18 Facts About Zhongnanhai

Zhongnanhai is a former imperial garden in the Imperial City, Beijing, adjacent to the Forbidden City; it serves as the central headquarters for the Chinese Communist Party and the State Council of China.

The term Zhongnanhai is closely linked with the central government and senior CCP officials.

North Zhongnanhai is used as the headquarters of the State Council and includes the offices of its senior most leaders as well as its principal meeting rooms.

South Zhongnanhai is the headquarters of the Central Committee, including its staff and its highest level coordinating institutions, such as the Standing Committee, Politburo and Secretariat.

Current basic outline of Zhongnanhai emerged during the Ming dynasty when the southernmost of the two lakes in the complex was created in 1421.

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Mao received many important foreign leaders in Zhongnanhai, including Nikita Khrushchev, Che Guevara, Richard Nixon, Georges Pompidou, Kakuei Tanaka and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, among others.

Mao's favorite places in Zhongnanhai were the Library of Chrysanthemum Fragrance and the Poolside House, next to the large indoor swimming pool, where he would spend much of the day swimming or reading books and reports by the pool.

The northern section of Zhongnanhai was the Taiye Lake, with an attached palace called the "Palace of Great Peace" .

Zhongnanhai continued to be politically significant during the Republic of China era, when the Beiyang Government under Yuan Shikai, placed its presidential palace in the Zhongnanhai compound from 1911.

Since then, Zhongnanhai has served as the principal center of government in the People's Republic of China.

Since Zhongnanhai became the central government compound, it has been mostly inaccessible to the general public.

Zhongnanhai is considered the de jure residence of Politburo Standing Committee members and other senior leaders for electoral purposes.

Ziguang Hall is used today as the main reception area in Zhongnanhai for meeting with foreign diplomats and conducting talks with world leaders.

The original outdoor swimming pool adjacent to Poolside House was built in 1933 as a public-private partnership when Zhongnanhai was a public park.

South Zhongnanhai includes the meeting places for the Politburo, Standing Committee and Secretariat.

Original Qinzheng hall was built by the Kangxi Emperor as the main hall of the Zhongnanhai complex, serving as the Emperor's primary living and working space in Zhongnanhai.

The Central Committee General Office's physical office footprint has now expanded beyond Zhongnanhai to include several buildings on the other side of Fuyou Street from West Building as well as other buildings in the Xicheng District area.

Zhongnanhai later moved to a building called Fuluju in the same area.