Recently, in the process of the style of Dongsi South Street, it was found that under the modern decorative door of a five-bay façade at No. 108 Dongsi South Avenue, there are still many historical relics of Qing Dynasty commercial buildings, which have been judged and discussed by the author and some literary and history enthusiasts and friends, and unanimously believe that this is one of the most famous shops in Beijing in the late Qing Dynasty: Hefang Lou.
There are not many written records of HefangLou, which is located in the East Fourth Area. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, due to the good location and relatively large scale of the shop, Hefang Lou was one of the rare five-bay two-volume structures at that time, and the façade decoration was very luxurious. At that time, foreigners who came to China regarded it as one of the representatives of Beijing's paving, so HefangLou retained many old photos from different eras. However, after 1925, HefangLou disappeared from people's field of vision, and researchers have not been able to determine its specific location in Dongsi. Nowadays, the street governance, HefangLou Rao Shop seems to have seen the light of day again.
Today, 108 Dongsi South Street
In 1925, the front of the Hefang Building was paved
Rao is extremely popular in Beijing
The word 饽饽 first appeared in Yuan Dynasty literature, and the word was found in the first compromise of the Yuan Dynasty's Quanyuan Qu Feng Yulan Night Moon Weeping River Boat, which is estimated to be a transliteration of ethnic minority languages.
It specifically refers to dry food made by steaming, burning, roasting and other methods using flour as raw material. It contains a very rich content, steamed buns, flapjacks, and even dumplings, which can be called "dumplings". Because "Rao" includes too much content, in order to distinguish between different types, in the old days, it was usually titled "so-and-so Rao" to distinguish. For example, after the Qing Dynasty entered the Customs, some Manchu pastries were brought into Guannei, and these pastries were called "Manchu Dumplings". The Qing Dynasty's "Yanjing Chronicle of the New Year's Day" records: "On a day, no matter whether rich or poor, rich or poor, they all eat it with white noodles as horns, which is called boiling and cooking, and the whole country is the same, and there is no difference." ”
In history, rao has several functions; one is the seasonal pastries and snacks of wealthy families; the other is the gift of visiting relatives and friends during the New Year's Festival; and its three dumplings also have the function of offering sacrifices to the ancestors of the gods and Buddhas in the sacrificial ceremony. According to the "Horse Temple Sugar Cake Code Stele" erected by Daoguang in the 28th year (1848), it is recorded that the feast was used by the Qing Dynasty "for the state to enjoy, gods, sacrifices, temples and inner court hall tests, and feasts for the outer domain, and like the offerings before the Buddha, it is necessary for the monks of the banner people." The table of joy and feast, where the crown of marriage and funeral sacrifice is indispensable, its use is also great."
Because of the love of gluttony, a large number of gluttonous shops have appeared. These shops, when undertaking folk events such as weddings and funerals, wedding feasts and festivals, will make a "feast table" specially designed for sacrifice. It is a table as a unit, with a copper plate on it, and a copper plate with food inside, and the pile is as high as five or six feet. When the ceremony is over, these feast tables can be set up for many days to render the atmosphere.
This requires that the sacrificial food must not be moldy and cracked. It is said that this kind of dumpling was originally baked with pure butter and placed on the offering table for fifty or sixty days without spoiling. Later, in order to reduce costs, some people also did not like the taste of butter, and the feasts used for sacrifice were grilled with raw noodles, which were beautiful in appearance but inedible, and could be placed for a long time without deterioration. These inedible dumplings are priced at the same price as fine pastries. Large households will use dozens to hundreds of "feeding tables" for an event, which is an important source of income for the rao shop.
Where is the specific location of Hefang Building
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, most of Beijing's bustling commercial areas were operated by rao shops, such as Juqingzhai in Qianmen Dashilar, Ruifangzhai in Dongsibatiaokou, Jinlanzhai in Dong'anmen, Guixingzhai in Caishikou, Guiyingzhai in the east of Di'anmen Outer Road, and Yumeizhai in Xidan Archway North. But the most famous is Hefang Building. In the "Miscellaneous Records of the Dynasty and the Wild Since Daoxian", it is said: "All kinds of people who should be marketed are based on eight kinds of rates, such as the big eight, the middle eight, the small eight, and even the middle fruit, the southern sugar, the small food, etc., all of which are integrated in eight kinds." If you choose another one to buy, you can also buy it, but the price is higher than the full share. In that year, hefang Building on East Fourth South Street was the best. ”
HefangLou has a long history, some say that it was formed in the Yuan Dynasty, and some say that it was formed in the Daoguang period, but due to incomplete information, it cannot be confirmed. Compared with other Rao shops, Hefang Lou is photographed by foreign photographers because of its high architectural grade and prosperous location, so there are video materials of different era spans that are preserved, and these pictures can also retain historical details that are not included in the text. Among these pictures, the last to be seen is a photo of Hefang Lou taken in 1925. Around 1930, there was no mention of Hefang Lou in the records of The Beijing Rao Shop.
Although there are many photos of HefangLou, there is no direct written record of where it is. The book "Miscellaneous Records of the Dynasty and the Wild Since Daoxian" mentions that Hefang Lou is on Dongsi South Street, but this statement is too general, and people today cannot confirm where it is located in Dongsi today. In 1912, it was mentioned in the "List of Numbers of the Beijing Division Chamber of Commerce" that "Hefang Lou is in the east of Dengshikou Road, the east of the east fourth archway", but it is still lacking as a positioning. Until recently, I saw the newly released 1872 "Xie Manlu Album", which included a photo of Hefang Lou, and the picture had a text annotation describing its address: "Bensi Hutong North Hefang Lou Rao Shop". In this way, the general scope of Hefang Lou can be obtained from the synthesis of several written materials: it is located in Dongsi South Avenue, north of Dengshikou, between the west entrance of Bensi Hutong and the west entrance of Yanle Hutong, and is the streetfront shop on the east side of the road.
It is worth mentioning that by comparing the photos of different eras, it can be found that the appearance of Hefang Building and several storefronts on the south side has undergone many changes, but because they are the particularity of the street-facing shops, the scale of the façade of each store facing the street has not changed substantially, from the earliest photos taken in 1885, to the present, the size of the façade is basically the same. Through the photos that run through more than 100 years, the location relationship between Hefang Building and the shops on the south side can be found, which also provides a basis for finding the exact location of Hefang Building.
In 1885, there was a one-story Baoyu tea shop on the south side of Hefang Building, and a simple shop further south. In 1900, the pattern was roughly the same. In 1911, the south side of Hefang Building was transformed into a two-story Sian Chay Tang Pharmacy, and further south to the hutongkou, there was a simple Deshun Cheng Bakery. In 1925, after the disappearance of Hefang Building, according to the photos of the related relationships of the surrounding buildings later, it can be seen that in 1962, the original Hefang Building was suspected of being vacant, and the south side was changed to a Western-style two-story brick building. In 1980, the architectural structure of the original Hefang Building remained unchanged, and it became the exhibition and sales department of Beijing Paper Packaging Industry Company, and the modern door head was redecorated, and the small building on the south side became the exhibition department of Beijing Paper Packaging Industry Company.
1901 Hefang Building and its shops on the south side
The remains of the building bear a high degree of similarity to old photographs
After the comparison of text materials and neighborhood shop relations, it can be judged that the five-bay commercial shop at No. 108 Dongsi South Street should be the Hefang Building of that year. What is rare is that in the recent transformation process of Dongsi South Street, after the demolition of the modern door of No. 108, a lot of historical details of the Qing Dynasty paving have been retained on the inside, and through the comparison of these details, it can be further verified that it is the historical Hefang Building.
After careful identification, the author also found the remains of the Qing Dynasty paving at No. 108 Dongsi South Street, which is related to the old photos of HefangLou.
First of all, the architectural structure of the two is the same, both are two-story structures with five bays and two volumes and ridges. The second floor of the second floor, because of the street, was built in the architectural style of the front extension of the head beam, with columns under it and a flat roof on the top, forming a flat-roofed five-bay "beat room" structure with a flat roof and a second floor and then an external floor. On the outermost side of the outer eaves of the second floor, there is a decorative roll shed ridge, so that from a distance, you can see that the top of the second floor is a progressive three-roll roof, which is very beautiful and atmospheric.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the façade of the three-volume structure of the second floor of the five-bay room was very rare. Through the comparison of the pictures of the renovation of this shop, it was found that it was consistent with the structure in the old photographs of Hefang Lou. Now the second-floor decorative ridge has been removed, and traces of the past can still be seen in the front eaves of the second floor.
Secondly, the building retains special details consistently. Some time ago, at the repair site, the author saw that at the corner of the north side of the building, there was still a piece of original Swastika brick carved cornice. Compared with the old photographs of Hefang Building, it is completely consistent with the remaining structure.
Through the above textual materials, architectural space structure and comparison of physical relics with old photos, the author believes that the remains of this Qing Dynasty building are Hefang Lou. Of course, this is only the author's words, the argument process and evidence are listed for professionals and scholars to identify and reference.
It should be mentioned that the Hefang Building is very distinctive, and its appearance can be restored according to the old photos of different periods. As mentioned earlier, its building is a five-bay two-story building, the wide façade can highlight its strength and scale, and the wide rear space gives sufficient protection to the traditional front shop and rear factory structure.
It was beautifully decorated enough. For example, the top of the flat floor of the "beat room" has three sides of carved columns and railings, the column head is carved with lions, and the core of the column plate is inlaid, which is more commercial buildings in the Qing Dynasty, but the exquisite degree of the railings determines the level of the building and the shop, and the roof railing of Hefang Building is much finer than that of the ordinary storefronts of the same era. Hefanglou hanging cornice is decorated with customized "carved phoenix wearing peony", and this custom cornice is also a symbol of high-end shops, and ordinary shops can only use swastika.
In addition, HefangLou also uses a large number of text signs, for example, the top wooden balustrade uses wood-inlaid text decorative signs, and the words on the five-paragraph balustrade are "Inner Fabrication, Pastry, HefangLou, Feast, Tabletop", which is used as a text description of the long-term signboard. On the door, there is a plaque of "Hefang Lou", and the door links on both sides are also written with text. In winter, there are cotton curtains on the gates, each with a word on the top and bottom of the curtain, which is connected to the word "Hefang"; in summer, a shade curtain will be installed on the gate, and the name of the seasonal pastry is written on the curtain.
Although each of the decorative features of Hefang Building is not unique, these features are concentrated together, but they are very rare and very complete. In that year, it was a perfect combination of commercial soft power and hardware support, and it was the most typical style embodiment of the Qing Dynasty Rao Shop.
Dongsi South Street has a long history, but because the commercial changes are too frequent, so the paving ruins that can be traced back to the Qing Dynasty and clearly inherited are very limited, like Hefang Lou, which can have a clear historical inheritance and change, and have a certain position in commercial history, ancient shops, are very rare, and I hope that the relevant departments can further investigate and demonstrate, protect the ruins of Hefang Lou, and properly restore the appearance, so that the ancient charm of Dongsi South Street is more vivid and concrete. In this way, the historical and cultural connotation of Dongsi South Avenue can be further inherited and carried forward.
(Original title: Dongsi South Street found a rare Qing Dynasty style five-bay shop remains suspected of late Qing Dynasty Hefang Lou Rao Shop)
Source: Beijing Evening News
Author: Han Liheng
Process Edit: L020
Copyright Notice: The text copyright belongs to The Beijing News Group and may not be reproduced or adapted without permission.