The water gate ruin of Zhongdu of Jin Dynasty. [Photo/Qianlong]

A small museum located in the Yulinli Community of Fengtai is not well known for many people staying in Beijing, but it is the site of the water gate of ancient Beijing in the Jin Dynasty (1153 - 1215) where water flew out of the Zhongdu (central capital).

Xu Peiren, a staffer of the Liao Jin City Wall Museum said the water gate helps to testify that Beijing was the capital of the Jin Dynasty. To date, the gate is the only discovered building relic of Jin Dynasty’s Zhongdu, whose relics have been rarely found.

It was unearthed in 1990 during constructions of apartment buildings at the locality.

The museum was soon built in an attempt to preserve the water gate site by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Landscape and Forestry.

Liangshui River. [Photo/Qianlong]

The gate lies five meters underground and was connected via a culvert with the Liangshui River, about 50 meters to the south. Built of wood and stone, the lowermost layer is pine, over which lies a layer of stone slabs, fixed with iron brackets.

A staffer said archaeologists are often seen here to study the relic. And no one knows exactly the shape of upper part of the gate.

The water gate’s integrity and magnificent size made itself come out first among relics of the same period and join the ranks of the top 10 archaeological discoveries in 1990 in China.

If you go:

Take Bus No.88 and get off at Youanmenwai Station. Walk about 200 meters to the south, then another 800 meters to the west.

Address: No.41, Yulinli, Youanmenwai, Fengtai District

Open hours: 9:00-16:00 (closed on Monday)

Admission fee: Free