In front of Zhengyangmen Gate, which rises at the southern end of Tian'anmen Square in the heart of Beijing, tourists hustling and bustling on Qianmen Street keep instilling vitality to this gateway dating back over 600 years.

With the gate tower in the north and the archery tower in the south, Zhengyangmen, a key marker on the Beijing Central Axis, is the largest among all the gates of the inner and outer cities of Beijing during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.

The busy scene resonates with the previous era's prosperity, but the gate was subjected to the evolving times.

Though the site witnessed the traditional way of urban management and played a crucial role in military defense and ceremonies during the imperial period, the Zhengyangmen area experienced major changes after the monarchy ended.

The old fortified barbican was replaced by an urban road in the early 20th century. Zhengyang Bridge in front of the gate used to be an imperial road across the moat surrounding the inner city but had also disappeared from above ground. People thought the largest single bridge along the Beijing Central Axis no longer existed in the last century's urban development, but recent archaeological research tells another story.

To identify its status quo as a reference for the studies of the Beijing Central Axis, archaeologists have excavated the Zhengyang Bridge site in two phases on Qianmen Street since 2021. To their joy, the bridge is still there, intact and well-sealed beneath the busy traffic of today.

A bridge made of bricks and stones, as well as a goose wing-shaped revetment, was discovered.

"We could only refer to ancient documents and paintings to imagine what Zhengyang Bridge was like," says Zhang Lifang, an associate researcher at the Beijing Archaeological Research Institute who leads the excavation. "Archaeology now provides us a clear lineage of its evolution."

The bridge was first constructed with wood and reinforced with stones and bricks in 1439, according to records in a Ming Dynasty file. In the early 20th century, the arch bridge was widened and flattened to facilitate traffic. Later, the moat was filled.

"We found cement under its arches, which shows vestiges of renovation in the early 20th century," Zhang says.

During its discovery, the bridge was still safeguarded by a 3-meter-long stone statue of a mythical water-harnessing beast. The lion-headed, tiger-bodied beast is covered with scales and decorated with auspicious clouds on some parts.

Zhang says this remarkable statue echoes the bridge's exceptional status.

This archaeological research was an important preparation process in the successful seeking of UNESCO World Heritage Site status for the Beijing Central Axis.

"The Beijing Central Axis is not only a cluster of separate buildings," explains Deng Chao, director of the department of historic monuments under the National Cultural Heritage Administration.

"The roads and bridges along the axis connect the heritage components and form a continuous entity."

However, compared with many magnificent architectural structures rising along the northern section of the axis, the southern section needs to be better clarified in the public's eyes as it has a smaller number of grand buildings, as Deng notes.

Archaeology thus plays a crucial role in helping people to understand the values of this section.

On the Zhengyang Bridge site and other spots along the southern section of the Central Axis, Zhang's team has been devoted to unveiling some crucial but long-forgotten chapters of the past.

In the Zhushikou area near the southern end of Qianmen Street, archaeologists found drainage ditches of the Qing Dynasty, the style of which is identical to those of royal resorts of that time.

Remains of the Tianqiao Bridge, which is more than 1 kilometer to the south of Zhengyang Bridge, were also discovered.

Thanks to the archaeological work, the southern section road, which was the route used for national rituals and ceremonies during the Ming and Qing dynasties, was gradually resurrected.

Zhang's team found as many as seven layers of overlapped road foundations. She says that the deepest layer may date back to the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) or earlier, when the Central Axis was first formed, but she adds more evidence awaits to be unearthed.

The Southern Section Road Archaeological Sites were listed as one of 15 components gaining World Heritage status as part of the "Beijing Central Axis: A Building Ensemble Exhibiting the Ideal Order of the Chinese Capital".

As the World Heritage bidding documents point out: " (The sites) are material evidence that irrefutably show the location, orientation, engineering techniques and history of the continuous use of the central road and bear witness to the state ritual traditions that have continued on the Beijing Central Axis to this day."

Jiang Bo, vice-president of the Chinese national committee for the International Council on Monuments and Sites, says: "Since the initiation of the World Heritage application project, Beijing residents have revitalized their memories and devoted themselves wholeheartedly to the protection of urban cultural heritage with unprecedented enthusiasm.

"The ancient city is returning in a new heritage landscape."

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