Beijing burgeons in a simultaneous implosion and explosion that remakes its urban face on a daily basis. Every map you buy is obsolete by the time it's published. New roads and buildings keep cartographers erasing old lines and drawing new ones.

In most cases the reshaping of contemporary Beijing outside its historic core is a cause for celebration. However what's happening inside this ancient area is a juggernaut of destruction sacrificing the city's rich legacy on the altar of unenlightened development. Resist change, and that's all you'll end up with in your pocket.

Fuchengmen is one of the few places where a token effort is being made to save parts of old Xicheng (West City) District. You may want to wait until October when two of the big sites mentioned below will reopen, but the north side of Fuchengmennei (阜成門內) is well worth checking out at any time.

Fuchengmen then / Fuchengmen now

For seven centuries (1260s-1960s) there was a city wall on the eastern and western sides of what we call the Second Ring Road and subway loop line. It protected Dadu, or Great Capital, built by Kublai (1215 - 1294) to serve as his winter capital after he became the Grand Khan of the Mongol Empire in 1260. Dadu was capital of the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368) founded by Kublai to identify his Chinese territories.

One of the two entrances on the western side of Dadu was called Pingcemen, meaning "Gate of Just Rule." Beijing residents continued to use this name despite the official change to Fuchengmen in 1439 by the twice reigning emperor Zhengtong (r.1436-1449 and as Tianshun 1457-1464) during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). He bolstered city defences, building both the gate atop the refurbished wall and outer watchtower. Fuchengmen translates as "Gate of Achieved Abundance" or the "Mound Formed Gate."

The peasant leader Li Zicheng (1605-1645) whose rebellion toppled the Ming Dynasty and facilitated the Manchu conquest of Beijing first entered the city through this gate in 1643. During the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), the tunnel inside Fuchengmen had a carved brick flower similar to the design used to brand thieves. The gate was symbolically punished for allowing Li inside.

The outer watchtower was dismantled in 1935; the enceinte came down in 1953 while the gate and remnants of the wall were removed in 1965. Fuchengmen today identifies a subway station, an overpass and adjacent north-south sections of the ring road, an east-west running boulevard across this freeway plus at least one remaining small street.

Lu Xun Museum

The Lu Xun Museum on Gongmenkou Xisantiao (宮門口西三條) at the north end of Fuchengmennei Beijie (阜成門內大街) isn't easy to find. The best landmark is the pedestrian crosswalk opposite a new parking lot, east of the skyscraper that was once the Bank of China's main branch.

Lu Xun was the pseudonym of Zhou Shuren (1881-1936), revered as one of China's great authors of the twentieth century. As an early proponent of writing in the vernacular, Lu is remembered as a trenchant critic of the country's social and political turmoil during the 1920s-1930s.

One of the most interesting features of the museum, which opened in 1956, is the well preserved miniscule courtyard house where Lu lived in Beijing between May 1924 and August 1926 while teaching literature at the Beijing Women's Normal College.

The museum is open Tuesday-Sunday, 9am-3:30pm. Admission is 5 Yuan for adults and 3 Yuan for students.

Guangjisi

The Guangjisi, or "Temple of Universal Rescue" is a functioning Buddhist monastery at the northeastern end of Fuchengmennei near the Xisi intersection. Originally dating from the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234), it was called the Liu (family) West Village Temple. Destroyed by Genghis Khan in 1215, it was rebuilt in 1457 by the Ming emperor Tianshun. It was rebuilt once again after a fire in 1931.

The temple is open to visitors 8am-4pm daily; admittance free. It opens for services at 5:30am on the 1st, 8th, 15th, and 23rd days of the lunar calendar month. Show respect for this wonderful working house of worship by being extremely discreet when taking photographs.

Baitasi

Unfortunately one of west Beijing's most noted attractions, the Baitasi, is closed for restoration work until October. It is the older of the city's two white dagobas fashioned in the chorten form of Buddhist architecture often found in Tibet and Mongolia.

The first pagoda at this location dated from the Liao Dynasty (916-1125) and was destroyed by Genghis Khan in 1215. This chorten was constructed 1271-1279 by a Nepalese architect, A-ni-ge (named Arniko or Arniger in English language sources), at the command of Kublai Khan. A statue of A-ni-ge (1244-1306) stands in the second courtyard.

Kublai was strongly influenced by Tibetan Buddhism and upon completion of the dagoba, the Khan ordered a huge monastery, the Dashengshou Wan'ansi (Great Sacred Long Age Myriad Tranquility Temple) be established around the structure.

This complex was destroyed by fire when the Ming captured Dadu in 1368, allegedly by lightning. A smaller temple was rebuilt in 1457 by Ming emperor Tianshun and given its present official name, Miaoyingsi (Marvellous Powers of Manifestation Temple).

While closed until this autumn, walking the hutongs around the pagoda offers good views of this architectural marvel in its traditional environment.

Beijing's Pantheon

East of the Baitasi on Fuchengmennei is the Lidaidiwangmiao or "Temple to Successive Generations of Emperors." Also closed for restoration, workmen there say it will open in October. Unlike Baitasi, it hasn't been a tourist destination for more than 60 years.

Built by the Ming emperor Jiajing (r. 1522-1567) in 1531, the Lidaidiwangmiao was part of the official State worship of rulers. The main hall housed the spirit tablets for worthy emperors of all dynasties, honouring their memory and as an instructive guide to future leaders. Tablets for distinguished officials and women of the Imperial family were placed in side halls.

In front of the temple are two stone tablets written in Chinese, Manchu, Tibetan and Arabic ordering riders to dismount before entering these precincts.