Travel bucket list idea:
Old City Wall
Beijing, China
Credit WIK-N509FZ, CC BY SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Last updated: 17 April, 2024
Only traces remain of Beijing’s mighty city walls, built in the Ming Dynasty but torn down in the Mao era to make way for the Second Ring Road.
The southeast corner watchtower (also known as the Fox Tower) still stands, joined to a 1.2km stretch of wall restored in the 1990s, which runs westwards through a strip of parkland.
Inside the watchtower is an exhibition of historical photos, and you can even find scraps of graffiti from American and Russian soldiers dating to 1900 and the Battle of Peking.
Logistics
Price from: £5
Minimum age: 0
Age suitable: 18+
When: All year around
Getting there & doing it
The old city wall and the southeast corner watchtower are located south of Beijing Railway Station.
The closest subway station is Chongwenmen (Line 2 & 5), from where you can stroll through a leafy park beside the wall and reach the corner watchtower in about 20 minutes.
When to do it
The watchtower is open all year round, seven days a week. The park adjacent to the city wall is open day and night.
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