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Jimingyi Post Station
Empress Dowager Cixi passed through this strategically important posthouse
fleeing the Western allied forces that were attacking Beijing in the late 19th
century. The house where she dwelt is still standing.
The posthouse city at the crossroads was also a business hub in ancient
times. According to inscriptions on a stone slab, it boasted six pawnshops, nine
general stores, four oil shops and a number of tea houses and inns where animals
and men might rest.
The richly historical flavor of the city has provided backdrops for a number
of movies. In one film version of the Chinese classic, Journey to the West, the
first kiss between the hero and heroine takes place on the city wall.
There are no modern hotels. Family inns provide board and lodging for only 10
yuan.
From Jimingyi, it is just a short drive to another ancient city, Xuanhua.
When the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty unified China, he set up 36 prefectures. Xuanhua,
called Shanggu then, was one of them. It is north of Jimingyi, on the
Beijing-Zhajiakou railway line. During the Ming Dynasty, it was one of the nine
major defence cities on the northern border, charged with repulsing attacks from
the northern Tartars. The Ming city walls remain, complete with a whole system
of defence capacities.
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