Between Shichahai and Nanluoguxiang, there is a section of river embankment that is more than 20 meters wide and about 800 meters long, and a stone in the southern section of the river bank reads: Tonghui River Yuhe Ruins.
View of the East Jade River of Wanning Bridge
The Jade River is an ancient river with a long history in Beijing, which was used as a passage for Cao to enter Beijing before the Ming Dynasty. The pond in the capital of the Yuan Dynasty is the terminal wharf of the Tonghui River. Baifu spring water from the pond to the southeast, through the clarification gate, Wanning Bridge (commonly known as Houmen Bridge), East Bu Press, North River, South River out of the Imperial City, across the North Yuhe Bridge (the original site is in the southwest side of the current VIP Hotel), along the Taijichang two, Chuanban Hutong, Paozi River into the Tonghui River. At that time, as an important section of Cao Yun into the capital, there were not too many dignitaries living on both sides of the Tonghui River, and most of them were ordinary people and merchants. Although it was a channel for the royal family to transport supplies, the scenery on both sides of the Tonghui River was completely different from the majesty and solemnity in the imperial city, with a strong civilian atmosphere, and the clear river water nourished the market civilization on both sides. For many years after that, Yuhe was a participant in the Caoyun culture of the imperial capital, and a witness to the ups and downs of the imperial city for hundreds of years. This ancient river, which passed through the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, gradually decayed in the long river of history and was buried deep under the layers of private houses. As an important section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, the Jade River has only a legend in the history of Beijing in the past.
The ruins of the ancient river channel of the Jade River
Traditional houses on the banks of the Jade River
The Christian Broad Street Church on the edge of the Jade River
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the dredging of the Yuhe River began in 1951. In 1953, the Sihai sewer was built, and the Yuhe River was cut off at the Dongbu Bridge, leaving only an inverted siphon with a diameter of 50 centimeters, which was used for the Shichahai water discharge to wash the downstream river. Due to the frequent discharge of sewage and poor sanitary conditions, construction began in 1955 to change the entire line of the Yuhe River into a culvert, and the project was completed in November 1956. At this point, the entire course of the Jade River was covered by the cover plate, and it completely became an underground dark river. It was not until 2002 that Beijing promulgated the "Beijing Historical and Cultural City Protection Plan", which put forward the issue of "protection of historical rivers and lakes", and clarified that the Yuhe River was an ancient Cao Canal channel and "restored the upper section of the Yuhe River (Shichahai Ping'an Street)". In 2005, the Yuhe Historical and Cultural Protection Project was officially approved. In 2007, the Yuhe River reconstruction project was officially approved, and six years later, the 700-year-old "old road of the northern section of the Yuhe River" finally saw the light of day. The re-unveiled waterway of the northern section of the Yuhe River is restored strictly along the direction of the ancient river channel, with a total length of 480 meters, an average width of 18 meters and a water depth of about 1 meter from Wanning Bridge to Dongbu Bridge. The embankment has also rebuilt a water pavilion, a curved bridge, two boat plank roads and four platforms, making the whole Yuhe style more unified and complete, and the historical landscape of "water through the streets and alleys" reproduces in the capital. Standing on the banks of the Jade River, you will be greeted by small bridges, flowing water, wooden fences, resting residents, tourists, and exquisite courtyard houses.
Landscape after the dredging of the Jade River
Tamagawa Rika
View of the Jade River Stone Bridge
Landscape of the Yuhe River Curved Bridge
In 2018, the Yuhe River project accelerated the "diversion of water to cross the street", passing under Ping'an Avenue and implementing the protection of the site of the Qingqing Gate, and now, the water of the Yuhe River can flow through the entire Yuhe River from its source, Shichahai. Coming out of Shichahai, passing through the Di'anmen Gate on the central axis to the east, in the deep embankment, a long river meanders eastward. The Ming and Qing Dynasty style walls are built along the river, and the willows on both sides of the river are still around. After Ping'an Street, it is another scene: the river becomes shallow, the aquatic plants are swaying, the water viewing platform probes into the water, and on the river bank dotted with green shade and flowers, the "Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal Scenery Map" composed of five groups of bronze relief scrolls is eye-catching. Nowadays, strolling on the landscape platform to look at the reliefs, you can see the Caochuan market and the peddlers' pawns in the near distance, and you can see the mountains and rivers in the distance, and the scenery along the Grand Canal is in full view.
Clarification of the lower gate site
Yuhe Nunnery is a nunnery specially built for Yuhe. On the "Complete Map of the Capital of Qianlong", you can clearly see the location of Yuhean, which is on the north side of the approach bridge of the East Bucrushing Bridge. Before the renovation and restoration of the Yuhe River, only the two main halls of the front and back of the Yuhe Nunnery remained, and the front hall was connected with the game hall built on the south side, and it was difficult to distinguish the appearance. In the improvement of the Yuhe River, the Yuhe Nunnery was basically restored according to the historical records and became the Yuhe Museum. After the renovation, pictures and texts reflecting the history of the Yuhe River are exhibited.
Gyokugawaan
Gyokugawaan Yuteru
After the reconstruction, the Dongbu Bridge is on the west side of the Yuhe Nunnery, connecting the two banks of the Yuhe River and the end of the south side of the waterway. Dongbu Bridge was built in the eighteenth year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty (1420), it is an east-west stone bridge, located outside the south entrance of Dongbu Bridge Hutong, in the original Di'anmen Street center slightly south of the place. The name "East does not press the bridge" also has allusions. In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the "Jingshi Wuchengfang Lane Hutong Collection" called it the Buliang Bridge, also known as the Buliang Bridge. It means that half of the bridge was occupied by the imperial city, and the bridge was so narrow that it could be measured in steps. As for "East does not press", there are two theories, one is that the imperial city wall of the Ming and Qing dynasties crossed from half of the bridge, but did not press the bridge, so it is called "not pressed"; It is also said that after the Republic of China, it was renamed the bridge without pressure, which means that the imperial city was demolished, and the stone bridge was relieved. Because there is a stone bridge with the same name and the same function in the slightly east of the north gate of Beihai on Di'anmen West Street, people call them the east and west bridges respectively. In the early years of the Republic of China, when the imperial city was demolished, the two bridges were demolished together.
The archaeological site of the East Bucrushing Bridge
The northernmost part of the Yuhe River is connected to Yu'er Hutong. On February 25, 2014, General Secretary Xi Jinping visited Beijing here. At that time, the general secretary also inspected the exhibition on the protection of the historical and cultural features of the Yuhe River and the ruins of the embankment, and walked along the river to inspect the restoration of the river and the restoration of the courtyard, and fully affirmed the project. He pointed out that Beijing is a world-famous ancient capital, and its rich historical and cultural heritage is a golden business card, and it is the responsibility of the capital to inherit and protect this precious historical and cultural heritage. Today, the Jade River has been protected and transformed, and has become a good place to highlight the style of the ancient capital, serve the life of residents, and enrich the visit of tourists.
Yu'er Hutong on the left bank of the Jade River
Summer landscape of the Jade River
Winter landscape of the Jade River
(Source: Beijing Social Science Popularization Series "Illustrating the Cultural Belt of the Grand Canal in Beijing"; Author: Li Jianping, Yang Wenli; Image source: original article with pictures)