The Haihe River gushed southward, and it didn't take long to flow under the Bei'an Bridge.
The beautiful Bei'an Bridge quietly greets the flowing river below. On the base of the smooth bridge railing stand four golden music girls, they are dressed in light skirts, and their slender hands hold different instruments such as pipa, sheng, pipe, organ, etc., showing noble and elegant dance posture to the pedestrians on and off the bridge with a soft and graceful posture. To the west, there is a road called Anshan Road, which is perpendicular to the Haihe River. The area around it belonged to Japan during the concession period, so today's Anshan Province also had a Japanese name called "Miyajima Street". The narrow Anshan Road is not long, but there are several well-known Chinese and foreign figures living in several small Western-style buildings on this street.
When you walk west along Anshan Road to Chahar Road, you will arrive at Zhang Garden.
This small two-storey bungalow with a mixed Structure in European Romanesque style is intriguingly located, carrying the sun rising and setting. The layout of the building adopts an irregular symmetrical form, the façade of the northwest corner is rich in spire towers far higher than all the houses in this area, the form of window opening on the outer wall of the tower is diverse, there are rectangles and squares, there are circles and arches, the decorative patterns along the window edges are also different styles, the top of the tower is a highly decorative pale green four-sided tapered body, and the four corners of the building below the tapested spire are inlaid with carved stone columns with four domes that are also highly decorative. The top of this tower was once shaken down during the Tangshan earthquake, and now it has been repaired and restored, and it is as beautiful as ever.
Different locations of Zhangyuan's garden are decorated with Taihu stone rockeries, lotus ponds, pavilions, Large Chinese goldfish tanks, plus the promenades surrounding the buildings and the staggered planting of flowers and trees, making people who enter this garden feel spacious and spacious. The main entrance of the main building, Pingyuan Building, is a large platform supported by romanesque arches on three sides, which naturally becomes a terrace on the second floor, and on the left and right of the platform is a ramp that can drive into cars. History left us two photos in this location. They also use the buildings, terraces, arches, doors and windows on the front of Zhang Yuan as a background, and the photographer's shooting angle and style are strikingly similar, but the identity status and motivation of the photographic characters are very different.
Let's look back at the old days. In the middle of winter of 1924, sun Yat-sen, the forerunner of the revolution, together with Ms. Soong Ching Ling, was invited by the Beiyang military and political dignitaries to go north to discuss the grand plan for the founding of the country and stayed in Zhang Garden, which was full of advanced facilities. He warmly received visits from people from all walks of life in Zhang Garden, discussed the founding strategy of the new government, and repeatedly delivered revolutionary speeches despite the torture of liver pain, and fixed the figures of himself and many followers in front of the Pingyuan Building in Zhang Garden. In 1925, Puyi, the Xuantong Emperor who had been expelled from the Forbidden City, fled to Tianjin and was carefully entertained by Zhang Biao, a former loyal minister of the Qing court, the owner of Zhang Garden. In this beautiful and quiet garden, he began his four-year living career. On the thirteenth day of the first month of the new year, the last emperor, who had just turned twenty, sat in a chair wearing a pair of sunglasses so black that others could not see his eyes, and dozens of widows who were celebrating his birthday stood and hugged him, wearing melon-skin hats and Chinese-style robes and horse coats, and took a photo frozen in the historical background.
Now, these two photographs are displayed on the wall of the Zhangyuan exhibition room, and when people stop to look at them, they will suddenly sink into deep thought: one is an old and sick expeller, one is a young and healthy expulsee, one is the president of the Republic of China, and the other is the former Emperor Sun. What kind of opportunity, in the time not far apart, let such two people live in the same room on the third floor, and take two ironic photos with the same background but complete opposite meaning in the same place in front of the Pingyuan Building. God in the dark is really good at joking, what a cruel and cold political joke.
Soon after leaving Zhang Garden and heading west along Anshan Road, we arrived at Jingyuan. Entering the Jing Garden, you will find that it is really a quiet courtyard. The three courtyards of the three-ring set of moons are constructed from the front yard, the back yard and the west side of the courtyard. We can break up its parts and carefully play with the architectural aesthetic implications.
A large share of the total area of more than three thousand square meters is reserved for the spacious front yard. Several poplar locust trees and cloves are planted in the yard, the branches are luxuriant, and the green shade makes the yard cool and pleasant. The cannabis under the doors and windows is yellow, and the pomegranate is red. A large three-tiered stone fountain is spraying silver-white water in the sunlight. Splashes of water spread over the pebble path leading to the main building, adding a lot of moisture to the courtyard.
Standing at any point, you can see every building in the Jing Garden at a glance. It belongs to the eclectic architectural style, with detailed construction and decoration such as doors and windows showing typical Japanese wooden architectural features, simple and natural, while the soothing roof and arches embellished with red barrel tiles have obvious Spanish architectural characteristics. The two-storey brick and wood main building, the western half is the outer corridor of the heavenly wooden columns, and the eastern half is closed. The lower part of the wall is a clear water red brick, and the upper part of the milky yellow muddy water gable has a round or round arch of scarlet paint doors and windows. Above the lintel at the entrance of the main building is a thick wooden eaves with vermilion tiles, and the two multi-grid glass wooden doors under the eaves are inlaid with dark glass, and the scene inside cannot be seen from the outside of the door.
The west courtyard and the front yard are separated by a joint arch flower wall, which is a place for the owner to play and relax. Here the trees are sparse, the vines are hanging low, there is a fish-shaped wall spring in the waist of the wall in the mouth of the fish spitting crystal water splash, clear water flowing into the pool below, emitting the sound of Qingyue babbling water, sitting on the wooden chair next to the wall spring to rest, listening to the sound of the water will have a feeling of fascination. It is said that Puyi often came here with his concubines to tease the fresh flow of water and listen to the sound of water.
Push open the glass door under the eaves, you can enter the house where the emperor lived, and enter the house where the emperor lived, and you can also enter history. So let's get in together.
Entering the hall, the shape of the fountain on the right side of the wall is very similar, the difference between them is that the wall spring is more integrated into nature, and this eye wall brings the meaning of outdoor nature to indoor life.
The life of the empress in the Jing Garden has not diminished at all from the luxury of living in the opposite Zhang Garden four years ago, they are still dancing, playing cards, watching movies, playing golf, playing billiards, and still going in and out of Tianjin's major consumption places to spend the silver of white flowers. On the right side of the first floor, there are two large and small restaurants, valuable wooden furniture and various Western musical instruments are placed everywhere, wide and smooth dining tables, exquisite silver tableware, it is natural to imagine the spacious scene of the empress's life here. It is worth explaining clearly that the large restaurant is the place where the empress holds a birthday banquet, as well as a large banquet for courtiers, relatives and friends, politicians, and warlords, while the small restaurant is the place where the empress's family banquet and the two eat Western food. According to some private memories of the emperor, the small restaurant did witness the rare warmth and sweetness between the empresses.
The council chamber on the left side of the first floor is where the widows of the last emperor Qing Room discussed political affairs. On both sides of the door frame of the hall hangs the Qing Dynasty widow Yuan Dahua's writing of "Sit-in Audience Miao, Duanju Taste Heaven and Harmony". After reading such a text, and then thinking that Puyi personally changed the original name of Lu Zongyu's mansion "Qianyuan" to "Jingyuan", it is not difficult to figure out his deeply hidden heart: it was originally to wait and see the changes and wait for the opportunity to make a comeback. Entering the chamber, the front of the marble closet is directly placed with carved high-back seats, and on the left and right sides are two carved high-back chairs facing each other. The bright chandelier on the top is a good testimony to the fact that the old courtiers sitting under the lamp were discussing what political affairs were being discussed.
In the adjacent parlor, the snow-white walls are embedded with multi-grambo ancient shelves, and various bronze and jade objects are placed. Against the wall are four carved wooden chairs. It was here that Puyi secretly met with various figures, among which the things that must be pointed out were the special figure of the Japanese politician Kenji Doihara, who had come here many times in the dark to accept the meeting of the last emperor. The matter of their conspiracy was made known to the world in the near future. "IX. After the "18th" incident, the historic debate between Chen Baochen, the leader of the "main refusal faction" who resolutely opposed Puyi's departure from the customs, and Zheng Xiaoxu, the leader of the "main welcome faction" who was in favor of leaving the customs, also took place here.
Ascend the stairs covered with red velvet blankets to the second floor, where the Empress lived.
The furniture and various ornaments in Puyi's study on the right, the Bogu shelf, the Yunlong character table, the bookcase table and chairs are all arranged in the same position as before. This is the place where Puyi read and writes, and it is also the place where he secretly decreed and talked secretly, and no one is allowed to enter here. The next room is the place of ancestors, Zhang hangs portraits of the Qing emperors of the past, and the sacrifice of the ancestors in the New Year festival is the rule of the Qing Emperors, and Puyi never makes an exception.
Further to the left, we reached the respective bedrooms of the Empress. The bedroom is nothing more than a bed, a table and chairs, and here too. It's just one big and one small, one south and one north, one bright and one dark.
In Wanrong's bedroom, no one can control their emotions and thoughts. Here the window curtain is deep, the light and shadow are dim, and you can't see the sunlight coming in. The dresser is more beautiful and old. In this bedroom, we have no way of knowing how the beautiful lady sat in front of the dresser in the faint morning light, lazily drawing her face. But if we look closely at the soft mattress that lay over her beautiful body, we can clearly see the apparition of WanRong smoking opium in the swirling green smoke. Everyone knows, and the literature also records: the rivalry between the queen concubines, the hesitation to get out of the customs, and the doomed drift in her fate, so that she helplessly relied on this poison and suffered from this addiction.
In the innermost hut on the left side of the first floor, there lived an unfortunate woman, who was the Imperial Concubine Wenxiu. No one can bear to imagine how this young woman faces the sweet scene of the empress every day and lives alone in this corner. We can only witness her bravery in the newspapers of the Republic of China period, admire her decisiveness: to create a unique miracle of that era, and to divorce the famous emperor.
The courtyards and apartments of Jingyuan are indeed quiet all day long. But the hearts of all the occupants of the Jing Garden are indeed not quiet. The heart of the last emperor Puyi has not stopped frantically beating and fighting since the day he landed in Tianjin. For seven years, no matter what kind of sound and color he lived, he was secretly making a kind of preparation: that is, to restore his overturned imperial inheritance and regain the country he had lost. On the night of November 10, 1931, with the help of the Japanese's ill-intentions, Puyi slipped out of the back door of Jingyuan, and even his empress did not have time to take it, curled up alone in the trunk of the Car driven by the Japanese and fled in a hurry, on a small pier on the Haihe River, on a British steamship, sailed to the three eastern provinces, and was at ease to become an emperor who was controlled by the Japanese like a puppet...
The Haihe River is still gushing to the south, and there are famous gardens and small western-style buildings swaying in the clear bay stream, and their stories are left to those who have a heart to tell slowly. (Author: Xiao Hualai)