The Jingshan Park, to the north of the Palace Museum, is located in the center of Beijing on the north to south axis. It used to be a private garden of the imperial families in the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties.

According to the legend, the four constellations The Green Dragon, the white Dragon, the Scarlet Bird, and the Black Warrior, stand in their own respective territories. The northern part of the Forbidden City is just within the Black Warrior's territory, where a hill is indispensable. So the earth from the digging of the moat around the Forbidden City was piled up into a hill called Jingshan. Jingshan, first named "Longevity Hill", became the "Hill of Safeguard" for the Forbidden City.

The central pavilion, Wanchunting (Everlasting Spring Pavilion) with 3 eaves, 4 upturned roof corners and golden glazed-tile roof is the highest of Jingshan. To the east and west of Wanchunting are Zhoushangting (Pavilion of Surrounding Views) and Fulanting (Panoramic View Pavilion) respectively. Both of them have double eaves and 8 upturned roof corners and a green glazed-tile roof. To the east of Zhoushangting is Guanmiaoting (Pavilion of Wonderful Views), while to the west of Fulanting, is Jifangting (Fragrance Pavilion). They are small round pavilions with double-eaves and a roof of blue glazed-tiles.

On the northern part of Jingshan, there are buildings such as Shouhuangdian (Hall of Imperial Longevity) where the portraits of ancestors were housed, Yongsidian (Hall of Everlasting Memory) and Guandedian (Hall of Morals Observation), which were used as mourning place for deceased emperors and queens in the Qing Dynasty. At present, Shouhuangdian and Guandedian are opened as children's Palace and Library.

On the eastern side of Jingshan there used to be an old locust tree upon which Chongzhen, the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty hanged himself, when the peasant army led by Li Zicheng stormed into Beijing. Unfortunately, the old tree was gone, in its place, a new tree of similar appearance has been planted.

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