Subway Art: the Murals of Beijing's Subway Line 2

Completed and opened to the public in 1984, Beijing Subway Line 2 is the city’s first loop line, tracing a path underneath where the city wall once stood. Although dated by today’s standards, each station along Line 2 is rather beautiful, featuring their own special lighting arrangements, and, for three of these stations, their own murals.

建国门站 Jiànguómén Zhàn – Of Astronomers and Inventors

Celestial bodies of all shapes and sizes (mostly spherical, though) can be found on this mural

Jianguomen Station, which serves as a transfer station between Line 2 and Line 1 has two murals on either side of the platform, both completed in 1985. To one side, there are depictions of astronomical instruments and ancient constellations – perhaps due to the station being in the vicinity of the Ancient Observatory, which can be easily found as a central piece of the mural.

Look closely and you’ll even see more modern space-related advancements, including satelittes, space probes and a rocket blasting off into the stars.

The mural also pays homage to the Ancient Observatory

To the other side, there’s the “Four Great Inventions” – papermaking, the compass, gunpowder, and printing. As printing and papermaking are technically part of the same bookmaking process, they’re included in one section of the mural. The compass section features a number of old compass designs and also a few ships; celebrating a bit of exploration in the process.

Finally, gunpowder gets its time to shine – quite literally – in a depiction of fireworks being set off in celebration within a circle.

Jianguomen Station's other mural depicts inventions like papermaking

西直门站 Xīzhímén Zhàn – The Landscapes of China

The mural in Xizhimen, which is also a transfer station between Line 2 and Line 13, features the first mural to ever grace Beijing’s subway system. Finished in 1984, the two murals, titled “Yanshan and the Great Wall” and “Eastward on the Yangtze” were both designed by artist Zhang Ding.

A depiction of the Great Wall as it snakes along Yanshan

These murals lean more on ancient Chinese art than their Jianguomen counterparts, depicting the Great Wall along Yanshan, a mountain range in northern Hebei Province, situated just north of the capital, and the Yangtze River as it flows in the Three Gorges region of southwestern China, in the style of an ink wash painting.

The Yangtze river also makes an appearance here

东四十条站 Dōngsìshítiáo Zhàn – The Grace of Sports

The murals in Dongsishitiao also have to do more with the location of the station than anything: seeing as it’s close to the Workers’ Stadium, the murals center around sports.

To one side, sports of a more modern variety

While the mural on the station’s west platform focuses on a myriad of sports – with the Olympic rings thrown in at one spot for good measure – the mural on the eastern side focuses solely on martial arts. Here you’ll find all kinds of wushu weapons – straight sword, spear, three section staff, to name a few – and elements like the Eight Trigrams of 八卦掌 Bāguàzhǎng (a martial art that traces its lineage to 1900s Beijing) and even a person practicing meditation.

On the other, the many forms of gongfu

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Images: Uni You

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