Photography Train by the City Walls

A black-and-white photograph showing the outer part of the city wall in Beijing. It is most probably the southern wall. A steam locomotive is passing in front of it. During the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912), Beijing was surrounded by a large outer city wall called the “Imperial Wall”. It was 40 metres high, with many openings and watchtowers and a long breastplate for archers.

From Beijing, the railway line ran in three directions: to the city of Hankou 漢口, to the city of Mukden (now Shenyang 瀋陽), and to the province of Suiyuan 綏遠 (part of present-day Inner Mongolia). Each of these provinces had a main station, and most of the line ran along the outer imperial walls. An exception was the section of the first two lines that began at the main passage between the Inner and Outer City, the Zhengyang Gate (Zhengyangmen 正陽門), better known as the Front Gate (Qianmen 前門).

The photograph is the 108th of 449 photographs of Beijing and its surroundings in the album of Ivan Skušek Jr., purchased during his stay in Beijing (1914–1920). In the handwritten inventory of the album, the photograph is referred to as Bahnzug bei der Stadtmauer. (DZ, MV)