With the rapid changes, Beijing has lost sight of its old appearance. The original city wall became a thoroughfare, and the city gate was only reserved as a place name. Pursuing the changes of the city gate, we can still vaguely hear the twilight of old Beijing, see the bright armor of the defenders, and feel the ever-changing blood flowing. The gate of prestige in the past disappears in the air like time, which can't be touched or seen, but it can't be ignored, just like those warriors who can't be ignored in history.
There are sixteen gates in the old city of Beijing, each with different names, uses and characteristics.
Inner nine refers to the nine doors on the inner city, clockwise, which are Dongzhimen and Chaoyangmen on the wall of Dongcheng; Chongwen Gate, Zhengyang Gate and Xuanwu Gate on the wall of Chengnan City; There are Fuchengmen and Xizhimen on the wall of Xicheng; Desheng Gate and Anding Gate on the North City Wall.
The outer seven refers to the seven gates on the wall of Dongcheng, clockwise, namely Dongbianmen and Guangqumen; Zuo 'anmen, Yongding Gate and You 'anmen on the wall of Chengnan City; Guang 'an Gate and Xibianmen in the Western Wall.
Inside the nine doors:
Dongzhimen was called Chongren Gate in Yuan Dynasty. There is an iron tower outside the treasure of the town gate, and there is a stone statue of a drug Lord inside. How lucky it is to have a wooden car.
Chaoyangmen was called Qihuamen in Yuan Dynasty. The sign is that there is an ear carved at the entrance of Wengcheng. It's the grain gate in Beijing, so take more grain wagons. Chaoyangmen is also called Doumen, which means to have a rest. The grain transported through the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal enters the city through this gate and is stored in several big warehouse in Chaoyangmen, so more grain wagons are needed. There is Guandi Temple in its urn, but there is only God in the temple, but there is no God. There is a temple in each of the nine gates in the inner city of Beijing, but there are two in Zhengyangmen, thus leaving the saying that "there are nine gates and ten temples, and one temple has no gods".
Chongwenmen, known as Wenmingmen in Yuan Dynasty, is also called Hadamen. The signboard is Zhenhai Chongwen armored fish, so you should take more wine cars. Chongwenmen is a "scenic gate", which means a bright and prosperous gate. At the same time, it may be the busiest gate for people and goods in Beijing. Every day when the door is closed, the bell will ring to remind people who want to enter and leave the city gate. Other city gates, on the other hand, strike a flat percussion instrument and make a sound similar to "Cuo". Therefore, there is a saying of "nine doors and eight bells" in old Beijing, and the "hour" that is often said in spoken English in old Beijing probably comes from this. At that time, there were many brewing workshops in Daxing County, the southern suburb of Beijing, and wine trucks often entered the city from Chongwenmen, so there was a saying that "Chongwenmen entered the wine truck and Xuanwumen left the prison truck".
Zhengyangmen, known as Li Zhengmen in Yuan Dynasty, was named after the "beauty of the sun, the moon and the sky" in divination, also known as the main entrance. The signboard is Wengcheng Golden Body Guandi Temple. There are temples at the gates of Beijing, and there are only two Zhengyangmen, among which Master Jin Shen Guan is the most effective. Zhengyangmen is the main entrance of the inner city, which was called Daming Gate in Ming Dynasty and Daqingmen in Qing Dynasty. Except the emperor, no one can enter or exit from the main entrance at the bottom of the arrow tower, but only from the side doors on the east and west sides. So it's always closed tightly at ordinary times.
Xuanwu Gate was called Shuncheng Gate in Yuan Dynasty. The sign is Xuanwu noon cannon that tells the time. Take more prison cars. Xuanwu Gate is a "dead gate". At that time, most cemeteries in Beijing were in Taoranting area, so there were many mourners in Xuanwu Gate. In the Qing Dynasty, the execution ground was at Caishikou, and the car escorting the death row was also out of Xuanwu Gate.
Fuchengmen was called Pingze Gate in Yuan Dynasty. The sign is that there are plum blossoms carved on Weng's city wall, so take more coal cars. Fuchengmen is also called "Qimen", which means "justice". The coal produced in Mentougou, Xishan Mountain is an indispensable fuel in Beijing. It is the closest to Xishan Mountain, so all coal trucks enter the city from this gate. The symbol "plum" is homophonic with "coal", and there is a saying among the elderly that "plum blossoms in Fucheng report spring warmth".
Xizhimen was called Heyimen in Yuan Dynasty. The sign is that there is a stone engraved with waterline on the urn, with more water wheels. The water quality in Beijing is not good, and the palace water is taken from Yuquan Mountain. Every morning, the waterwheel enters the city from Xizhimen.
Deshengmen, the army triumphed, and entered the city through this gate, taking more personnel carriers. Deshengmen, also known as "repairing the door", has the meaning of noble character. Teachers of righteousness have to go in and out through this door, so this door is more of a passage to the personnel carrier.
Andingmen, the army set out from this gate and left the city. The treasure of the town gate is the Zhenwu Emperor, so you should take the dung cart more often. Andingmen is also called "Shengmen", which means "abundance", so the emperor will go out from this door and pray for a bumper harvest at the Ditan. Guandi Temple was built in eight other city gates, but Zhenwu Emperor Temple was built in Andingmen, and Zhenwu Emperor became the treasure of the city gate. There are many dung yards outside Andingmen, so dung trucks often go in and out from Andingmen.
Waiqimen
Guangqumen, also known as Shawomen.
Guang 'anmen, called Guangning Gate in Ming Dynasty, is also called Zhang Yimen.
The composition of the city gate-watchtower, watchtower and golden tower.
There are towers on all the gates in the inner city of Beijing. These towers are located on a pier, which is closely connected with the left and right city walls. There is an arched ticket hole in the middle of the lower side of the pier, which is the city gate hole. There are two opposite doors at the doorway, which are covered with nails and have copper-plated foam nails on the front. There is a bolt behind the door.
The towers in the inner city of Beijing were all built in the Ming Dynasty. All the towers are located on the top of the mountain, with double eaves, gray tiles and green glazed tiles. Generally speaking, towers are 7 rooms wide and 5 rooms deep, but there are also 3 rooms deep, like Chaoyangmen. Fuchengmen is three rooms. The specific specifications of the towers in the inner city are not consistent. Generally speaking, Zhengyang Gate has the highest specifications and is the most spectacular tower, while Chongwen Gate and Xuanwu Gate are slightly worse, while Dongzhimen and Xizhimen are slightly worse. Deshengmen, Andingmen, Chaoyangmen and Fuchengmen have the lowest specifications, and each tower has two floors, so soldiers guarding the city can climb the tower and overlook it.
The tower in the outer city is smaller than the tower in the inner city. The highest is Yongdingmen, which is located at the southernmost end of the central axis. This tower is about 20 meters high. Rest at the top of the mountain, with double eaves, 7 rooms wide and 3 rooms deep, echoing at Zhengyangmen from a distance. Secondly, Guangning Gate, now called Guang 'anmen, is a little shorter than Yongdingmen. Guangqumen, Zuo 'anmen and You 'anmen are single-eaved towers at the top of the mountain, with a height of only about15m, while the East Gate and Bianxi Gate are small in shape.
Arrow Tower There is also a watchtower outside the gate of Beijing, called Arrow Tower. The shape of each embrasured tower is also different, and the embrasured tower at Zhengyangmen is the most magnificent. The city platform is about 12 meters high, which is a double eaves of Xieding Mountain, covered with gray pipe tiles and inlaid with green glazed tiles. There are 9 rooms in the south, 7 rooms in the north, four-story arrow windows in the southeast and west, 52 holes in the south and 2 1 hole in the east and west. Qianmen Arrow Tower is 38 meters high, 52 meters wide and 32 meters deep, which is the highest among all the arrow towers in Beijing. Among the nine gates in the inner city, only the front door has a doorway under the watchtower, which is only for the emperor to enter and exit.
The shape of each embrasured watchtower in the inner city of Beijing is basically the same as that of Qianmen watchtower, with double eaves on the front and five buildings on the back. There are three rows of arrow holes under the double eaves and one row of arrow holes on the double eaves.
The watchtower outside is smaller in shape. There are two rows of arrow holes in the front of Yongdingmen Arrow Tower, with 7 holes in each row and 3 holes in the left and right rows, making a total of 26 arrow holes. There is no building behind the watchtower, only a door. Guang 'an, Refractive, Zuo 'an and You 'an are the second, with only 22 arrow holes, while Dongbianmen and Xibianmen are the smallest, with only 8 arrow holes.
There are walls on the left and right sides of the arch tower in the urn, which are connected with the walls of the inner city or the outer city, so a small town protruding outward is formed at the gate, which is the urn. The plane shape of the urn is square, like the ones in Dongzhimen and Xizhimen. There are also rectangular urns, such as Zhengyangmen and Deshengmen. There are also semicircular urns, such as the urn of Dongbianmen and Xibianmen. Other Barbican cities are basically square, but they take an arc instead of a right angle at the junction of two adjacent walls.
Zhengyangmen's urn covers the largest area, showing a long and narrow rectangle from east to west. The other urn has only one door. The urn of Zhengyangmen has a door on the left and a door on the right except the door at the bottom of the arrow tower.
The urn door of each gate in the inner city has its own characteristics, that is, the urn door on the same side of the city wall is opposite. For example, the urn door of Dongzhimen in the north of the East City Wall faces south, and the urn door of Chaoyang Gate in the south faces north, which provides convenience for the army to transfer from one gate to another through the city. Xizhimen, Fuchengmen on the wall of Xicheng, Chongwen Gate and Xuanwu Gate on the wall of Cheng Nan are all the same. Zhengyangmen Wengcheng has gates in the east, south and west, except Deshengmen and Andingmen in the north wall. The gates of the two urn cities face east.
The urn in the outer city is smaller than that in the inner city, and the two are in a semicircle layout. The urn door of the outer city is also different from the urn door of the inner city, which is located in the middle of the lower side of the watchtower.
Abandoned city gate
In the Yuan Dynasty, there were 1 1 gates, including three in the east, three in the south, three in the west and only two in the north. From north to south, the East Sanmen are: Guangxi Gate, Chongren Gate and Qihuamen; To the south, Sanmen is in the west, Wenmingmen is in the east, and the main entrance is in the middle; From north to south, the west three gates are: Qingqingmen, Heyimen and Pingze Gate; In the north, there are two Anzhen Gate in the east and Jiande Gate in the west.
In the early Ming Dynasty, Xu Da presided over the reconstruction of the new city, abandoned the north wall of the Yuan Dynasty and built a new wall in the south of Wuli. Anzhen Gate and Jiande Gate on the wall of the former North City were abandoned, and Guangxi Gate and Qingqing Gate on the wall of the northernmost North City of East and West City were also abandoned.
Xinjian chengmen
Peace Gate, Jianguomen Gate and Fuxingmen were all built on the city wall in order to facilitate traffic during the Republic of China, but they are very different from the original city gates. They have no towers, watchtowers and crocks. In fact, they just opened two arched ticket holes on the original city wall to allow vehicles and pedestrians to pass through.
Xi Long Ren, a Swedish scholar, once made an image metaphor for the walls and gates of Beijing: "If we compare it (Beijing) to a giant's body, the gate is like a giant's mouth, and its breath and speech pass through it, and the life pulse of the whole city is concentrated at the gate. There are not only a large number of vehicles, pedestrians and livestock, but also people's thoughts and wishes, hopes and disappointments, as well as funerals and weddings symbolizing death or rebirth. At the gate of the city, you can feel the pulse of the whole city and let the life and will of the whole city flow through this narrow passage-this pulse gives Beijing, an extremely complex organism, the rhythm of life and movement. " (The walls and gates of Beijing)
On the one hand, the disappearance of Beijing's gate has promoted the development of economy and transportation, on the other hand, it has to make people feel sad about the annihilation of historical sites and architectural masterpieces. Now I can only imagine sitting in a speeding car on the second ring road, when the general guarding the city patrols the city wall; I can only imagine standing in front of Deshengmen and looking up at the beautiful scenery of Beijing!