Look at the remains of the ancient city of Beijing, and sigh at one of the vicissitudes of the landscape (Beihai and Tuancheng)

  • Number of days:1 day
  • Time: September
  • Average cost:10 yuan
  • With whom: a person
  • Tour kinds: photography, humanities, freelancers
  • The author went to these places: Beijing Tanzhe Temple Forbidden City Cuandixia Village Western Zhou Yandu Ruins Xiangshan Beihai Park front door Temple of Heaven Temple of Earth Zhongshan Park Sheji Altar Xiannong Altar Donghua Gate Badaling Great Wall Lama Temple Guozijian Summer Palace White Pagoda Temple Zhihua Temple Yunju Temple Great Hall of the People Hogenji Temple Bell and Drum Tower Paiyun Hall
  • Updated: 2020.09.16

Beijingers often say that Beijing has a history of 600 years, and also say that "there is Tanzhe Temple first, and then there is Beijing City". This time node is talking about the Ming Dynasty Beijing City, strictly speaking, it should be the Ming Dynasty Imperial City, which is now the Forbidden City.

In fact, there have been people in Beijing for a long time, and the earliest Beijingers lived in Longgu Mountain, which is now Zhoukoudian in Fangshan, which was 700,000 years ago. They lived there for hundreds of thousands of years, and then moved upstairs, in a cave on the top of the mountain. We call them the cave people on the top of the mountain, which is 30,000 years ago. They all lived in the Paleolithic Age, and everyone gathered in the mountains and forests and dug pits to live, which is equivalent to cavemen. It didn't take long for Pekingese to come out of the mountains after about 20,000 years. They came to the place where Mentougou Zhaitang is now, leveled the land and developed a homestead in a place called Donghulin Village, and built a small house, which was the early Neolithic period 10,000 years ago. Don't look at the order I wrote here, but are there direct relatives between the Peking ape people, the mountain top cave people and the Donghulin people? I don't know. However, at present, the archaeological community believes that the Donghulin people are the ancestors of the 800 generations of modern Beijingers, and the Donghulin people already have jade on them, indicating that they have a fairly decent amateur cultural life. You see, the people who can survive the Quaternary glacial period and do not escape from Alaska are only Beijingers, born and raised here. Those people in the West were descendants of African Homo sapiens, who could not stand the loneliness of the ice age and fled from Africa to the north of the Alps, Siberia, and finally to Alaska.

Since the Donghulin people, Beijing's economy has developed greatly, society has also made great progress, and the population has continued to grow. Thousands of years later, the incident of King Wu's destruction of Zhou occurred in the west of Beijing. After King Wu of Zhou destroyed King Shang Zhou, he divided the princes, and King Wu Ji sent his brother Ji Shi to the title of "Zhao Gong". It is not enough to have a name, but also to have a fief, this fief is Beijing and its surroundings, called "Yan". The capital of Yan is in Liulihe Town, Fangshan, the southernmost part of the suburbs of present-day Beijing. This Yan capital is called "Yan Du", also known as "Yan Jing", which is the starting point of the history of the founding of Beijing, in the twelfth year of King Wu of Zhou, in 1044 BC, more than 3,000 years ago. Although Ji Shi was named Zhao Gong, he actually mainly worked in the court, that is, in Haojing. Haojing is in present-day Xi'an, far away from Beijing, and is the newly built capital after King Wu of Zhou demolished the Shang capital Chaoge. Although Ji Shi had a big house, he couldn't take care of the decoration, so he asked his eldest daughter, Ji Ke, to go to Zhang Luo. Therefore, this Yanjing was not built by Zhao Gong, but by Zhao Gong's son.

I haven't been to the Zhoukoudian Ape Man Cave and the Mountain Top Cave mentioned earlier. The last time I went to Cuandixia Village, I passed by Donghulin Village, and there were still people digging there who didn't let me go in to pick up the pieces of soil, so I didn't go in. Liulihe Town has now built a museum of the Western Zhou Yandu ruins, which is said to show everyone a large pit. A house was built next to the pit, and the mud tiles, bronze pots and pans dug out of the pit were shown to you with a lamp. I felt a bit lame to drive to that place, so I didn't go.

After the Western Zhou Dynasty, Beijing did not do a certain capital in a serious manner, and during this period, it was cut off by the Khitan people along with the sixteen states of Yanyun. In the Jin Dynasty, Jin Taizu Wanyan Aguda rose up to destroy the Liao cause, until his brother Jin Taizong Wanyan Sheng captured Emperor Liao Tianzuo alive in the third year of Tianhui (1125) and successfully destroyed Liao. The early capital of the Great Jin Dynasty was in the present-day Harbin Acheng, called Shangjing Huining Mansion. Later, Wanyan Liang, who was the prime minister at the time, launched a palace coup d'état in the ninth year of the imperial reign (1150), shamelessly killed Jin Xizong and ascended the throne, known in history as the King of Hailing. Soon after King Hailing became king, he moved the capital of the Jin Dynasty from Huining Prefecture in Shangjing to Yanjing, calling it "Zhongdu Daxing Mansion", and changed the era name to the first year of Zhenyuan (1153). The location of Jinzhongdu is roughly equivalent to the southwest corner of the current urban area of Beijing, and the Liao Pagoda of Tianning Temple that I visited last time was in the city of Jinzhongdu. When developing the Lize business district a few years ago, some traces of Jinzhongdu were found, such as rammed earth at the base of the wall. The urban buildings of the Jin Dynasty are now gone, but some remain outside the central capital. Last time I went to see the rebuilt Xiangshan Daeyong'an Zen Temple, which was a building during the Jin Shizong period, which was Xiangshan Temple.

There is another building that survives outside the capital of Jinzhong. During the Liao Dynasty before Jinzhongdu, the Khitan people dug soil in the Jinhai Sea to expand the lake surface called Taiye Pond, and the excavated soil formed two large mounds. The Khitan built a palace here called "Yaoyu Palace", which is the royal garden. This Taiye Pond is now the Beihai Sea, and one of the two large mounds is Qionghua Island; The other is Yuandi, which is now Tuancheng. Jin Shizong - or this Jin Shizong - expanded the Yaoyu Palace to become Taining Palace, and he built a Guanghan Hall on Qionghua Island and a hall on Yuandi, across the water from the Guanghan Hall. The current Qionghua Island has changed a lot, and the Jin Dynasty only has the Genyue stone stolen from Bianliang in the east and east. At that time, Jin Shizong built a round hall on the round di, but now it is long gone.

Now we say that Beihai Park is the oldest park in Beijing, which means that it was already a place for royal outings during the Liao and Jin dynasties. During the Jin Dynasty, Beihai Park was outside the city; When Kublai Khan entered Beijing to establish the Yuan Dynasty, Beihai was in the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, and it was next to the imperial city. When Kublai Khan built the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, he built a city wall in Yuandi and renamed it Yuancheng, and raised the round hall to call it Yitian Hall, and repaired a heavy eaves roof. The most important thing is that the cornerstone of Kublai Khan's construction of the capital is still in Tuancheng, which is the oldest souvenir of the founding of Beijing.

I'll go to Beihai Tuancheng to see the cornerstone of the founding of the Yuan Dynasty.

The most convenient way for me to go to Beihai is to take the subway, and I can take Line 6 to the back door of Beihai once. Then I can walk south along the east side of Beihai, and I can walk all the way to the front gate of Beihai to see Tuancheng.

There are tall shade trees along the east side of Beihai.

Anyone who has been to Beihai knows that there is a red wall along the east side of Beiduan Road, which is now Beihai Kindergarten. The gate of Beihai Kindergarten opens to the north outside the back door of Beihai, but in fact, the building gate in this red wall is in the south. This was an important place in ancient times.

the first silkworm altar. Beijing has the so-called "Nine Altars and Eight Temples", the Temple of Heaven and Earth, the Altar of the Sun and the Moon, as well as the Altar of Sheji in Zhongshan Park, as well as the Altar of Ancestral Agriculture and this Altar of Silkworms. China is an agricultural country, the first farmer is one of the six gods, and the department of agriculture is Shennong. The first silkworm altar is a place to worship the silkworm god, and China has worshipped silkworms since ancient times, so there is a developed silk industry. It is rumored that the silkworm god is a female head horse called the horse head mother, and the ancient royal silkworm god is the queen, called "pro-silkworm".

When you walk to the east gate, you can cross the Zhishan Bridge, which means to climb high, that is, to cross the bridge to climb the rockery on Qionghua Island. Standing on the Zhishan Bridge and looking south.

There is a hut in the southeast corner of Qionghua Island that I like, where I cook tea or wine in the snow in winter, leisurely and invincible in the world. The artistic conception should be the same as the landing tour, "The north wind blows the snow at the beginning of the fourth watch, and the Jiarui Heavenly Sect and the New Year's Eve are over." Half a cup of Tusu has not yet been raised, and the small grass in front of the lamp writes peach talismans."

On a sunny day, you must look up, You can see the white pagoda haunting the treetops.

Keep going, Then he arrived at the gate of Yong'an Temple on Qionghua Island. This Yong'an Temple is one of the "three temples in the early morning of Beijing" that I mentioned in the article "Visiting the Huang Temple in Beijing, Exploring the Secrets of Three Hundred Years Not Revealed". The first is the Pusheng Temple outside Donghuamen, which is now the European and American Alumni Association. The most unusual thing in Pusheng Temple are the two merit monuments, and the merit monuments in the temple are generally erected in front of the Daxiong Treasure Hall. The merit monument in Pusheng Temple is a reclining stele, and one is a monument built in the eighth year of Shunzhi (1651).

There is also a reconstruction monument in the ninth year of Qianlong (1744).

These two steles are now in the Wuta Temple in the north of the zoo, which is now the Beijing Stone Carving Museum, and there are many stone monuments in it, only these two reclining monuments. The merit monument in the form of a lying monument and its rarity, the lying stele of Pusheng Temple is very rare, and may be regarded as the only one in the world, at least the only one in Beijing.

There are two stone lions in front of Yong'an Temple in Beihai Park, which are different from the stone lions in front of other temples, these two stone lions are not facing the door, but facing the temple gate, so they are called "inverted lions".

There is a three-hole stone arch bridge in front of Yong'an Temple, since it is in front of Yong'an Temple, of course it is called Yong'an Bridge.

There is a four-pillar and three-story archway at the north and south ends of Yong'an Bridge, and the north one is called "Duiyun Archway" because of the word "Duiyun" on the forehead.

The one on the south side is because there is " on the forehead" The word "Jicui" is called "Jicui Archway". Behind the Jicui archway is the north wall of Tuancheng and the figure-eight climbing ladder.

Standing under the Jicui archway to look at the White Pagoda.

suddenly found that there were two stone lions under the archway.

It turns out that the stone lion in front of the gate of Yong'an Temple is not an inverted lion, but a stone lion under the cloud archway at the head of the bridgehead on the north side of Yong'an Bridge, because there are two stone lions in the same posture under the Jicui archway in the south. Therefore, not only can you not read without seeking understanding, but you can't do this with viewing.

The figure-eight climbing ladder north of Tuancheng is not open, and if you want to see Tuancheng, you have to go up from outside the gate of Beihai Park. There is a sign of "National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit" on the outer wall of the door.

You see, this "Beihai and Tuancheng" It is the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units, and Beijing is also the first batch of ancient buildings There are also famous attractions such as the Forbidden City, the Badaling Great Wall, the Lama Palace, the Temple of Heaven, the Guozijian and the Summer Palace, as well as some not-so-famous ones, such as the White Pagoda of the White Pagoda Temple, the Vajra Throne of the Five Pagoda Temple, the Zhihua Temple, the Yunju Temple Pagoda and the Stone Scriptures.

Tuancheng was a mound called Yuandi in the Liao Dynasty, and a round hall was built on it in the Jin Dynasty. When Kublai Khan entered Beijing to build the imperial palace and the Yuan capital, the palace was no longer on the basis of the Jinzhongdu Palace, but near Yuandi. Kublai Khan rebuilt the roof of the Round Hall on the Round Di and named it Yitian Hall. The North Sea is called Taiye Pool, Qionghua Island is called Penglai, and Yuandi is called Yingzhou, all of which are fairy lands, so Yitiandian is also called Yingzhou Yuandian. In the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, rebuilt the Yitian Hall, renamed it Chengguang Hall, and rebuilt the city wall around the island, which gave rise to the prototype of the current Tuancheng. During the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, the buildings on Tuancheng were destroyed by an earthquake, and although they were repaired, they were still sluggish. During this renovation, the round hall was changed to a square hall. During the Qianlong period, the Tuancheng was overhauled, the buildings were rebuilt, and the city walls were also added with pheasants, and what we see now is the Tuancheng after this reconstruction.

After entering the door, climb the steps to climb the Tuan City, and looking back, this city tower is too good. Although it is a small room, it is a glazed tile single-eaves hall roof.

Next to the concierge stood a huge whitebark pine, which looked so old that it was known as the "white-robed general". There are also many ancient trees on Tuancheng.

The most important thing for me to come here is to see the monument to the founding of the Yuan Dynasty. This monument is a jade urn, and Qianlong built a jade urn pavilion for it.

The Jade Urn Pavilion is glazed tiles and glazed wall tiles. The top is not a four-corner spire, but a single eaves resting on the top of the mountain. The top is the roof with a platform on it, and the Great Hall of the People is the roof. In the center of the top is a gilded bowl as a ridge brake, which is quite high.

The jade urn in the pavilion is very large, It is one and a half meters in diameter and is now surrounded by glass. It is rumored that in the second year of the Yuan Dynasty (1265), when Kublai Khan built the capital, a group of jade stonemasons got a huge piece of Nanyang Dushan jade. They carved this jade into a wine urn and dedicated it to Kublai Khan, who was overjoyed to see it, so he used it as the mascot of the founding of the Yuan Dynasty and offered it in the Guanghan Hall of Qionghua Island, named "Dushan Dayuhai". Whenever the Yuan army won a battle, Kublai Khan would announce the arrival of Dushan Dayuhai and pour wine to reward the soldiers. Marco Polo, who had been to China in the Yuan Dynasty, described this mountain and the great jade sea in his travelogues, and since then the name of the jade urn has spread throughout the West. Foreigners with red beards and green eyes have to go to Beihai to see this jade urn when they arrive in Beijing, and then "wow" in person. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the urn was wandering among the people until it was later discovered by Qianlong. In the eleventh year of Qianlong (1746), it was transported back to the North Sea, and it was not put back on Qionghua Island, but placed in Tuancheng and built this jade urn pavilion. Qianlong also teamed up with a group of Hanlin Academy literati to each pull a poem, which was engraved on the granite pillars of the Jade Urn Pavilion, and now the handwriting is no longer recognizable, only a little trace can be seen, and those who don't know think that it is "this Qianlong Bingyin year auspicious month auspicious day to visit here". Qianlong only found the jade urn himself, and the pedestal was not original. The original Dushan Dayuhai pedestal was recognized by someone at Fayuanji Temple in 1988.

The jade urn is engraved with dragons and beasts, as well as fresh seafood and other things. After Qianlong found this jade urn, he caught the jade craftsman and refined it, removed the mud on it, scrubbed it clean, and pondered the dragon scales, shrimp whiskers, and toad palms with a carving knife, which must have looked more meticulous. Although Qianlong was very good, he was not as powerful as Kublai Khan, and no matter who won the battle, Qianlong did not move out of this Dushan Dayuhai to reward the soldiers.

This Dushan Great Jade Sea is the earliest large-scale jade carved from a whole piece of jade in China, in addition to being the mascot of the founding of the Yuan Dynasty, it is also an epoch-making work in the history of Chinese jade. One year after the Beijing Olympics, a good person invited nine archaeological and cultural experts to evaluate nine treasures of the town. This Yuan Dynasty Dushan Great Jade Sea was rated as the first of the nine treasures of the town and country by these nine experts, saying that it is the earliest existing large jade, and there is no other one. Moreover, there are complete records in history, and the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties have been recorded, which has a very rich historical connotation.

Tourists who come to Tuancheng should admire this large jade urn and carefully read the bilingual introduction in Chinese and English next to it.

Standing at the gate of the regiment city, in addition to seeing the white-robed general and the jade urn pavilion, you can also see the main building Chengguang Hall at a glance.

There must be a copper incense burner in front of the Chengguang Hall.

Turning the incense burner, you can see the front of the main hall, which is indeed the Chengguang Hall.

The fire tank here is not in Your Highness, But on the platform, one bite. This jar doesn't look very exquisite, it's covered with an iron lid and locked with an iron chain, probably because I'm afraid that Cuihua will steal the sauerkraut in the jar. Look at its ring lion, it doesn't look like bronze.

Look at the lion on the leg of the incense burner, This is bronze, which makes people feel the yellow inside. This is not a lion, it is called an evil beast.

Standing in front of the platform, he stomped on the steps and looked into the hall.

There is a "Great Round Treasure Mirror" hanging in the hall The plaque is Cixi's handwriting. During the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, there was a monk Mingkuan in a small temple at the head of a village outside Beijing, and he sold the small temple to a large family in the village for a sum of money. Monk Mingkuan went to Nanyang with this money and was donated a jade Buddha in Myanmar. In the twenty-second year of Guangxu (1896), Ming Kuan returned to Beijing and dedicated the jade Buddha to Empress Dowager Cixi. Cixi offered this Buddha statue in the Chengguang Hall of Tuancheng and inscribed the plaque on it. The statue of the Burmese Jade Buddha is indeed in this style, exposing the right chest and wearing a golden vestment.

Under this Chengguang Hall is a five-foot green brick pedestal, and there is a circle of glazed brick and tile railings on the pedestal. There are steps with railings on all sides of the platform and the platform, which is called "handrail stomping". There is a platform in front of the hall, and there is no Dan Xiang on the front of the platform, which means that the emperor does not come every day. The hall is a square with a width of three rooms and a depth of three rooms, and a building on each side. Above the hall is the top of the mountain with a bucket arch structure, and above the four sides is the top of the single-eaves rolling shed.

Look at the back of the hall.

The architectural layout of Tuancheng is unconventional, The Chengguang Hall is the center, with the Jade Urn Pavilion in front and the Jingji Hall that can be seen from the North Sea behind it. The east and west sides in front of the Chengguang Hall are usually two pavilions facing each other in the position of the bell and drum tower, called Duoyun Pavilion and Guanlan Pavilion.

There are side halls on the east and west sides of the Chengguang Hall, and below is the east side hall.

There is a hall on the east and west sides of the Chengguang Hall, called the East and West Shunshan Hall. Below is the Shunshan Hall on the east side called Guse Hall, and the West Shunshan Hall is called Yuqingzhai.

The Shunshan Hall, which has the highest specifications in Beijing's ancient buildings, is in the Summer Palace, and the east and west Shunshan Halls of the Paiyun Hall. Below is the Dongshun Mountain Hall of Paiyun Hall, how about it? Amazing, right?

Although this Tuancheng originated from Yuandi in the Jin Dynasty , but there is no trace of the Jin Dynasty, and it was eradicated by Kublai Khan, Zhu Di, Kangxi and Qianlong. However, there is the earliest existing symbol of the founding of Beijing, which is the jade urn. Xiangshan Temple was built in the Jin Dynasty before the Yuan Dynasty, and it was also rebuilt in the Qing Dynasty, without the appearance of the past. Only this jade urn still retains its original form as the cornerstone of the founding of the Yuan capital. Therefore, if you want to see the original and oldest relics of Beijing, you must go to Beihai Tuancheng to see this "Dushan Dayuhai".

After viewing the urn, I was satisfied and went home.


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