Front Gate

Lonely Planet review

Front Gate actually consists of two gates. The northernmost of the two gates, the 40m-high Zhengyang Gate (正阳门; Zhèngyáng Mén) dates from the Ming dynasty and was the largest of the nine gates of the inner city wall separating the inner, or Tartar (Manchu), City from the outer, or Chinese, City.

Partially destroyed during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, the gate was once flanked by two temples that have since vanished. With the disappearance of the city walls, the gate sits out of context, but you can climb it for views over the square, although at the time of writing the gate was undergoing restoration. Similarly torched during the Boxer Rebellion, the Arrow Tower (箭楼; Jiàn Lóu) to the south also dates from the Ming and was originally connected to Zhengyang Gate by a semicircular enceinte, which was demolished in the 20th century. To the east is the former British-built Qian Men Railway Station (老车站; Lǎo Chēzhàn), now housing shops and restaurants, while directly to the south extends Qianmen Dajie, undergoing wholesale repackaging for 2008.