Two exquisitely carved ancient stone steles stand alone at the easternmost end of Tucheng (Earth City Wall) Park. The park, officially named the Yuan Dadu (Khanbaliq)City Wall Relics Park, is located north of the North Third Ring Road in Beijing.
Stretching over nine kilometers from east to west and only 200 to 300 meters wide from north to south, the park was built along the remains of the northern city wall and a section of the western city wall of the Great Capital of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368).
The stone steles, with lifelike coiled dragons on them, have a strong style of royalty. However, the inscriptions have become blurred with the passage of time.
My family moved to the new site of China Daily, near the park, in the late 1980s, and the steles have stood there ever since. No one knows the exact time when they were moved there. Though protected by iron railings, there is no explanatory plaque beside them, leaving their age, purpose of construction and value a mystery.
In the autumn of 2024, a strong gale blew down a large tree behind the steles, which crashed onto them. The eastern stele was knocked flat onto the brick-paved ground. Miraculously, the entire stele remained intact except for scratches on its surface from the iron railings. Park management immediately used a crane to reerect the stele and installed new protective barriers.
About a decade ago, I wrote a letter to the park administration, suggesting that an information board be placed next to the steles to explain their origin and value — so that these cultural relics could come alive, rather than merely serving as decorations. A staff member called me back: first to express thanks, then to say the matter was quite complex, and that only with the participation of cultural relic authorities could the steles' origin be clarified. Nothing more was heard of it after that.
Last year, many signs reading Park Director's Mailbox with QR codes were installed in the park. I scanned the code, sent some comments, and repeated my suggestion for an information board for the steles, citing the example of Beihai Park, which is a famous royal garden near the Forbidden City.
I hoped the park director would have an information board installed for the steles as soon as possible.
A few weeks ago, I saw two unidentified young men at the steles — one holding a spotlight, the other photographing them with a camera. This gave me an idea: I could also take photos of the inscriptions with my mobile phone.
When I zoomed in on the inscriptions, I was astonished! Many faint characters that were invisible from a distance became clear. It turns out the steles are relics of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), recording the renovation of a temple.
The inscriptions clearly state:"Record of the Renovation Project for the 'Tianxian (Celestial Beauty)Palace for Protecting the State, Blessing the Sage and Prolonging Life'." The palace was an imperial-bestowed temple, which was granted by the emperor. It had a long name, commonly abbreviated as Tianxian Palace or Tianxian Temple. It is recorded in both Ming and Qing (1644-1911) historical documents but fell into disrepair and disappeared by the early 20th century. These two steles are undoubtedly relics of this temple.
The first sentence of the inscription on the right stele reads, "It is said Shenlu (the way of the deities) is boundless", and there are phrases such as "outside Chaoyang Gate of the capital", indicating the original temple was situated at Shenlu Street near Chaoyangmenwai Dajie (the avenue outside Chaoyang Gate). This aligns with the belief that the steles were moved to Tucheng Park from outside Chaoyang Gate in the 1960s or 1970s.
The inscription is signed, "Written by Wu Ruyin of Yongliang". Yongliang was the ancient name for the Wuwei area in Gansu province. Wu Ruyin, who was a high-ranking official of Mongolian ethnicity, was the sixth Marquis of Gongshun in the Ming era.
