Beijing Planning Exhibition Hall, Urban planning museum in Qianmen, Beijing, China
The Beijing Planning Exhibition Hall is an urban development museum in the Qianmen neighborhood with exhibits spread across four floors. It features detailed scale models and displays that show how the city has been rebuilt and transformed over the decades.
The museum opened in 2004 as a documentation center for Beijing's transformation from an ancient imperial capital into a contemporary city. It was established to record the major building and infrastructure changes that reshaped the metropolis in recent decades.
The hall displays historical photographs of traditional hutongs and residential neighborhoods that shaped Beijing's character. These images help visitors understand how the city's older sections looked and how daily life unfolded in those spaces.
The museum is open to visitors Tuesday through Sunday and sits within walking distance of Qianmen Station on the subway. The building is easy to reach and has multiple levels to explore with information displayed throughout the spaces.
The building itself is the former main railway station of Beijing, erected in 1903; the museum opened there on 9 September 2004. The hall is supervised by the Beijing Municipal Commission of Planning and Natural Resources. On 15 January 2017 a proposal at a CPPCC session led to the 30-yuan ticket being dropped, and entry became free from 17 January 2017, with costs covered by the municipal government.
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