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Walk through Beihai Park and Admire the Beauty of the Archway
A stroll through Beihai Park under the warm winter sun offers a tranquil escape from the hustle and bustle of summer. Stop and take in the breathtaking scenery. Beihai's archway is a breathtaking sight, inviting pause for admiration.
Also known as a memorial archway, the archway is a unique architectural form born from Chinese culture and a vehicle for the preservation of history and traditional culture. Beijing boasts the highest concentration of archways in China, and nowhere is this greater than in Beihai Park. Beihai Park's archways embody the essence of traditional architecture, integrating diverse forms into one. They enhance the park's beauty, enhance the park's atmosphere, and create a unique artistic conception. Beihai Park, formerly an imperial palace, boasts ten wooden archways of various styles on Qionghua Island, five glazed archways on the north shore of Beihai Lake, and a stone archway at the north end of the Haopujian Stone Bridge on the east shore. These sixteen archways are all imperial palace archways. (See the diagram of the names of the various archway components at the end of this article.) Imperial palace archways are strictly differentiated from civilian archways. Their most distinctive feature is the fixed "module" for the doukou and column diameters, with each structural component manufactured to a fixed size. The "Jicui" and "Duiyun" archways, located at the north and south ends of Yong'an Bridge in Beihai Park, were first built during the Yuan Dynasty, boasting a history of over 700 years. They are prominent representatives of the park's sixteen archways and are among Beijing's most famous. They were renovated in 1743, the eighth year of the Qianlong Emperor's reign in the Qing Dynasty. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, they underwent two major renovations and two repaintings. The "Jicui" and "Duiyun" archways are bridge archways. Both have four pillars, three rooms and three floors, eight supporting columns in front and back, and green glazed tile hip roofs, symbolizing the lush forests and verdant scenery of Qionghua Island. Each of the four wooden pillars is supported by blue-white stone support rods. The main building features double-curved, three-arc-shaped, eleven-legged brackets, while the secondary building features vertical, nine-arc-shaped brackets. The tops resemble the graceful beauty of stacked emeralds and jasper. Outside each archway stands a pair of stone lions, facing outward. The lions outside the north archway, closer to the Yong'an Temple gate, create the unconventional appearance of the lions facing inward, but this is not the case. Like a verse with a beginning, middle, and end, the "Duiyun" and "Jicui" bridge archways naturally usher visitors from the main gate into Qionghua Island. The most distinctive feature of the imperial palace archways is the exquisitely painted clouds and dragons. However, these were painted according to rank. The emperor proclaimed himself the "True Dragon Son of Heaven," so cloud and dragon motifs were everywhere on the archways. Typically, the golden plaques on archways feature entwined clouds and dragons, while the large and small flower panels and lintels depict clouds and dragons playing with pearls. Large, gilt-painted scrolls or paintings of golden dragons and seals are embellished with gold foil. The plaques on the main hall of the archway, titled "Jicui" and "Duiyun," were inscribed by Emperor Qianlong himself. The inscription on each archway's plaque is the same on both sides. The inscribed plaques, surrounded by four golden, solitary coiled dragons, eight golden cloud dragons, and precious flowers, embody the grandeur and majesty of imperial power. The center of the archway is called the "main building," while the two sides are called the "secondary buildings." The main building hangs a plaque, while the secondary buildings are inlaid with flower panels. Both large and small flower panels are unique components of wooden archways and are the artistic essence of the archway, highlighting its decorative nature. Whether it's a wooden or glazed archway, the flower panels are exquisite works of art. The secondary buildings on both sides of the archways share the same colorful paintings: eight golden dragons encircling small flower panels depicting precious flowers. The dragon gate queti, commonly used on the archways of imperial palaces, is a decorative queti. Although inconspicuous, the queti (corrugated bracket) serves both load-bearing and decorative purposes. Longmen queti (dragon gate queti) is distinguished by its numerous additional components, such as cloud pillars, zigzag frames, and three-blessing clouds. The three-blessing clouds are installed on either side of the queti, enriching the queti's three-dimensional stylistic variations. The main and secondary floors of the wooden archway feature vibrant and eye-catching scroll-patterned dragon gate queti, three-blessing clouds, and Ganoderma lucidum.
The wooden archway columns are made of heavy and simple blue-white stone brackets and two iron tripods
The stone lions in front of the "Jicui" archway
Stone lions behind the "Duyun" archway
The characters "Dragon Light" on the plaque above the main building exude the supremacy and majesty of imperial power. The plaque on the reverse reads "Purple Light," both of which were written by Emperor Qianlong. "Dragon Light" and "Purple Reflection" symbolize auspiciousness. Dragon Light refers to the light of the Longquan sword, while Purple Reflection refers to the reflection of purple air. These references come from the "Book of Jin: Biography of Zhang Hua" and the "Biographies of Immortals," and are both auspicious omens. The two cloud dragons, four solitary coiled dragons, and brocade patterns and precious floral patterns on the lintel frame the plaque. The exquisite details of the archway's brackets, painted patterns, and flower panels fully embody the imperial grandeur. The secondary buildings on both sides of the archway (the left one in the upper picture and the right one in the lower picture) are centered on a golden double dragon holding a longevity flower board. Four golden solitary coiled dragons, two cloud dragons, brocade patterns, and golden precious flowers are painted in an extremely luxurious manner, forming a scene of stars holding the moon.
The archway’s main hall features scroll-patterned dragon gate brackets, double triple blessing clouds, and cloud pillars.
The wooden archway on the south side of Linguang Hall
The wooden archway on the north side of Linguang Hall
Standing on the Half Moon City, looking straight at the golden glazed tile roof of the Zhishan Bridge Archway.
The large glazed chi (one of the nine sons of the dragon) on both sides of the main ridge of the archway are also called "dragon kisses". Legend has it that installing two opposing Chiwen on the roofs of buildings such as palaces and temples can prevent fires and drive away evil spirits. The ridges on either side of the archway's roof, also known as "chaji," are decorated with auspicious beasts arranged in the following order from front to back and upward: a phoenix-riding immortal, dragon, phoenix, lion, and glazed ridge beasts. Below the phoenix-riding immortal are the jiaoliang set of beasts. Under the brackets of the main building of the wooden archway, there are five lintels sandwiched between three layers of flower boards. There are eight flower covers and hanging flowers on the top of the upper lintels, with a small flower board of auspicious clouds holding longevity in the center. Under the brackets of the secondary buildings on either side of the wooden archway, there are three architrave columns sandwiching a layer of flower panels. Six flower covers hang from the top of the upper architrave columns. Four solitary coiled dragons, two cloud dragons, and brocade patterns surround small flower panels depicting auspicious beasts. The top photo shows the secondary building on the left, and the bottom photo shows the secondary building on the right. All the lintels, flower boards and corbels of the Zhishan Bridge Archway are covered with various patterns of golden dragons, seals, and large gold-dot painted spirals, which fully demonstrate the function of the archway and create a breathtaking visual effect. The wooden archway features exquisitely ornate scroll-grass patterns, dragon gate brackets, and three blessing clouds. The blue-white stone support pillars of the wooden archway are intricately carved with patterns of banana leaves, scrolls, badama horses, linked beads, scrolls, and auspicious clouds, as well as iron brackets to reinforce the support pillars.
Exquisitely carved scroll-patterned queti and cloud-shaped pillars
The glazed archway on the east side of Xiaoxitian Temple
The white marble lintel of the east archway is framed by six dragons playing with pearls and clouds, and the inscription "Aurora Xianglin" was written by Emperor Qianlong. Ancient India called China Zhendan, and Xianglin means the modern "Shangri-La", which means that China is a beautiful place with "Shangri-La" and "paradise" everywhere. Inside the east archway: The white marble lintel inside the east archway is framed by six dragons playing with pearls and clouds. The inscription, "Shenzhou Treasure Land," was written by Emperor Qianlong. This place praises China as a treasured land. The white marble lintel of the north archway is framed by six dragons playing with pearls in clouds. The inscription on the lintel, “Falun Gaosheng,” was written by Emperor Qianlong. Falun Gaosheng: Dharma Wheel is another name for the Dharma. Buddhists believe that the teachings of Shakyamuni can eliminate afflictions, just like the wheel of a chakravartin, which can subdue enemies. The Dharma does not remain with one person or one place, but is passed on from one generation to another, like a wheel, hence the name Dharma Wheel. This refers to Buddhism as the absolute truth, an irrefutable truth. The plaque inside the north archway reads "Wonderful Realm, Majestic." "Wonderful" means beautiful, and a beautiful realm is extremely solemn and sacred. In our suffering lives, encountering such a wonderful realm is limited, and people choose to escape to escape the suffering around them. This means believing in Buddhism and believing that such an ethereal realm exists in the world. The white marble lintel of the west archway is framed by six dragons playing with pearls in clouds, and the inscription "Ren Shou Pu Yuan" was written by Emperor Qianlong. This statement implies that a kind person's lifespan is entirely determined by their physical condition and surroundings. A person's fate is determined by heaven. This doesn't necessarily mean it's entirely dependent on fate, but rather on fate itself. Qianlong was saying that his mother, the Empress Dowager, had a long life, which was inevitable. The plaque inside the west archway reads "Anyang Shidi." Anyang means providing quiet care for those in need. Shidi, with "di" meaning to pay attention or carefully, is also related to the Buddhist concept of "listening carefully." Overall, it means helping those in need and distress is an eternal truth. On either side of each glazed archway plaque is a large glazed flower panel depicting two dragons playing with a pearl, with the dragon heads on the outer side being the upper one and the inner side the lower one (the above picture shows the pattern on the left flower panel, and the below picture shows the pattern on the right flower panel). The glazed archway is composed of three white marble arched gates forming the mountain gate (the top photo shows the middle gate, the bottom photo shows the side gate). Flanked by exquisitely carved Mount Xumi, these gates are surrounded by blooming precious flowers. Fourteen precious flowers surround the middle gate, while twelve surround the side gate. The pistil of each Baoxiang flower on the arched door is intricately carved with the most commonly used auspicious treasures in Buddhism, including Buddhist instruments (also known as the "Eight Auspicious Symbols"), auspicious knots, evergreens and other auspicious objects.
The front and sides of the base of the mountain gate are exquisitely carved white marble Xumi pedestals, with lifelike beads, clouds and dragons carved above and below the seats.
The white marble inlay stone is carved with exquisite banana leaf patterns, guava patterns, badama (meaning "lotus petals" in Sanskrit), continuous beads, and wishful clouds. The yellow and green glazed pillars are eye-catching and gorgeous.
The exquisite yellow and white glazed curly grass sparrows, ganoderma lucidum, brackets, and glazed lotus flowers, banana leaves, and auspicious clouds on the pillars are extremely gorgeous.
Schematic diagram of the names of various parts of the archway
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