Chongwenmen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chongwenmen (Chinese: 崇文門; pinyin: Chóngwénmén; Manchu: Šu be wesihulere duka) was the name of a gate in Beijing's former city wall.

The gate was situated in the southeastern part of Beijing, immediately south of the Beijing Legation Quarter.

During the Yuan dynasty, the gate was called Wenmingmen (文明門). Because the residence of the Mongol prince Hada was located close by, the gate was also popularly known as Hadamen (哈達門; 哈大門) or Hademen (哈德門). The name Hademen survived well into the twentieth century, and was even the name of a popular cigarette brand.

In the 1960s, the gate was torn down to make room for Beijing's second ring road. It has given its name to Chongwen District of Beijing municipality. Today, Chongwenmen is a transport node in Beijing as well as the name of a station is Beijing's subway system.