Story of the ‘Jing: Myths and Legends of Jingshan Park

Jeremiah Jenne theBeijinger 2022-06-05 14:14 Posted on 北京

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It might lack altitude, but at 45.7 meters (150 feet) in elevation, Jingshan is the tallest point of land inside the Second Ring Road. Sitting astride Beijing’s famous Central Axis, the artificial hill also represents the geographic point zero for the historic capital of the Ming and Qing Emperors. On a good day, the top offers 360-degree views and is a popular place to watch the sunset behind the Western Hills.

Image from "La Chine à terre et en ballon." Wikicommons

As befits a hill that sits at the very heart of old Beijing, there are numerous legends and stories about Jingshan and the garden that surrounds the hill.

There’s coal in them thar hills

The name of the hill has changed a lot over the years. It was known as Qīngshān 青山 or Zhènshān 镇山 in the era of Mongolian rule (1276-1368) and Wansui Shan (万岁山 “Longevity Hill”) during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The “longevity” of Ming Dynastic rule wasn’t a top concern for the Qing rulers who replaced them in 1644. The Qing court renamed the hill Jingshan 景山, usually translated as “Prospect Hill,” although “Lookout Hill” or “That Hill with the Super Awesome Scenic Vistas” would also work. Old foreign maps of Beijing sometimes label Jingshan as “Coal Hill,” which seems an odd choice for an imperial garden setting.

Colloquially, the hill has also been known as Beautiful Hill (美山 Měishān) and Coal Hill (煤山 Měishān). Two theories exist. One is that people mistook the name Měishān for Měishān (Fun! With! Tones!). However, there is a persistent legend, possibly true, that in the earliest days of the Ming Dynasty, coal and other supplies were stored at the base of the hill in case those pesky Mongolians came back and besieged the city. It is not true that the interior of the hill is made up of coal, although over the years, park authorities have had to stop a few people who believed the legend from digging their own DIY coal mines in the side of the hill.

University of Bristol - Historical Photographs of China reference number: NA01-60. From an album in The National Archives entitled: ‘The Chinese Customs in Peking 1889-1891’. (C0 1069/421. CHINA 1. Social life of Chinese Customs Service in Peking, 1889-1891).

The hill is filled with the debris left over when the Forbidden City was built.

Some of the rubble from the destruction of the old palace of Kublai Khan and the debris left over when the Ming court built the Forbidden City was used as filler for shaping the hill and giving Jingshan its distinctive five peaks, but the Ming-era engineers were, following a precedent set in earlier eras. The Liao (916-1125) and Jin Empires (1115-1234) also had capitals on the site of present-day Beijing.

The earth their builders removed while expanding an earlier version of Beihai Park was then used as the original foundation for what would later become Jingshan. Under the Mongolians and then the Ming, the hill took on a greater significance as a barrier blocking the baleful spirits of the north. Jingshan also balanced the “Golden River” flowing in the front of the Forbidden City in the Ming and Qing eras, helping to preserve the feng shui of the palace.

Model of the Forbidden City and Jingshan Park in Beijing Wikicommons

The Emperor hanged himself from a tree in the park.

That’s the story. The Chongzhen Emperor [r. 1627-1644], the last ruler of the Ming Dynasty in Beijing committed suicide after the armies of the rebel Li Zicheng had breached the gates of the capital and taken control of the city. Accounts vary as to exactly where he did this and what happened to his body.

The Qing armies, who arrived in the name of “keeping the peace,” sought to placate Ming loyalists by reportedly punishing the offending tree used by the emperor. A heavy iron chain was tied around its trunk, and it was renamed the “Guilty Tree” (罪槐 Zuìhuái). (Another account has the emperor ironically using the rafters of the Pavilion of Imperial Longevity). In the 1930s, the recently opened Palace Museum — perhaps thinking of adding an attraction — placed a stone tablet marking the spot of the “Guilty Tree.” Whether the current occupant of the location is the actual tree is unlikely.

Park records suggest that replacement trees have been moved to the spot over the years to keep up appearances.

Wikicommons

Jingshan was a not-so-secret military base

The proximity of the hill to the Forbidden City, its height relative to the rest of the city, and its central location have at times made Jingshan a strategically important position.

Emperors and their officials would often climb the hill to get a better vantage point on defenses and in cases of fire in the city. In 1900, foreign soldiers in Beijing, part of the Allied Expeditionary Force against the Boxers, occupied the hill (although that was as much about looting the imperial halls, shrines, and temples of their artifacts as tactics). When the warlord Feng Yuxiang decided in 1924 that it was time to boot Puyi, the last emperor, from the Forbidden City, he sweetened the deal by telling the young former monarch that Feng’s troops had set up cannons on Jingshan, pointing at Puyi’s location in the Forbidden City.

The last emperor got the point and moved out. Finally, while the hill was turned into a public park in 1928, the Chinese government closed it again between 1950 and 1955 when the top of Jingshan was used as an air defense position by the People’s Liberation Army.

University of Bristol - Historical Photographs of China reference number: AB01-15. ca. 1900. On the left, the Pavilion of Everlasting Spring is on the top of Jingshan or Prospect Hill ('Coal Hill'). In the centre are pailou and one of a pair of wooden pavilions. Beyond the pailou is Dagaoxuan Hall or Temple (大高玄殿), a temple.

About the Author

Jeremiah Jenne earned his Ph.D. in Chinese history from the University of California, Davis, and taught Late Imperial and Modern China for over 15 years. He has lived in Beijing for nearly two decades and is the proprietor of Beijing by Foot, organizing history education programs and walking tours of the city, including deeper dives into the route and sites described here.