Journey into Chinese culture along subway lines

Zhangzizhonglu Subway Station

Relief at Zhangzizhonglu Subway Station

The street where the station is located is named in memory of a general in the anti-Japanese war. Zhang Zizhong, the commander of the National Army Corps 29, who fought crazily against the invading Japanese troops with his men in a battle in Xiangfan, Hubei Province. Unfortunately, he was surrounded, failed to escape and finally devoted his life to his beloved nation. On this street, huge reliefs displaying he and his comrades fighting to the death on the battlefield are carved, reminding people of those years of tough times and the courage of the Chinese people.

Dongsi Subway Station

The most remarkable highlight about this station is that two Chinese chessboards are decorated on the floor of the waiting room. The Chessboards are made of marble stone with real chessmen on it. It is like an interesting live Chinese chess game show with the two opponent players missing. On the chessboards, with only one further step one side will win the game. But what make things amusing is that it’s the other side’s turn to make the next move. The result varies, leaving the situation much more complicated. This is the right reflection of what Beijing citizens usually do to amuse themselves and kill time.

Dengshikou Subway Station

Dengshikou means Lantern Market in English. The name comes from a local custom. In the Ming Dynasty, people hung big lanterns and lamps along the street after the lunar calendar New Year, making it a sleepless and flourishing street. So the street is called lantern market.

Tiantan East Gate Subway Station

Tiantan, or the Temple of Heaven, is the place where emperors in the Ming and Qing dynasties came to worship and pray for an abundant harvest.

Tiantan East Gate Subway Station creates a small temple of heaven in itself. With round lamps on the ceilings and square marble bricks embedded in the floor, this small temple of heaven is an annotation of the old Chinese legend saying that the heaven is round while the earth is square.

Subway stations of Line 10

Line 10

Suzhoujie Subway Station

Suzhou Street as the station is called, it used to be a trade street here that was built in 1761. The Chinese Emperor Qianlong in Qing Dynasty (1964-1911) created this street following famous town Suzhou in the south to celebrate his mother’s 70th birthday. Stretching from Wanshou Temple to Haidian Town, the street lasted miles. Sharp businessmen from Suzhou were invited to do business here. Seeing fancy stores around and hearing the soft southern accents from them, when walked here, you felt like you were in the old but flourishing southern town Suzhou. Anyway, the street was demolished in 1860 by the combined armies of the English and French. However, with the rapid development of Beijing city, this street come back to life again with even more stores and some fantastic boutiques.

Jiandemen Subway Station

The station shares the same name with the northwest gate of the Capital in Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), which used to be a must place to go through when the Yuan troops set out to the North. When the anti-Yuan Captain Xu Da (1332-1385) captured the city in 1368, the old Yuan Dynasty’s capital’s northern rampart was relocated south 2.5 kilometers away. As a result the Jiandemen at the old city rampart disappeared with the old wall, leaving only the title.