Nine-Dragon Screen

Beihai Park is also home to the famous Nine-Dragon Screen. Just like the one in the Forbidden City,the screen is built with colored glazed-tiles. Made in 1756, the Nine-Dragon Screen was built of 424 pieces of coloured glazed tiles during the reign of Qing Emperor Qianlong. The Nine-Dragon Screen was built to protect a temple (no longer there now) from invading evil spirits, and is considered an art treasure and one of the best of its kind. The whole thing is built with glazed color bricks. On either side of it there are nine dragons, also made of glazed bricks, each playing with a pearl amidst waves of clouds. It is said that the total number of dragons is 635.

The Nine-Dragon Screen in "Beihai Park is one of the indispensable sights for foreign tourists to Beijing to take in if they wish to follow the traces or China's dragons. In nine different postures the nine dragons equally portray fierceness and vigour. Tourists marvel at the great artistic merit and the Beautiful modeling of this ancient art object. There are three nine-dragon screens in China: the largest is the one in the city of Datong, Shanxi Province; the best one is in Beihai Park and the other one is in the Forbidden City.