The largest teahouse in Beijing - Tianhuixuan
At that time, the gates of royal service were all around the di'anmen, but when they went out, they were secular. Because most of the officials who guarded the imperial city were working in the yamen, they were also high-end and atmospheric in eating, drinking, and having fun.
As the saying goes, there are seven things to open the door in the morning; chai, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea, the old Beijingers can't do without tea. Some people say that Beijingers drink tea more than eating, which is really true. The Tianhuixuan Grand Tea House, located next to the Back Gate Bridge in Di'anmen, was one of the largest tea houses in Beijing; the tea house had hundreds of houses, elegant seats, courtyards, stove houses for guests to make Han food, and parking lots for horse-drawn carriages.
Liu Huizhong, the grandson of Zhang Wenkui, the owner of the Tianhuixuan Tea House, recalled that Tianhuixuan was a consumption place that included the three religions, nine streams, five elements and eight works, and other social figures, from the high-ranking officials and nobles in the imperial palace, the imperial relatives, down to the handlebar type, pedaling three wheels, saying that the media pulled fiber, abducted children, and sold cultural relics, everything was available, which can be described as "the gathering of masters and the gathering of heroes." In its heyday, Tianhuixuan outside Di'anmen, Tianquanxuan, Tianrenxuan, tianqixuan on Qianmen Street, and Tianshouxuan, Tiandexuan and Tianyixuan in Beixinqiao were collectively known as the "Eight Great Xuans" in Beijing; Tianhuixuan ranked first among the eight xuans and was the largest teahouse in Beijing.
Today's Tianhui compound
Jin Shoushen, an expert in the history of Beijing, wrote in the article "The Great Tea House": "The Great Tea House in Beijing in the Qing Dynasty once walked through the red and purple luck. Before Gengzi, there were many large tea houses in Beijing, and the Tianhui Xuan outside the Houmen (Di'anMen) was the largest, (Gengzi) was destroyed by fire, and now it is the Tianhui compound, which once opened a market, and its great know-it-all. "Tianhuixuan's seats are also more exquisite, generally the seats are polished polished eight immortals table and square stools, and the elegant seats are elm wood red paint eight immortals table and back chair. Tea sets are always three-piece lid bowls. At that time, Beijingers, especially the children of the Eight Flags, paid attention to going to the tea house to drink morning tea and eat breakfast. Snacks such as Ai Wo Wo Wo, Honey Twist Flower, Horn Cake, Sugar Ear and Oven Cake made by Tianhui Xuan are not only sweet and salty, but also have a good taste, but also a beautiful appearance. In Tianhuixuan, except for the nearby residents who drank morning tea and ate breakfast, the infantry commander Yamen Xu was the majority. Because the infantry commander Yamen was in the nearby Hat Er Hutong, most of the officials and messengers drank morning tea at Tianhuixuan, ate early, and then went to Yamen to do errands.
The northernmost drum tower and bell tower on the central axis
Liu Huizhong recalled his predecessors: "In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, the Eight-Nation Alliance army invaded Beijing to burn and plunder, and the Tianhuixuan Tea House was burned to the ground by a fire, and it is said that the fire burned all night. I have heard my ancestors argue that the Tianhuixuan Grand Tea House was hated by the Eight-Nation Alliance and wanted to burn it down, mainly believing that the tea house was a dangerous situation of gathering people to make trouble and even forming a force of resistance, so it angered the invaders and brutally burned the tea house. ”
Tianhui Xuan Grand Tea House is so well-known, why was it not rebuilt and reopened after it was destroyed by fire during the Guangxu Gengzi years, but built a small commodity market on its old site? The main reason is that after the Gengzi period, many tea guests have gone to the emerging book and tea houses to taste fragrant tea, listen to books, and enjoy the single string performance of the big drum. The days of the big tea house are over, and the business is getting colder, so there is no need for Tianhuixuan to rebuild.