Hutongs have nothing to do with wells – talk about the misconceptions of the well hypothesis
Hutong is a common name for alleys in northern cities, and is called alleys in the south. Jin Yuanjian called Hudong, Ming Zhangjue «Jingshi Wufang Lane 衚衕集» written as "衚衕", the late Qing Dynasty to the present has used the simplified word "Hutong".
In the 80s of the 20th century, Mr. Zhang Qingchang "hypotheticed" that the word Hutong might have originated in the Yuan Dynasty, and put forward the "water well hypothesis" (hereinafter referred to as the hypothesis) based on the fact that there were place names and hutongs with tic-tac-toe characters in Beijing during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Although the "hypothesis" has never presented evidence for the Yuan Dynasty, as a result of false rumors, some publications, media, and even tour guides and middle school language books have followed suit, and it is almost conclusive to say that the Hutong came from a Mongolian well. With the deepening of the study of hutongs, the collection of ancient books and archaeological results has been excavated, and the "water well hypothesis" has been questioned.
According to the author's research, the cultural tradition left over thousands of years in the mainland in the name of wells already existed before the founding of the Yuan Dynasty; not only are there very few hutongs with the word "well" in Beijing, but these wells are mainly distributed in wide vegetable gardens and streets, and the hutongs have nothing to do with wells.
The use of wells as a marker and the inclusion of street names in the names of streets and alleys is a cultural tradition left by the mainland for thousands of years, not a precedent for the Yuan Dynasty
In 1978, Mr. Zhang Qingchang wrote that Hutong is the Mongolian word for "water well", and now there are four wells in the place names of Beijing, and other names named after wells began in the Yuan Dynasty. (1) However, he did not point out which four-eyed well in Beijing originated from the Yuan Dynasty. Moreover, if the word "well" in the four-eyed well is pronounced in Mongolian, then the word "four-eyed" should also be pronounced in Mongolian, and the "hypothesis" does not provide relevant examples. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, there were indeed "four-eyed well alleys" in Beijing, and even if the alleys really came from water wells, then the "four-eyed well alleys" should not be called "four-eyed alleys", and we have not seen such examples.
The four-eyed well means that the well has four wellheads, which already existed before the Yuan Dynasty. For example, there is a square well in Hangzhou, commonly known as the four-eye well, and there is a small square well outside the Qiantang gate, commonly known as the six-eye well, which is one of the six wells opened by Li Mi, the Marquis of Tang Ye. Song Su Dongpo's "Begging to Open the West Lake of Hangzhou": "Hangzhou is the state, the hometown of the West Lake, the water spring is salty and bitter, and the residents are scattered. Since the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, the lake water was diverted to make six wells. (2) There is a righteous well in the north of Hangzhou Fuqiao, commonly known as the four-eye well; there is a "Baogong well" in Chizhou City, Anhui Province, also known as the four-eye well, which is now a city-level cultural relics protection unit. The four-eyed wells in both cities existed before the Yuan Dynasty, and the alleys there are not called hutongs.
The four-eyed well in the Qingming Shanghe diagram
Not only that, the four-eye well is also a form of standard water well in the Song Dynasty, which was drawn into the Qingming Shanghe Map 300 years before the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty. The "hypothesis" that the Siyanjing in Beijing's place name is "a trace of the Yuan Dynasty's Mengyujing as a hutong" is purely "groundless".
As early as six or seven thousand years ago, in the primitive society, our ancestors began to use groundwater, the so-called "digging wells and drinking, digging holes and dwelling". "Lü's Spring and Autumn Period: Don't Bow Chapter" "Boyi made a well" (about 2200 B.C.); Xu Jian's "Beginner's Record" in the Tang Dynasty recorded in volume 7: "Boyi made a well, and the Yellow Emperor of Yiyun saw all things and began to wear the well"; and Xu Shen of the Eastern Han Dynasty recorded that "eight families were wells" in "Shuowen Jie Zi". Therefore, the use of wells as markers and inclusion in the names of streets and alleys is a cultural tradition left by the mainland for thousands of years, not the Yuan Dynasty.
In the southern and western cities of the mainland, there are countless wells as landmarks and street names. Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, there are Guijing, Tongjing Lane, Jinshajing, Dajing Lane, Zhejiang Hangzhou, there are Dajing Lane, Xiaojing Lane, Jing Lane, Jingting Bridge, Yijing Lane, Baijingfang Lane, Guo Po Jing Lane, Hengyin Majing Lane, Yuanjing Lane, Yanwajing Lane, etc.; Quanzhou in Fujian Province has Zengjing Lane; Guiyang, Guizhou Province has Bianjing Lane; Nanchang, Jiangxi Province has Tujing Lane; Xining in Qinghai Province, Dongjing Lane in Yulin, Guangxi, Shuifeng Well, Shuangjing Lane, Gaojing Street, Gujing Lane in Changsha, Hunan Province, etc. These cities were all in the Yuan territory at that time, and there were also people of various ethnic groups living together in Mongolia, if the wells were hutongs, the alleys here should be called hutongs. However, although there are streets and alleys named after wells in these cities, they are not called hutongs, but small well alleys and well alleys, which shows that the alleys have nothing to do with wells.
In the 36 squares of Beijing in the Ming Dynasty, there are a total of 1211 streets and alleys and alleys, of which only 26 are named after wells, and there are no streets and alleys named after wells in 17 squares, indicating that wells and alleys have nothing to do with them
In 1984, the "hypothesis" proposed that from the Ming and Qing dynasties to the liberation period, there were 87 alleys and alleys with the word "well" in Beijing, "which is very prominent" (3), in order to show that the hutongs are related to wells.
As mentioned earlier, the "hypothesis" does not point out evidence of when and where the Yuan people called the well a hutong, which is really irresponsible, and its statement that Beijing has the "most names" with tic-tac-toe characters is inaccurate. The author only uses the streets and alleys listed in his previous articles as examples, there are more than 200 alleys of the mansions of high-ranking officials and nobles and garrison camps, such as Wang Juma Hutong and Zhongyi Wang Hutong, more than 130 Hutongs of Shuaifu Hutong and Weiying Hutong of the garrison camp guards, and more than 130 alleys of animal husbandry, such as Caochang Hutong and Donkey Ju Hutong, all of which are more than the 87 alleys with the word "well" in Beijing from the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties to the liberation period (4). Given that the "hypothesis" has changed from time to time and its source has not been provided, it is not possible to make a comparison (5). From the Ming Dynasty's "Collection of Hutongs in Wuchengfang Alleys of Jingshi", (6) the number of streets and alleys in Beijing named after temples and wells was counted according to the 36 squares of the five cities, and the tables were opened for comparison to judge whether there was a relationship between wells and hutongs.
Beijing's Sanyanjing Hutong was never called Sanyanjing Hutong
According to the "Jingshi Wuchengfang Alley Hutong Collection", Beijing City in the Ming Dynasty is divided into 36 squares in the east, west, south, north and middle five cities, with a total of 1,322 streets and alleys, 111 excluding Chengguan, which is 1,211. Among them, 201 (16.7%) were named as streets and alleys with temples and 26 were named as streets and alleys, accounting for only 2.1%. There are 178 more alleys and alleys named after temples than wells, which is equivalent to 8.7 times the number of alleys and alleys named after wells. In addition, there are more than 23 streets and alleys named after the royal government's yamen in Nanxunfang, Qingqingfang, and Mingzhaofang alone, and there are many streets and alleys named after handicrafts, dignitaries and nobles' mansions, and trade bazaars, all of which far exceed the number of streets and alleys named after wells, and it is obvious that wells have no outstanding features in the streets and alleys.
It is worth noting that among the 36 squares of the Ming Dynasty, there are about more than half of the 17 squares such as Nanxunfang, Mingzhaofang, Jiqingfang, Huanghuafang, Beijuxianfang, Xianyifang, Mingyufang, Rizhongfang, Hecaoxi, Zhengnanfang, Xuanbeifang, Baizhifang, Jiaozhongfang, Chongjiaofang, Lingchunfang, Jintaifang, Rizhongfang, etc., there is no well as the name of the alley alley, not as mentioned in the "hypothesis", "this is very prominent", indicating that the alley has nothing to do with the well. (See table below)
According to Yuan's "Analysis of Jinzhi", most of them are "palaces of people and horses". For the convenience of drinking water for cattle and horses, wells are distributed in a wide area called Shishuitang, and these places with wells are not called hutongs
From the Qin and Han dynasties to the Sui and Tang dynasties, Jicheng (now southwest of Beijing) has always been the frontier of the northern and southern ethnic groups of the Yanshan Mountains. The Liao, Jin and Yuan dynasties called this place "the palace of men and horses", and it was a place where people and horses coexisted. Not only do people depend on wells for their livelihoods, but also on cattle and horses. Southerners go out by boat, and northerners go out to take horses and set carts. "South ships and north horses", the north is all about horses and carriages. In the Beijing area, water wheels or wheels are used to draw water, which is convenient for cattle and horses to drink water, especially there is a wide stone trough next to the well, and the area occupied by the horse-drawn carriage is very large, so the wells are located in a relatively wide place. "Xijin Zhi": "Jingshi is the palace of people and horses, divided into a unity. In the city of the city, the people who tend to do things in the public government can gather things without horses, and the city and the land are extensive, and the horses are the most suffering, and their thirst is especially greater than that of the hungry. That is to say, horses are needed everywhere in Beijing, and horses are relied on for courts, offices, and visits, so the most difficult horses, horses can endure hunger but must not fail to drink water, which naturally leads to the question of who the early wells were mainly for.
There is an "iron roller station" on the street of Donghuashi in Beijing
In the Ming Dynasty, Shen Bang, the magistrate of Wanping County, Beijing, wrote the "Miscellaneous Records of Wanping", which is an early source for studying Beijing's social economy, political system and customs. The book is divided into 20 volumes, the ninth volume of "Ma Zheng" records that in addition to the citizens use horses for their daily lives, they also need to raise horses for the official family. "In Xuande, the three dings of the Northern Zhili were ordered to raise one mule and horse, and the second ding raised one horse for children, which was reviewed and compiled once every ten years. (7) "Ding" refers to adults in the early days, and the Ming Dynasty "was born in the first place, and was called Ding by its name, and was said to be Ding at the age of sixteen." Sixty and sixty are exempted. "In the early years of Wanli, Wanping County opened to see 10,000 Lu Qianqi 100 households, 38,049 people, with "three mules and horses, two horses to raise children", only the government to raise horses, there are already more than 10,000 heads, plus the royal horses, the official yamen horses, the citizens with horses, merchants with horses, it can be seen that Beijing in the Ming Dynasty is still the "palace of people and horses".
There are many places in Yuan's "Xijin Zhi" that write about wells, such as "there is a lacquered cloth well in Daminzhong Temple" and "Chongyuan Guan is in the near east of Dajingtou". If the Yuan Dynasty is called a well in Mongolian, the lacquered cloth well should be written as "lacquered cloth alley", and the big well head is written as "big alley head", but in the literature of the Yuan Dynasty, it is still called "lacquered cloth well" and "big well", and it is not called a hutong.
There is also a large section of records about "Shishuitang" in the "Xijin Chronicles". The capital is densely populated, and there are many vehicles and horses coming and going, and it is known as the palace of people and horses. In order to solve the problem of drinking water for people and horses in the past, there are wells and waterwheels in front of some wide temples, city gates, and streets in the capital. "With the shallow and deep well, in the form of a waterwheel. Attached wood is a bucket, connected to the machine of the car, until the bottom of the well. The Venerable Master bulldozed the wheel and rolled it with the main wheel, and the bucket was poured into the stone sheath, revealing the stone trough outside the temple. (8) As long as a person pushes the flat wheel on the waterwheel with a stick, he can beat the water out and place it in a stone trough for men and horses to drink, which is very convenient. These wells are called Shisuido.
Shishui Hall is all over the city, among which there is one in the Phoenix Pond, there is one under the poplar tree of Sichengfang, one in the east of the bell tower, one in the grass market, one in the west of Jixian Temple, one in front of the worship temple, one in front of the eldest princess's house, one in the fire gate, one in the civilization gate, one outside the Qihua gate, one outside the Pingze gate, one in the north of the West Palace, one in the west of the Taimiao, one on the south corner of Zhanlufang, one in front of the Puzhao Temple, and one in front of the Pingzeku. None of these wells are in the hutongs, and these wells are not called hutongs.
According to the data, the wells in Beijing in the Yuan Dynasty were not in the narrow alleys, but were distributed at the city gate, in front of the temple, in the streets, in the fire lanes, or in the wide places called Shishuitang, and these places with wells were not called hutongs. Treating wells as hutongs is just an "assumption" for modern people, and the Yuan Dynasty never called wells hutongs.
Before the construction of most of the capitals, there were no hutongs in the cities that the Mongols had built
Yuan Dadu was not the first city established by the Mongols, they had already built several cities long before the establishment of the Yuan Dadu New Town. In 1220, Genghis Khan established the capital of the Mongol Empire in Hala Horin, in the northwest corner of present-day Mongolian province of Hangai. Hala and Lin are Turkic languages that mean "black cobblestone". It is a city with the architectural style of the Han people in the Central Plains and the characteristics of the grassland life of the northern nomads. When Genghis Khan died in 1227, his son Ögedei Khan ascended the throne, and in 1235 he ordered Han craftsmen to build a palace in Hala Holin. Previously, in 1225, Wokotai was enclosed in the upper reaches of the Shihe River (present-day Irtysh River) and the area east of Lake Balkhash in Ye'er, and built the city of Yemili (present-day Emin County, Xinjiang). After Wokotai ascended the throne, in the ninth year of Yuan Taizong (1237), he built and swept the neighboring city as the Jiajian Tea Han Temple, and in the tenth year (1238), he built Tusuhe City as the Yingjia Palace. "Geographical Chronicles" contains, Jiayan Tea Han Palace, more than 70 miles north of Helin, Tusu and the city Yingjia Hall to more than 30 miles of Helin, these streets in the city have no alley name.
In 1251, after Meng Ke ascended the throne, Kublai Khan, as the relative of the emperor's younger brother, was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the military affairs of the Han land in Monan, and went to the south of Mobei and Lin to garrison the Jinlianchuan and establish the famous Jinlianchuan Mufu. In 1256, Kublai Khan ordered Liu Bingzhong to choose a site to build a city here, which was originally named Kaiping Mansion, and in 1264 it was added to the capital. The urban area of Shangdu is tens of kilometers in circumference, and the floating population is hundreds of thousands. There are large and small streets in the city, and there are no alleys.
The history of the Mongols is also recorded in the "Secret History of the Yuan Dynasty". Emperor Wokotai said: "Since sitting on the throne of my father, I have added four things: one to level the Jin Kingdom, one to set up a standing red, one to teach through the well where there is no water, and one to set up a horse in each city to guard the town. There are four things missing: one is the heir who is in the throne and is addicted to wine, one is the woman who listens to the woman's words and takes the people of the uncle Chijin, one who has killed the loyal Duohuole out of personal hatred, and one who is a natural beast who is afraid to enter the country of brothers, and is afraid that the wall will stop it, causing complaints. "The so-called people who build walls and fence to block them, because Mongolia travels to the country, they make a living by shooting and hunting, and suddenly change the city, they think it is inconvenient, and this complaint comes from. In other words, in the past, the Mongols lived on water and grass, and they did not know how to dig wells and build cities, and it was not until the time of Genghis Khan that these measures began. In these cities, there are large and small streets, and wells are also drilled to supply water, but none of them use the name of hutong. The so-called theory that the Mongols founded the Hutong when they built the city is pure nonsense.
In August 1264, Kublai Khan issued an edict to change Yanjing (present-day Beijing) to the central capital, and in the fourth year of the Yuan Dynasty (1267), the construction of a new palace and capital began. The selection of the site of the capital city of Yuan is centered on a lake in the Daning Palace, relying on the water system of the Gaoliang River, including Jishuitan, Shichahai, Beihai, Zhonghai and the adjacent upstream and downstream rivers, to complete the construction of the Tonghui River and the Baifu Water Diversion Project. It is not advisable to say that the new city of Dadu was built on the water, and it is not advisable to change the nomadic lifestyle of the Mongols who lived by water and grass to live by wells, and to change the construction of Dadu by water to wells.
Beijing's wells are mainly located in vegetable gardens and streets, and more than 70% of the hutongs do not have wells
In 1991, the "hypothesis" believed that in the late Qing Dynasty, Zhu Yixin's "Manuscript of Jingshifang Alleys" (1885) recorded about 2,190 streets and alleys, 992 alleys, a total of about 1,272 wells, and almost six wells in ten streets and alleys. Because whether there are ten wells in ten streets and alleys, or eleven wells in ten streets and alleys, they all refer to the whole of streets and alleys. How well are distributed in Beijing, how many are on the streets, how many are in the hutongs, and how many are Yin and Mao are must be clarified before we can draw conclusions.
Zhu Yixin's "Manuscript of Jingshifang Lane" in the Qing Dynasty records the evolution of place names such as Wuchengfang Lane and its surrounding streets, alleys, alleys, vegetable gardens, open land, righteous gardens, temples, bridges, etc. In the corresponding entries, the number and geographical distribution of government offices, guild halls, former residences of celebrities, and wells are marked with the accompanying text, which is a rare and important historical material for the study of the human geography of Beijing in the Ming and Qing dynasties. According to the Manuscript of Jingshifang Alleys, the author classified the wells of streets, alleys, alleys, vegetable gardens, open fields, Yiyuan, and Qidi according to the five urban divisions of the inner and outer cities in the late Qing Dynasty, and found that the wells in Beijing were mainly distributed in the wide vegetable gardens and Yiyuan, and more than 70% of the hutongs did not have wells, which confirmed that there was no corresponding relationship between the name of the hutong and the Mongolian well.
The "Jingshifang Lane Chronicles" recorded that there were 1,266 wells in Beijing in the Qing Dynasty. Among them, there are 41 vegetable gardens, open land, Yiyuan, and Yidi, and 181 wells, with an average of 4.4 wells per piece of land, 178 streets and streets, with 222 wells, with an average of 1.2 wells per street, 899 streets and alleys that are not signed with common names, such as alleys, Dachuandian, and Banbu Bridge, with a total of 421 wells, with an average of 0.47 wells per street and alley, and 1,207 alleys, with a total of 442 wells, with an average of 0.36 wells per alley. Suffice it to say that Beijing's wells are mainly distributed in vegetable gardens, open fields and wide streets, and the distribution of wells is the least in the relatively narrow alleys. According to the order of the five urban areas inside and outside the Qing Dynasty, 70% of the hutongs in Beijing's urban areas do not have wells.
Inner City in the City: The scope of the inner city in the Qing Dynasty, around the Forbidden City, east to Wangfujing Street, west to Xisi, north to Di'anmen Bridge, Terracotta Hutong, Huguosi Street, south to East and West Chang'an Street. There are 167 alleys and 58 wells. Among them, 117 hutongs have no wells, accounting for 70% of the total number of hutongs, and 50 hutongs have wells, accounting for 30% of the total number of hutongs.
Inner City East City: southeast to the root of the city, west to Chongwenmen Street and the south city boundary. It is also west to Wangfu Street, and north to the intersection and the middle city boundary. North to Dongzhimen and North City boundary. There are 227 alleys and 101 wells. Among them, 144 alleys have no wells, accounting for 63% of the total number of alleys, and 83 alleys have wells, accounting for 36% of the total number of alleys.
Inner City West City: Northwest to Chenggen, south to Baozi Street and South City Boundary, east to Dashi Street, north to Huguosi Street and Zhongcheng boundary, and east to Deshengmen and North City boundary. There are 248 alleys and 101 wells. Among them, 159 alleys have no wells, accounting for 64% of the total number of alleys, and 89 alleys have wells, accounting for 35% of the total number of alleys.
Inner City South City: East to Chongwenmen Street and East City Boundary, West to Xuanwu Gate to City Root, North to East and West Single Archway. The east and west Chang'an Avenue and the middle city boundary are to the west, to the old criminal department street and the west city boundary. There are 86 alleys and 24 wells. Among them, 62 alleys have no wells, accounting for 72% of the total number of alleys, and 24 alleys have wells, accounting for 28% of the total number of alleys.
Inner City North City: Northeast to the root of the city, until the intersection of Dongzhimen Street and the boundary of the East City. It also reaches the Terracotta Hutong, Maoer Hutong, Di'anmen Bridge in the south, and crosses the three turn bridges, Dingfu Street, and the boundary between the city and the west. There are 113 alleys and 51 wells. Among them, there are 73 alleys without wells, accounting for 64% of the total number of alleys, and 40 alleys with wells, accounting for 35% of the total number of alleys.
Outer City in the City: It is located on both sides of Zhengyangmen Outer Street, east to Dongzhu City Entrance and Sanli River North. It is also east to the west of Yongdingmen Street. The southeast is bordered by the southern city. West to the east of Stone Hutong Road, north of Xizhu Shikou Street. and west to the east of Banzhang Road. There are 77 alleys and 18 wells. Among them, there are 60 alleys without wells, accounting for 78% of the total number of alleys, and 17 alleys with wells, accounting for 22% of the total number of alleys.
Outer City South City: It is located in the west of Chongwenmen Street and the north of East Liushujing. Yongdingmen Street East, Dongzhu Shikou Street South, Tiantan North. Northwest and Midtown boundary. There are 46 alleys and 7 wells. Among them, there are 39 hutongs without wells, accounting for 85% of the total number of hutongs, and 7 hutongs with wells, accounting for 15% of the total number of hutongs.
Outer City East City: West to the junction of Chongwenmen Street and South City. East to Dongbianmen. North to Seonggen. South to Zuo'anmen. There are 50 alleys and 33 wells. Among them, there are 25 alleys without wells, accounting for 50% of the total number of alleys, and 25 alleys with wells, accounting for 50% of the total number of alleys.
Outer City North City: East to the West River along the front of the Guandi Temple, in front of the Guanyin Temple Street, the stone alley and the middle city boundary. North to the root of Xuanwu Gate. West to Xuanwumen Street, Caishikou, Banjie Hutong and Xicheng boundary. South to the east of Yong'an Bridge of Xiangchang, and the boundary of Zhongcheng. It also reaches the west of Yaojiajing in the south. There are 88 alleys and 17 wells. Among them, there are 72 hutongs without wells, accounting for 81% of the total number of hutongs, and 16 hutongs with wells, accounting for 19% of the total number of hutongs.
Outer City West City: East to Shunchengmen Street (now Xuanwumen Street) west and north city boundary, north to Xuanwumen City root, Guangningmen Street (now Guanganmen Street) north belongs to the north area of Xicheng Street in the outer city. The north of Guangningmen Street belongs to the south area of Xicheng Street in the outer city, and the south area of the street is east to the half-cut alley and the north city boundary, and the east is to the south of Xiaochuan Dianhui to Yaojiakeng and the north city boundary, the south is to the city root of You'anmen, and the west is to the city root of Guangningmen (now Guang'anmen). There are 105 alleys and 32 wells. Among them, there are 80 alleys without wells, accounting for 76% of the total number of alleys, and 25 alleys with wells, accounting for 24% of the total number of alleys.
The area of Beijing is dominated by bitter wells, which are used for irrigating farmland, drinking for livestock, or washing clothes. Therefore, the wells in Beijing are mainly distributed in wide places, with vegetable gardens, righteous gardens, temples, and streets being the most. As for the limited number of sweet water wells for human drinking, before the installation of tap water in Beijing, residents had to rely on "water wozi" water trucks to deliver water, and it had little to do with the hutongs.
[ Notes ]
(1) Zhang Qingchang, Hutong and Others, Beijing: Beijing Language and Culture Publishing House, 1990, p. 29, "'Hutong' was originally 'water well' in Mongolian, and Beijing's place names have two wells and four wells, which may be such traces. (Originally published in Chinese Language, No. 4, 1978)"
(2) Punctuation edition of Zhejiang Tongzhi, Zhonghua Book Company, 2001, p. 1411.
(3) Hutong and Others, p. 69, "In 1984, I pointed out in Hutong and Water Wells (Language Teaching and Research, No. 4, 1984) that before 1949, there were about 3,000 streets and alleys in Beijing's old city, of which 87 had the word 'well', accounting for about 2.9%, which was very prominent. During the Ming and Qing dynasties and the Republic of China, there was no specific noun that used a specific noun in the names of streets and alleys in Beijing so many times. "This reflects the fact that wells can supply water, which is very important in the lives of people in cities. In the Yuan Dynasty, the 'Dadu' (now Beijing) of the Mongolian and Han ethnic groups lived together, and it was natural for the Chinese language to absorb the Mongolian language into the vocabulary of daily life and become a Chinese hutong. ”
(4) Hutongs and Others, p. 93, "The Old Appearance of Beijing as Reflected in the Names of Beijing's Streets and Alleys."
(5) Hutong and Others, p. 16, originally written in 1984 as "since the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties", see (3), changed to "in the Ming and Qing dynasties" in 1990.
(6) [ Ming ] Zhang Jue, "Jingshi Wuchengfang Lane Hutong Collection", Beijing: Beijing Ancient Books Publishing House, 1982, pp. 5-19.
(7) Ming Shenbang, Miscellaneous Records of Wan Agency, Beijing: Beijing Ancient Books Publishing House, 1982, 73 pages.
(8) [ Yuan ] Xiong Mengxiang, "Xijin Zhi Ji Yi", Beijing: Beijing Ancient Books Publishing House, 1983, p. 110.
(9) Zhang Qingchang, "The History of the Names of Streets and Alleys in Beijing", Beijing: Beijing Language and Culture Publishing House, 1997, p. 402. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Zhu Yixin's Manuscript of Jingshifang Alleys (1885) not only listed the names of the streets and alleys of the original inner and outer cities of Beijing, but also indicated the number of wells in the area. Old Beijingers know that these wells were in the hutongs back then, and everyone shared them. According to my statistics, the total number of streets and alleys in the book is about 2,190, of which there are 992 alleys, and the total number of wells is about 1,272, that is, 58.1% of the streets and alleys have wells, and almost ten streets and alleys have six wells. (Originally published in "Phonetic Teaching and Research", No. 4, 1991 - author's own author)
Hutong traces
Wang Yue is the secretary-general of the Beijing Geographical Society and a special researcher of the Beijing Institute of Studies. He graduated from the Department of Geography of Beijing Normal University (now Capital Normal University) in 1965. He has successively served as the deputy director and senior engineer of the sixth department of the Chinese People's Police University, the director of the propaganda and education center of the Beijing Earthquake Bureau, and the policy researcher. He is committed to the study of human geography, earthquakes and Beijing culture. He is the author of "Olympic Beijing Series: Humanities in Beijing", "Hutongs with a Long History", "Hutongs and Beijing City", etc.
"Beijing's hutongs carry a little-known history, and the colorful hutong names contain different regional cultures in Beijing. Hutongs contain a lot of cultural memories, what kind of inspiration does Hutong culture bring us?"
Author: ✎ Wang Yue
[Article source: "Beijing Chronicle" April issue]