Located directly to the north of the Forbidden City, Jingshan Park is the highest point of old Beijing. Beihai Park is situated to the west of Jingshan Park, and Bell and Drum Towers are on the north of Jingshan Park. The place is a beautiful imperial park and in former times belonged only to the emperors in the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties (1271-1911). For their enjoyment they used to climb the hill, admire the scenery and eat and drink in the park.

The park covers an area of 23 hectares, and the hill stands some 43 meters high with a circumference of 1,015 meters. It used to be hillock at the very beginning of the Yuan Dynasty and was then called the Green Hill. As the place was once heaped with coal, hence the name Coal Hill. During the period of Emperor Yongle's reign (1403-1424) of the Ming Dynasty the hill was piled up with the earth and mud dug out from the moat round the Forbidden City, thereby forming the hill within the area of the royal palace. With flowers and trees planted all round it was then named as "Wansui shan", the Majesty Hill. However in 1655 during the Qing Dynasty the name was changed to Jingshan Hill, the name by which it is known today.

The Jingshan Park has three gates and many buildings, namely Qiwanglou, the Tower of Splendid View; Wuzuofengting, the Five Hilltop Pavilions; Shouhuangdian, the Hall of Imperial Longevity; Xingqingge, the Pavilion of Flourishing Happiness and Yongsidian, the Eternal Cherishing Hall and so on.
Qiwanglou, the Tower of Splendid View is located north of the Jingshan Gate along the north-south axis. The tower used to be a place for enshrining the Tablet of Confucius when an official academy was opened here during the period of Emperor Qianlong's reign of the Qing Dynasty.

Wanchunting, the All Time Spring Pavilion, erected at the highest point, and right in the middle of the five pavilions on the Coal Hill. The pavilion, at the centre point of the north-south axis that divides the old city of Beijing into two equal parts, is the highest spot of the old city. Standing at the pavilion, you can clearly see the whole buildings of the Forbidden City. The pavilion has triple eaves and four up-turned ledges covered with yellow glazed tiles, which are rimmed with green ones. The pavilion has 32 columns, the outer 20 columns with six of them on each side, and the inner 12 columns with four on each side. In the center of the pavilion there used to have a gold-plated wooden stature of Vairocana Buddha, which together with a lotus and having a mandala at the back stands 3 meters in height. Unfortunately the Buddha statue is destroyed by the Eight Powers Allied Forces to a great pity. There are four other pavilions, two on each east and west sides respectively.

At the northern foot of hill is the Hall of Imperial Longevity, firstly built in the Ming Dynasty and rebuilt during the period of Emperor Qianlong's reign (1736-1795) of the Qing Dynasty. The hall enshrining the portraits of the deceased Qing emperors was used as a place for offering sacrifices to the imperial ancestors. To the east of the Hall of Imperial Longevity is the Hall of Eternal Cherishing Hall, originally used for housing the coffins of emperors and later for holding those of emperors and empresses. However, in the Ming Dynasty it was a place for emperors to practice archery.

It is said that at the eastern end of the Coal Hill, there is a place where Emperor Chongzhen, the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty committed suicide here by hanging himself.

Since the founding of People's Republic of China in 1949, the Government has built many structures for the providing of services, and has also renovated some of the ancient buildings. In addition, many tall trees have been planted inside the park to restore it to its former beauty.

At present many shows have been held in the park, where there have been exhibitions of fish and flowers, notably the beautiful peonies for which the park is famous. The best time for viewing the more than 200 varieties of peonies inside the park is from late April to mid-May. Visitors will really enjoy these displays.