China Millennium Monument
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The China Millennium Monument () is a monumental complex centered around a structure that evokes both a monumental Chinese
altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of worship. They are use ...
and a
sundial A sundial is a horology, horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the position of the Sun, apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the ...
. Associated with
Jiang Zemin Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as Chairman of the Central Mil ...
, it was championed from 1994 by CCP official . It was completed in 1999 ahead of the
Millennium celebrations The millennium celebrations were a worldwide, coordinated series of events to celebrate and commemorate the end of 1999 and the start of the year 2000 in the Gregorian calendar. The celebrations were held as marking the end of the 2nd millennium, ...
, for which it was the principal Chinese venue. Since 2006, it has housed the Beijing World Art Museum.


Name and symbolism

The monument is branded as a monumental altar (), echoing the that have punctuated the symbolic landscape of Beijing since at least the
Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...
. Its architecture also echoes elevated altars where Chinese emperors practiced official rites, such as the Circular Mound Altar at the
Temple of Heaven The Temple of Heaven () is a complex of imperial Religious Confucianism, religious Confucian buildings situated in the southeastern part of central Beijing. The complex was visited by the Emperor of China, Emperors of the Ming dynasty, Ming and ...
, the Altar and the Home of
Shangdi Shangdi (), also called simply Di (), is the name of the Chinese Highest Deity or "Lord Above" in the Chinese theology, theology of the classical texts, especially deriving from Shang dynasty, Shang theology and finding an equivalent in the lat ...
, The Supreme Deity of
Chinese Mythology Chinese mythology () is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature throughout the area now known as Greater China. Chinese mythology encompasses a diverse array of myths derived from regional and cultural tradit ...
and
Theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...
, and the Altar of Land and Grain near the
Forbidden City The Forbidden City () is the Chinese Empire, imperial Chinese palace, palace complex in the center of the Imperial City, Beijing, Imperial City in Beijing, China. It was the residence of 24 Ming dynasty, Ming and Qing dynasty, Qing dynasty L ...
, and traditional Chinese
sundial A sundial is a horology, horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the position of the Sun, apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the ...
s as also found in the Forbidden City. More generally, the monument is imbued with references to ancient Chinese philosophy, Chinese geomancy,
Chinese numerology Some numbers are believed by some to be auspicious or lucky (吉利, ) or inauspicious or unlucky (不吉, ) based on the Chinese word that the number sounds similar to. The numbers 6 and 8 are widely considered to be lucky, while 4 is conside ...
and
Bagua The ''bagua'' ( zh, c=八卦, p=bāguà, l=eight trigrams) is a set of symbols from China intended to illustrate the nature of reality as being composed of mutually opposing forces reinforcing one another. ''Bagua'' is a group of trigrams—co ...
, as well as themes more specifically connected to 20th-century
Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...
discourse such as the harmony of China's 56 ethnic groups. Like other initiatives such as the creation of
Confucius Institute Confucius Institutes (CI; ) are public educational and cultural promotion programs of the state of China. The stated aim of the program is to promote Chinese language and culture, support local Chinese teaching internationally, and facilita ...
s from 2004, it has been associated with CCP efforts to re-embrace pre-Communist Chinese legacies after the less history-obsessed approach of
Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping also Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Teng Hsiao-p'ing; born Xiansheng (). (22 August 190419 February 1997) was a Chinese statesman, revolutionary, and political theorist who served as the paramount leader of the People's R ...
. The monument's name in Chinese also includes an expression () that depending on context may refer to a century or a less precisely defined epoch or era, and is rendered as "millennium" in the monument's official name in English. The CCP discourse about the monument has emphasized the reference to five thousand years of Chinese nationhood, rather than the new millennium associated with the year 2000 of the
Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It went into effect in October 1582 following the papal bull issued by Pope Gregory XIII, which introduced it as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian cale ...
. It was completed just in time to be the centerpiece of the
Millennium celebrations The millennium celebrations were a worldwide, coordinated series of events to celebrate and commemorate the end of 1999 and the start of the year 2000 in the Gregorian calendar. The celebrations were held as marking the end of the 2nd millennium, ...
in China, at a cost of 200 million Chinese yuan, but its official inauguration was delayed until
Chinese New Year Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival (see also #Names, § Names), is a festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year, new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar, lunisolar Chinese calendar. It is one of the most important holi ...
on . Altogether, the monument's Chinese name can be read literally either as "altar within China dedicated to the new century" or as "altar dedicated to a new Chinese century", thus preserving some ambiguity as to the intensity of its nationalistic intent. Around the time of inauguration, the monument's was strongly associated with the leadership role of
Jiang Zemin Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as Chairman of the Central Mil ...
. A 2000 CCP celebratory poster by propaganda artist Liu Xiqi features Jiang together with his predecessors
Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...
and
Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping also Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Teng Hsiao-p'ing; born Xiansheng (). (22 August 190419 February 1997) was a Chinese statesman, revolutionary, and political theorist who served as the paramount leader of the People's R ...
, each flanked with representative architectural icons: Tiananmen Gate for Mao, the Hong Kong skyline for Deng (as architect of the
handover of Hong Kong The handover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China was at midnight on 1 July 1997. This event ended 156 years of British rule in the former colony, which began in 1841. Hong Kong was established as a specia ...
), and for Jiang, the China Millennium Monument on one side and the
Pudong District Pudong is a district of Shanghai located east of the Huangpu, the river which flows through central Shanghai. The name ''Pudong'' was originally applied to the Huangpu's east bank, directly across from the west bank or Puxi, the historic city ...
of
Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
on the other. The monument was the main venue for the July 2001 celebration of Beijing's selection to host the
2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...
. There has been no comparably salient use of the monument since Jiang Zemin's official retirement.


Description


Building

The monument faces south in accordance with
Feng Shui Feng shui ( or ), sometimes called Chinese geomancy, is a traditional form of geomancy that originated in ancient China and claims to use energy forces to harmonize individuals with their surrounding environment. The term ''feng shui'' mean ...
principles, and is accessed through a monumental stairway. Its central structure, branded the Century Altar, features 20,000 m2 of exhibition space, much of it underground. The Century Altar is structurally divided between a truncated conic base representing earth () and a sundial-shaped rotunda representing heaven (). The latter can rotate around a vertical axis and supports an inclined metal spire branded the "Time and Space Probing Pin" above a central circular platform. The base's diameter is 85 meters, and the rotating sundial's is 47 meters.


Interior decoration

The monument's central room is branded the Great Century Hall. At the center of that room, and thus of the entire monument, is a gilded pillar decorated with traditional Chinese imagery and surrounded by eight cylindric columns. The Great Century Hall's 5-meter-high circular wall is adorned with episodes of idealized Chinese 5000-year-long history, sculpted in precious stone
low relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...
. In the mid-2000s that sculpted frieze, described as the largest stone relief sculpture in China, was referred to in the monument's official documentation as "Ode to the Chinese Millenia" () and divided into four sections: "the rational spirit in Chinese civilization of the pre- Qin period (3000 BCE - 221 BCE); "the magnanimous spirit in Chinese civilization from the Han to the Tang dynasties" (221 BCE - 907 CE); "the loyal integrity during the period from the
Song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...
to the
Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
dynasties" (960-1911); and "the historical duet of enlightenment and national salvation in recent and modern Chinese history" (1912-1999). It features heroic description of historic characters from
Qin Shi Huang Qin Shi Huang (, ; February 25912 July 210 BC), born Ying Zheng () or Zhao Zheng (), was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of China. He is widely regarded as the first ever supreme leader of a unitary state, unitary d ...
to
Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping also Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Teng Hsiao-p'ing; born Xiansheng (). (22 August 190419 February 1997) was a Chinese statesman, revolutionary, and political theorist who served as the paramount leader of the People's R ...
and ends with a calligraphy by
Jiang Zemin Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as Chairman of the Central Mil ...
that reads "The Chinese nation will achieve a great renaissance based on the final attainment of the unification of the motherland and the construction of a rich, powerful, democratic, and civilized socialist modern country." On the upper level, a 140-meter-long circular corridor features 40 bronze statues of important figures of Chinese culture and science, and (on the rotating ''qián'') 56 sculpted stone slabs representing China's officially recognized ethnic groups. The series of characters starts with political adviser
Guan Zhong Guan Zhong (; c. 720–645 BC) was a Chinese philosopher and politician. He served as chancellor and was a reformer of the State of Qi during the Spring and Autumn period of Chinese history. His given name was Yiwu (). ''Zhong'' was his courtes ...
(c. 725-645 BCE) and ends with nuclear scientist Deng Jiaxian (1924-1986). Other individuals featured include
Laozi Laozi (), also romanized as Lao Tzu #Name, among other ways, was a semi-legendary Chinese philosophy, Chinese philosopher and author of the ''Tao Te Ching'' (''Laozi''), one of the foundational texts of Taoism alongside the ''Zhuangzi (book) ...
,
Confucius Confucius (; pinyin: ; ; ), born Kong Qiu (), was a Chinese philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. Much of the shared cultural heritage of the Sinosphere originates in the phil ...
,
Sima Qian Sima Qian () was a Chinese historian during the early Han dynasty. He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for the ''Shiji'' (sometimes translated into English as ''Records of the Grand Historian''), a general history of China cov ...
,
Zu Chongzhi Zu Chongzhi (; 429 – 500), courtesy name Wenyuan (), was a Chinese astronomer, inventor, mathematician, politician, and writer during the Liu Song and Southern Qi dynasties. He was most notable for calculating pi as between 3.1415926 and 3.1415 ...
, and for the modern era,
Zhan Tianyou Zhan Tianyou, or Tien-Yow Jeme (; 26 April 1861 – 24 April 1919), was a pioneering Chinese railroad engineer. Educated in the United States, he was the chief engineer responsible for construction of the Peking-Kalgan Railway (Beijing to Zhan ...
,
Cai Yuanpei Cai Yuanpei (; 1868–1940) was a Chinese philosopher and politician who was an influential figure in the history of Chinese modern education. He made contributions to education reform with his own education ideology. He was the president of Peki ...
,
Lu Xun Lu Xun ( zh, c=魯迅, p=Lǔ Xùn, ; 25 September 188119 October 1936), pen name of Zhou Shuren, born Zhou Zhangshou, was a Chinese writer. A leading figure of modern Chinese literature, he wrote in both vernacular and literary Chinese as a no ...
,
Guo Moruo Guo Moruo (November 16, 1892 – June 12, 1978), courtesy name Dingtang, was a Chinese author, poet, historian, archaeologist, and government official. Biography Family history Guo Moruo, originally named Guo Kaizhen, was born on November 10 or ...
,
Mei Lanfang Mei Lan (22 October 1894 – 8 August 1961), better known by his stage name Mei Lanfang, was a notable Chinese Peking opera artist in Chinese theater, modern Chinese theater. Mei was known as the "Queen of Peking Opera". Mei was exclusively know ...
,
Mao Dun Shen Dehong (Shen Yanbing; 4 July 1896 – 27 March 1981), best known by the pen name of Mao Dun, was a Chinese novelist, essayist, journalist, playwright, literary and cultural critic. He was highly celebrated for his Literary realism, rea ...
, and
Liang Sicheng Liang Sicheng ( zh, c=梁思成; 20 April 1901 – 9 January 1972) was a Chinese architect and architectural historian, known as the father of modern Chinese architecture. His father, Liang Qichao, was one of the most prominent Chinese scholar ...
. The statues, installed after 2005, are sponsored by individual donors, many of them businesspeople from
Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
. Another donor,
Stanley Ho Stanley Ho Hung-sun (; 25 November 192126 May 2020) was a Hong Kong and Macau billionaire businessman. He was the founder and chairman of SJM Holdings, which owns nineteen casinos in Macau including the Grand Lisboa. Ho was nicknamed variou ...
, is singled out on the monument’s ground floor with a bronze bust celebrating his gift.


Monumental causeway

Leading to the monument is a monumental causeway that starts at the intersection of the monument's north–south axis with Fuxing Road, the western part of Beijing's major axis that becomes
Chang'an Avenue file:50th anniversary of PRC 1.jpg, 250px, Chang'an Avenue hosts military parades. Here are armoured fighting vehicles leaving Tian'anmen Square during the 50th anniversary of the People's Republic of China, 1999 National Day parade. Chang'an ...
further west. Just north of Fuxing Road is a screen bearing the monument's name calligraphed by
Jiang Zemin Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as Chairman of the Central Mil ...
, and a circular plaza flanked by two arcs of water, symbolizing China's two iconic rivers the
Yellow River The Yellow River, also known as Huanghe, is the second-longest river in China and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system on Earth, with an estimated length of and a Drainage basin, watershed of . Beginning in the Bayan H ...
and the
Yangtze The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows including Dam Qu River the longest source of the Yangtze, i ...
. In the center of the plaza is a sunken square space with a permanently burning flame of "Chinese Holy Fire". (), kindled in 1999 at the
Zhoukoudian Zhoukoudian Area () is a town and an area located on the east Fangshan District, Beijing, China. It borders Nanjiao and Fozizhuang Townships to its north, Xiangyang, Chengguan and Yingfeng Subdistricts to its east, Shilou and Hangcunhe Towns to ...
site where
Peking Man Peking Man (''Homo erectus pekinensis'', originally "''Sinanthropus pekinensis''") is a subspecies of '' H. erectus'' which inhabited what is now northern China during the Middle Pleistocene. Its fossils have been found in a cave some southw ...
was discovered in the 1920s, and symbolizing the continuity of human experience in China since times immemorial. The plaza's northern side features a map of China in a circular gilded medallion fringed by sculpted dragons. Between it and the monument's main structure is the 270-meters-long causeway proper or "bronze thoroughfare", a three-meter-wide installation with events of China's history inscribed on
bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...
plates, starting 300,000 years ago, on a year-by-year basis (some left blank) starting in 3,000 BCE, and with longer notices and indications of
Chinese zodiac The Chinese zodiac is a traditional classification scheme based on the Chinese calendar that assigns an animal and its reputed attributes to each year in a repeating twelve-year (or duodenary) cycle. The zodiac is very important in traditional ...
animals starting in 1901. The choice of events mentioned has been described as framed in a teleological narrative that legitimizes China's socialist revolution.


Millennium Monument Park

To its west, north and east, the monument is surrounded by a parking lot and beyond it, by a green space carved out from
Yuyuantan Park Yuyuantan Park (, zh, 玉渊潭公园) is one of major urban parks in the city of Beijing. This park covers a territory of about , 61 of which are covered by water. Yuyuantan is the largest water body in the park. The park is located between the ...
, the Millennium Monument Park. The park features two rotundas on both sides of the monument. The eastern rotunda's
pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings; * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...
features a monumental Chinese bell, branded the Century Bell, which celebrates China's progress during the 20th century that started with the humiliation of the 1901
Boxer Protocol The Boxer Protocol was a Protocol (diplomacy), diplomatic protocol signed in China's capital Beijing on September 7, 1901, between the Qing dynasty, Qing Empire of China and the Eight-Nation Alliance that had provided military forces (including ...
and ended with the 1999
transfer of sovereignty over Macau The handover of Macau from the Portuguese Republic to the People's Republic of China was at midnight on 20 December 1999. This event ended 442 years of Portuguese rule in the former settlement, which began in 1557. Macau was settled by Por ...
back to the People's Republic of China. The western rotunda's pavilion has been left empty.


Beijing World Art Museum

The Beijing World Art Museum was initially intended to host a permanent collection of non-Chinese art that would be displayed in two large halls, one for
Western art The art of Europe, also known as Western art, encompasses the history of visual art in Europe. European prehistoric art started as mobile Upper Paleolithic rock and cave painting and petroglyph art and was characteristic of the period bet ...
and the other for non-Chinese
Eastern art Asian art includes a vast range of arts from various cultures, regions, and religions across the continent of Asia. East Asian art includes works from China, Japan, and Korea, while Southeast Asian art includes the arts of Brunei, Cambodia, Ea ...
, flanking the central (Chinese) Century Hall on its respective western and eastern sides. No significant collection was assembled for that purpose, however, resulting in what scholar Wang Liwei, who was involved in the museum's preparatory work, has referred to in an
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
publication as "an embarrassing situation." To overcome that handicap, the museum decided in the mid-2000s to focus its activity and identity on temporary exhibitions. The museum's inaugural exhibition in 2006 was titled "Mirroring the Age: Six Centuries of Italian Art" which was attended by 120,000 visitors. Exhibitions of the museum since then have included those on Contemporary American Realism in 2012, the first Beijing Photo Biennial in 2013, paintings by
Xu Beihong Xu Beihong (; 19 July 1895 – 26 September 1953), also known as Ju Péon, was a Chinese painter. He was primarily known for his Ink wash painting, Chinese ink paintings of horses and birds and was one of the first Chinese artists to articulat ...
in 2014, creations of the
Sichuan Fine Arts Institute Sichuan Fine Arts Institute (SFAI) () is a public university, public fine arts university established in 1940 in the southwest City of Chongqing, China. It is one of the art academies in China and the only one in southwest China. History and reputa ...
in 2018, works by
Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...
in 2020–2021, and
Egyptian mummies The ancient Egyptians had an elaborate set of funerary practices that they believed were necessary to ensure their immortality after death. These rituals included mummifying the body, casting magic spells, and burials with specific grave goods ...
in 2021.


See also

*
Monument to the People's Heroes The Monument to the People's Heroes () is a ten-story obelisk that was erected as a national monument of China to the Martyr (China), martyrs of revolutionary struggle during the 19th and 20th centuries. It is located in the southern part of Tiana ...
*
Monument to the People's Heroes (Shanghai) The Shanghai People's Heroes Memorial Tower () is a concrete structure in Shanghai, China. The structure is located at the north end of the Bund, at the confluence of the Suzhou Creek and the Huangpu River, within the grounds of the Huangpu ...
* Museum of the Chinese Communist Party * Millennium Monument (disambiguation)


Notes


External links


Beijing World Art Museum Official Website
{{Coord, 39.911514, 116.321247, format=dms, region:CN-11_type:landmark, display=title Museums in Beijing Buildings and structures celebrating the third millennium Turn of the third millennium Art museums and galleries in Beijing Monuments and memorials in Beijing Sundials 1999 establishments in China Art museums and galleries established in 2006 Buildings and structures completed in 1999