After five years of construction, Subway Line 4 began operating late last month. Beijing’s newest subway line, which has 24 stations, runsfrom the northwest to the south and crosses Haidian, Xicheng, Xuanwu and Fengtai districts.
Aside from helping relieve traffic congestion, Line 4 offers more convenient access to some of the city’s most popular attractons such as the Summer Palace (Yiheyuan) and the Old Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan).
Between its northernmost terminal, Anheqiaobei, and Beijing Zoo are stations standing beside imperial sites. Beijing Today offers you a guide for where to stop and look around to visit the capital’s past. Be warned of the crowds, since the subway line, with its creatively designed and decorated stations, has itself become a tourist attraction.
Entrance to Beijing’s Suzhou Stree
Beigongmen station, or the Summer Palace’s north gate, was the main entrance to the imperial garden during the reign of Qing-dynasty Emperor Qianlong (171–1799). Now the site’s main entran is its east gate, Donggongmen, where a busy bus stop is located.
Since Line 4’s opening, however, hordes of tourists have converged on Beigongmen, giving it back its old glory.From Beigongmen, the first attraction you will see inside the Summer Palace is Suzhou Street, a miniature reproduction of the southern city’s ancient commercial street.Qianlong built the first Suzhou Street in a public area in Haidian in 1761, dedicated to the empress dowager who was fascinated with the prosperous street scenes in the south. The emperor also ordered some merchants from Suzhou to set up businesses on the street. The street’s architecture, which was copied fro the original location, and the Suzhou dialect heard on every corner helped create a genuine southern atmosphere
