The park will be located at the northern end of the central north-south axis that bifurcates central Beijing, straddling the fourth ring road. The importance of this north-south axis is clearly explained by Zixuan Zhu and Reginald Yin-Wang Kwok in their essay "Beijing: The Expression of Political Ideology," in Culture and the City in East Asia: "Following the Confucian tradition, Beijing was planned along a north to south axis, representing the authority of the state. The Imperial Palace, government offices, religious buildings, and minor royal residences were all located, symmetrically, on the east and west sides of the central axis. Political power and social position were clearly demarcated on the urban landscape." The location of the Olympic Park thus embodies the Chinese government's stated goal of "integrating the 2008 Olympics with Chinese culture and spiritual civilization."
