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Chapter 38 Talking about several cultural relics buildings in Beijing (2)
The Jin people are a nomadic people whose cultural level is far behind that of the Han people. After defeating the cowardly and incompetent royal family of the Northern Song Dynasty by force, the rulers of the Jin Dynasty quickly imitated the cultural relics system of the Song Dynasty and enjoyed the craftsmanship accumulated by the Chinese working people. The essence of fine art, especially in architecture.The Jin Dynasty began their building activities in [-], and moved the capital to Yanjing, called Zhongdu, which is the predecessor of today’s Beijing. It is located west of Xuanwumen and beyond Guang’anmen. The so-called "building palaces according to the plan" , "large scale", and the system "followed by Bianjing", are all cultural relics of the Northern Song Dynasty, deliberately accepting its precious heritage and specific manifestations of tradition. The "thousand-step corridor" is an architectural tradition they admire.

Jin's central capital starts from Xuanyang Gate, north of Tianjin Bridge in the south of the inner city, to Yingtian Tower in the palace gate. There are more than 80 corridors in the east and west.At that time, the rulers of the Southern Song Dynasty sent envoys to the "Golden Court" continuously, and they were deeply impressed by Jin's "magnificent regulations, ceremonies and integrity".Although they used a superior tone to say that the rise of Jin's architectural palaces and pavilions was not in accordance with the system, they had to admit that these buildings were "exquisitely crafted".In fact, all of that is the hard-working creation of the excellent working people of our nation. They bought it with their lives and blood and sweat. It was made under the sacrifice of "invincible".The beautiful buildings at that time were the fruits of the working people, but they were monopolized by the rulers.

After the commercial city corridor was changed to the royal corridor in the Northern Song Dynasty, it was still a building between the city and the palace, and people could still come and go between them.In the Jin Dynasty, more than [-] rooms were specially built in front of the palace city, divided into three sections. The heavily guarded place in front of the palace is no longer a place where ordinary people can walk around and enjoy.

It was officially recorded in Dadu in the Yuan Dynasty that there was a thousand-step corridor in the south gate, which could be [-] steps away, and the Lingxing Gate was built. There was a river within [-] steps of the gate, and three bridges named Zhou Bridge were built on the river.The Royal Corridor and State Bridge in Bianliang Period were fixedly called "Thousand-step Corridor" and "Zhou Bridge" at this time, and became a format and customization in front of the palace. They were snatched from the hands of the people and attached to the imperial palace. aspect.

The Ming and Qing dynasties continued to use the Thousand-step Corridor as an ancillary building in front of the palace.Not only is there a thousand-step corridor in front of the Meridian Gate to the Duanmen, but there are also two sections of the Thousand-step Corridor in the east and west in front of the Duanmen.When the city of Beijing was extended to the south in [-], the southern city wall was moved from the current Chang'an Avenue to the current Zhengyangmen line, and there was Tian'anmen in front of Duanmen. The two columns of thousand-step corridors reach the Zhonghua Gate.The grandeur of the large courtyard in front of the palace even surpassed that of Song Dongdong's Imperial Street.

A shape of this scale is of course magnificent in front of the palace, but it cannot be built without economic conditions. Therefore, in the Southern Song Dynasty, the palace in Lin'an, its capital, no longer had the strength to continue this beautiful tradition, but could only build it with fine sand. Pave a royal road.On the other hand, the style of imperial corridors was passed down from the Jin and Yuan Dynasties to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and the name "Thousand-step Corridor" was given.

It is possible that we will be able and strong enough in the future to consider restoring and developing all the good shapes of our tradition.Beautiful promenades can also be built on both sides of the square.When this built environment is not monopolized by the rulers, it is one of the loveliest architectural types in the city, beneficial to the spiritual life of the people.Just like the steepness of the tower, the circumference of the promenade is also the shape that most represents the characteristics of Chinese architecture.It is both practical and beautiful for use in various buildings.

Tuancheng—an example of ancient Taiwan

Qionghua Island in Beihai is the foundation of today's Beijing city. Before the capital was established in Yuan Dynasty, it was the palace of gold. In Yuan Dynasty, it was used as the center of the palace city, and it was called Longevity Hill.Beihai and Zhonghai are Taiye Pools.Tuancheng is a special and important part of it.

The Yuan Palace originally had three parts. In addition to the "Da Nei" in the middle, there was also the Xingsheng Palace in the west of Longevity Hill, which is now the Beijing Library.There was Longfu Palace before Xingshengguan.Tuancheng was called "Yingzhou Round Hall" at that time, also called Yitian Hall, on a round wall in the pool.In other words, it is an island, between the North Sea and the Middle Sea.On the north side of the island, a bridge leads to Qionghua Island, on the east side, a bridge connects with the "Da Nei" at that time, and on the west side is a wooden bridge, 470 feet long, to Tongxing Shenggong, with a section in the middle, and the columns and beams are on two boats The two ends are connected together, so it is called a suspension bridge.When the emperor went to Shangdu (near Duolun in Chahar Province, which was abolished in [-]), the remaining officials moved boats and bridges to prohibit travel.After the Ming Dynasty, this bridge has been replaced by the beautiful stone-made Jinaoyu Bridge, and the east side of Tuancheng has been connected to the east bank, and it has become the area around Sanzuomen in front of Beihai Park today.Therefore, Tuancheng is the most special and beautiful place in Beijing.Its condescending position today makes it difficult to feel the centrality it once occupied.We must pay attention to it when we improve the road system in the future.

In the west of Tuancheng, today's Jinaoyu

The bridge is a beautiful stone bridge, facing Tuancheng, with an archway at each end. The width of the bridge is not large, and it spans between the North Sea and the Zhonghai. It is exquisite and picturesque, and still retains the atmosphere of the place at that time.However, to the east of Tuancheng, between the front gate and the three gates of Beihai Park, there are twists and turns, which must be widened to give Tuancheng a better layout in order to restore its proper surroundings.When the conditions are better, the front gate and wall of Beihai Park can be demolished, and the original relationship between Tuancheng and Qionghua Island will be better presented.After passing Sanzuomen, turn north and turn east, and arrive at the roadside of Sanzuomen Street. The small and complex storefronts in the north are too incompatible with the Tongzi River in the south; turn south to the north end of Beichang Street, and there are also small houses on the east side of the road. Blocking the view, especially unreasonable, should be improved one by one in the future.More importantly, although the Jinaoyu Bridge is beautiful, it is one of the important traffic passages between the east and west cities. The width of the bridge body is not enough to meet the needs of modern transportation vehicles. The bridge itself is reserved for pedestrians to walk slowly.The form of the embankment must not be the same as that of the bridge, so as to weaken the feeling of the Jinaoyu Bridge riding over the center of the lake, so it must be low and flat and the same as the river bank.In the future, "cars and horses are like weaving" overlooking the embankment from the bridge, and pedestrians on the bridge looking up from the embankment will be "like gods and people", which is also a wonderful sight.I believe that many methods can be considered out of careful planning.

In addition, the format of Tuancheng is also worthy of our attention.Table script is a very common type in ancient Chinese architecture.From the Lingtai of King Wen of Zhou and the many platforms of the Spring and Autumn Qin and Han Dynasties, we can know that it is a common type of ancient architecture, but it is less and less in later generations.Most of the ancient terraces were places where the feudal ruling class visited and feasted, and there were many halls, verandahs and pavilions on them. Cao Cao's Tongque Terrace is an outstanding example.As far as the author knows, Tuancheng is the only example of this kind of architectural heritage, so it is extremely precious.The current Chengguang Hall above replaced the Yitian Hall of the Yuan Dynasty, which was rebuilt in [-].The famous Jade Buddha in the hall is also a sculpture of the Qing Dynasty.The big jade urn in front of the hall was "carved by special edict" by Kublai Khan, the ancestor of the Yuan Dynasty. It was originally the "Shoushan Great Jade Sea" in Guanghan Hall on Qionghua Island.This small platform is far away from the big one on Qionghua Island.Their relationship is very close, so we will also talk about Qionghua Island together below.

The predecessor of the White Pagoda on Qionghua Island in Beihai
The White Pagoda in Beihai is one of the most elegant and prominent points in Beijing, and it is often seen by everyone.The style of this pagoda belongs to the Tibetanized Indian rate dupo.After the Yuan Dynasty, this style was often built in the north.Our focus now is not on the Tower but on its historic location.It has the greatest relationship with the establishment of the city site of Beijing.

Originally, Qionghua Island was a high platform with a hall built on it, which was still in the shape of an ancient platform.According to legend, it is the residence of the Empress Dowager Xiao of Liao Dynasty, and it is called "dressing table".In other words, it is the Tang tradition that was still maintained in the Liao era.Based on this excellent foundation and the natural lake and marsh scenery of the North Sea and the Middle Sea, the Jin Dynasty built the famous Liguan - Daning Palace here.When Yuan Shizu invaded Yanjing and destroyed the city, he noticed this beautiful place and lived in the palace above the platform.

When it came to Yuanzhu Dadu, it was designed based on this palace garden as the core.It is the three tripartite officials mentioned above; the so-called "Da Nei" Xingsheng Palace and Jiangfu Palace, with the lake and marsh in the middle of the North Sea (called Taiye Pool) as the center of these three places, and Take Ouchi as the core of the entire capital.Kublai Khan soon ordered the rebuilding of the main hall on the island, named Guanghan Hall.The green shade and clear spring above are summer resorts.Marco Polo went to China at that time and was able to see it. In his travel notes, he described in detail this quiet, magnificent and strange palace, terrace and hall. He said that there were strange trees transplanted everywhere, and the hall was also emerald green. The summer is cool.

After the Ming and Yuan Dynasties, the former capital was Nanjing, and the ministers were ordered to come to Beijing to destroy the old capital of the Yuan Dynasty.Xiao Xun came with this "destruction mission". He searched the Yuan Palace, and he couldn't help cherishing that such a beautiful architectural essence would be ruthlessly destroyed, so he recorded everything in his book Yuan Palace Remains middle.

According to another record ("Taiyue Collection" quoted in "Jixia Jiuwenkao"), Ming Chengzu once ordered not to destroy Guanghan Hall.In May of the seventh year of Wanli ([-]), "it suddenly collapsed, and there were money from Zhiyuan Tongbao on the beams." In fact, it was said that the tiles were broken at that time, and only the beams remained. The wood had already decayed and was in danger. Of course it's easy to get overwhelmed.

The current White Pagoda was built on the former site of the hall in 73 in the early Qing Dynasty, that is, 300 years after the collapse of the Guanghan Hall.Another full [-] years ago.Knowing these development processes, when we look at the White Pagoda in the morning sun and sunset, we also have a rich feeling of China's long history in our hearts, and we cherish the various achievements made by the blood and sweat of the people in various dynasties.The difference is that it was a luxury building occupied by the emperors at that time, and when they got tired of it, they allowed it to be destroyed, but from now on, all the beautiful fruits of art belong to the people themselves, and we will do our best Always be protected.

published in
August 1951 "New Observation" Volume 8 Issue 3

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