empire, and an outer city encompassing the newly-developed trade areas centred on Qianmen was built up. Qianmen became Beijing’s commercial second-generation centre.