Jinyun News reporter Guo Zibin
In the mountain forest of Sujiatuo Town, Haidian District, Beijing, the remains of an ancient pagoda stolen from an underground palace have attracted the attention of Zhang Wenda, a 75-year-old folk scholar... For 20 consecutive years, he has been conducting surveys and studies of 20 or 30 historical sites that have not yet been included in the cultural relics that he has discovered. In order to protect these historical sites, he submitted the cultural relics protection certification of 13 of them to the local cultural relics protection department at the end of last year. In addition to the ancient pagoda of the Lotus Temple Pagoda courtyard of the stolen underground palace, there are also 12 historical sites such as xiaojiahe ancient bridge, Fengwo Moya stone carving, Xifeng Temple, and Yangjia Garden.
The ancient tower was stolen from the dungeon
Staged a real version of Tomb Raider Notes
On June 22, under the leadership of the elderly Zhang Wen, the reporter came to Sujiatuo Town, Haidian District. Because the ancient pagoda of the stolen underground palace is located in the mountain forest near the railway, the reporter followed The elderly Zhang Wen and the old man cat waist through the thorny sour jujube trees for half an hour, there was a lost fragment of the ancient tower stone on the ground, and even some ancient tower fragments were masonry in the gaps of the slope. Zhang Wenda pointed to a rectangular opening that was almost covered by dead leaves and said, This is the Lotus Temple Pagoda, which is a relatively well-preserved ancient pagoda, but its underground palace has been stolen.
Lotus Temple Pagoda Stone Pagoda
The robbery cave of the ancient pagoda of the Lotus Temple
Zhang Wenda said that this is a bowl-covered ancient pagoda built in the Ming Dynasty or earlier, with a residual height of less than 4 meters, and there is an obliquely excavated robbery hole on the south side directly below. At the low entrance of the cave, only one person can climb in and out. In order to find out, Zhang Wen crawled to the ground, retreated into the cave little by little, and after rubbing through the tomb passage of about 2 meters, he saw a low palace gate, and inside the palace gate was a dim underground palace.
Zhang Wenda drilled into the lotus temple pagoda courtyard ancient pagoda robber cave
After entering the underground palace, I saw that on the inner walls, floors and stacked stone components of the underground palace, there were hundreds of black and brown polypods more than ten centimeters long, with long whiskers, and spiders. These bugs saw the light and immediately hid... This scene suddenly reminds people of the terrifying picture in the novel "Notes from the Tomb Robber"... Zhang Wen laughed and said that he had learned about the pagoda at the Haidian District Archives, and with the help of a mountain friend, he had entered the underground palace for the first time in the winter. Due to the cold outside the tower, the dungeon was relatively warm, and there were several times more bugs in the dungeon at that time than now.
According to Zhang Wenda's on-site measurements, the underground palace of the ancient pagoda is an arc-top arch-type structure, with a length of 2.05 meters, a width of 1.70 meters, a central arc top of about 1.70 meters, and an area of about 3.4 square meters. The passages, internal walls, and curved roofs of the underground palace are all made of green bricks, and no frescoes and reliefs that everyone expects have been found in the underground palace.
However, Zhang Wenda, who is a member of the academic committee of the Beijing Historical and Geographical Society, found a strange thing. He told reporters that he found in the underground palace that it should be a phase wheel and a lot of stone components outside the tower, but he did not know why he arrived inside the underground palace? He speculated that this may have been someone trying to protect the stone components.
Liang Yugui, director of the research office of the Beijing Institute of Ancient Architecture, went to the scene to investigate and believed that this ancient pagoda should belong to the Lotus Temple. The Lotus Temple is a more famous temple in the northwest suburbs of Beijing, because its location is the location of the original Jin Dynasty Emperor's villa. Four granite-made bowl-type towers were found in the Lotus Temple Pagoda Courtyard, and the style and building materials of the tower basically have the architectural legacy of the early Jinyuan bowl-covered tower. At present, although most of these towers have been damaged and damaged, and even some towers have collapsed, the building components of these towers are very good, and from the evaluation of the age of the tower, the architectural form and construction technology, the ancient pagoda of the Lotus Temple Pagoda meets and has the standard of cultural relics certification.
A book, a word
Embark on a 20-year search for the ruins
Zhang Wenda is a native of Haidian, who studied arts and crafts in secondary school, but became a worker in an electronics factory after graduation. It can be said that he is not professional in the investigation and appraisal of cultural relics. 20 years ago, Zhang Wenda, who retired at home, had nothing to do, so he climbed Xiangshan Mountain with his wife Zhao Yuqin. Both of the old men liked calligraphy and the art of Peking Opera, and Zhang Wenda followed the "Dictionary of Beijing Famous Places and Monuments" in his hand to find the cliff carvings and inscriptions on Xiangshan Mountain. However, after several searches, they did not find the "plum character stone" related to Mr. Mei Lanfang. Finally, under the guidance of the staff, Zhang Wendacai found the "Plum Character Stone" near the Xiangshan Red Leaf Forest. This experience made Zhang Wenda very happy, and since then, he has been working with like-minded mountain friends to search for rock carvings and inscriptions on the cliffs in Beijing. Today, he has taken thousands of photographs of Beijing's moya carvings, stele stones and ancient pagodas, and there is a layer of bookshelves in his home that house albums containing these photos.
Zhang Wenda's study
Every time, it is a bus ride to explore the silent monuments
Look for silent monuments in thorny sour date trees
Many of the ruins are remotely located and have not been found in the census of previous cultural relics protection units, nor have they been identified as cultural relics. Zhang Wenda said that although these relics have not been officially recognized as cultural relics, it does not mean that they do not have cultural relics value. Many relics have been destroyed or even demolished because they cannot be protected by the Cultural Relics Law, and "in order to properly protect them, in addition to finding them, they must be given identity." In the past 20 years, through visits and explorations, Zhang Wenda has discovered a total of 13 historical sites such as lotus temple pagoda courtyard, Xifeng Temple, Xiaojiahe Ancient Bridge, Yangjia Garden, Fengwo Moya, etc., all of which are located in The Haidian District of Beijing. At the end of last year, he submitted an application for cultural relics recognition to the Cultural Relics Protection Department of Haidian District for these 13 monuments. Zhang Wenda said that the 13 items he declared were basically in Haidian District.
Hou Zhaonian, a researcher at the Beijing Institute of Ancient Architecture, said that the site of the Zunsheng Pagoda in Yangshan Mountain in Fenghuangling proposed by Mr. Zhang Wenda had been identified as a cultural relic, and zhang Wenda and his experts climbed the mountain for 6 hours to reach the scene.
Dilapidated Ming and Qing ancient bridges
Have the criteria for recognizing cultural relics
On May 8 this year, the Beijing Municipal People's Government's website "Window of Beijing" published a report titled "An Ancient Bridge in Haidian Awaits Cultural Relics Identification." This is the 13 relics declared by the cultural relics appraisal experts to Mr. Zhang Wenda, and the latest one is a historical site that basically meets the value and standards of cultural relics protection. The ancient bridge is located halfway up the terrace mountain near Dajue Temple in Haidian District, only 1,500 meters away from the Lotus Temple Pagoda courtyard of the stolen underground palace.
Zhang Wenda said that the ancient bridge is a single-hole arch bridge with a brick and stone structure outside Xifeng Temple. Due to the inaccessible and disrepair of the location, the ancient bridge is dilapidated, and many brick cracks and stone cracks are spreading, and pine trees have even grown in some places, but the single-hole arch of the bridge is still relatively complete. The Temple of Xifeng on the mountain, except for a broken courtyard wall in the northwest, no longer exists. Experts from the Beijing Municipal Commission for Cultural Relics Appraisal made several trips back and forth on the ancient bridge and found that the bridge deck was made of irregular rough stone and is still available for pedestrians to pass.
According to the expert measurements of the Beijing Municipal Commission for Cultural Relics Appraisal, the ancient bridge is about 6 meters long, about 2 meters wide and about 5 meters high. Experts judge that the ancient bridge was built in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the original water under the bridge, the current river has dried up, the ancient bridge can withstand the pressure of small animal power vehicles. Among the many ancient bridges in Beijing, the xifeng temple front ancient bridge is unique, although it is not magnificent. Experts said that cultural relics buildings and historical buildings are non-renewable, and construction works are currently underway around the ancient bridge, which is easy to endanger the safety of the ancient bridge. At present, experts from the Beijing Municipal Commission for Cultural Relics Appraisal believe that the ancient bridge has the criteria for the protection of recognized cultural relics.
Whenever a historical site suspected of being a cultural relic is found, Zhang Wenda will consult various documents and materials, and strive to be accurate and unambiguous. In his view, it is worth his efforts to find historical materials for those historical sites that are little known and about to disappear, to provide experts with the basis for the identification of cultural relics, and to revitalize these historical sites to their historical value and protection.
However, every time he applied, it was not so smooth...
Zhang Wenda and the reporter climbed a rugged mountain road, and after drilling through a dense row of thorny jujube forests, a stone-carved gate appeared in the reporter's field of vision. The dilapidated complex is called Yang Family Garden, and its owner is Yang Yide, the head of the Tianjin Prosecutor's Office during the Republic of China, and the building was built by his two sons. In the commentary drama "Yang Sanjie's Complaint", Yang Yide of the Tianjin Procuratorate, who did things impartially, retried the case of the sudden death of the sister of the commoner Yang Sanjie, rehabilitated the unjust case, and justice was done, and the people clapped their hands and applauded, so Yang Yide was a well-known celebrity in the local area and Tianjin.
The Yang Family Garden is divided into two courtyards, east and west. There are two north rooms in the entrance of the east courtyard, and seven main rooms in the courtyard, which are connected by a structure and connected by a cloister. Out of the east courtyard through the step road to the west courtyard, there are three north rooms on the top of the mountain. Mr. Gao Yulin, a teacher at Bei'anhe Primary School who was born here, recalled that the Yang Family Garden was built in 1928. In 1945, the Jin-Cha-Ji Daily set up a secret radio station in Yangjia Garden. Later, it was occupied by schools and research institutions. At present, some of the houses have collapsed and are completely abandoned.
Hou Zhaonian, a researcher at the Beijing Institute of Ancient Architecture, said that cultural relics should have "three major values" of history, art and science. Yangjia Garden is a Republic of China building, but the architectural style of Chinese and Western styles cannot be defined, so its historical value is relatively poor. At the same time, the value of this complex is not high in terms of artistic or scientific value. In addition, the existing building structure of the house is still there, but most of them have collapsed, and there are more that have been modified later, so they do not have and meet the standards for cultural relics certification.
The 47 Middle Wall, not far from the Yang Family Garden, is also one of the 13 cultural relics that Zhang Wenda applied for. Zhang Wenda said that the big wall is more than 200 meters long from east to west, more than 100 meters long from north to south, and four or five meters high. The enclosure is rectangular, the western enclosure is rectangular, and the west side is circular and curved. Zhang Wenda consulted historical materials and deduced that this large wall made of brick and stone should be the burial place of a Ming Dynasty celebrity. Zhang Wenda said that like Jingtai's prince's tomb is only 80 meters long, but this wall is more than 200 meters long, the specifications are higher than the prince, so it is inferred that this may be the tomb of the Western Heaven Sect's Fa Wang Xiu, which has a history of more than 500 years, so it was applied as a cultural relic.
However, the expert appraisal results also disappointed Zhang Wenda. Liang Yugui, director of the research office of the Beijing Institute of Ancient Architecture, said that there are many large walls made of large stones made of local materials in the northwest suburbs of Beijing, and many cemeteries and building complexes have such large walls. The 47-in-one wall in Huangu Garden, Sujiatuo Town, Haidian District, is very incomplete, and the intermittent wall cannot meet the conditions for being recognized as a cultural relic.
The list book on the cliff is on the cliff
Associated with two celebrities
The moya stone carvings of the Republic of China period mentioned by Zhang Wenda are located on the cliffs of Nanshan In Zhaikou Village, Sujiatuo Town, Haidian District. Led by Zhang Wenda, the reporter went to the edge of the cliff closest to the cliff carving. Zhang Wenda stepped on a small tree branch that grew on the cliff and measured the word "phoenix nest" on the cliff wall and found that the length and width of these two words were nearly one meter.
Survey the Fengwo Mo Cliffs
Recalling the discovery of this cliff, Zhang Wenda still remembers it vividly. He said that an aunt in Zhaikou Village told me about the stone carving and the approximate location, looked for two days to find the stone carving and the approximate location, and looked for two days before seeing the word "Phoenix Nest". He said: "I have been collecting cliffs and inscriptions in the city of Beijing, especially in the area of the Great Western Mountains, and I have never known about this cliff carving. ”
The inscription on this cliff stone is "倬盫為 沅淑書", and the erudite Zhang Wenda immediately thought that "Yuanshu" was the word of Fu Zengxiang, the chief education officer of the Beiyang government during the Republic of China period, but he never found out who "倬盫" was. Later, a friend found a clue in the "Dictionary of Celebrities of the Republic of China", and Zhang Wenda learned that "倬盫" was the number of the calligrapher Wu Zhang. Zhao Zhang is the calligrapher who wrote the plaque at the gate of the Nine Cities of Beijing. "After confirming that this rock carving is related to these two celebrities, I think this stone carving can definitely be recognized as a cultural relic by experts." Zhang Wen said confidently.
Liu Weidong, a member of the Beijing Municipal Cultural Relics Appraisal Committee and a research official at the Beijing Museum of Stone Carvings, believes after on-the-spot investigation that the Fengwo Moya stone carvings are related to Fu Zengxiang, and that Fu Zengxiang is a celebrity, and that the calligraphy, paintings, and relics related to him should be valued by the protection of cultural relics. Moreover, this cliff stone is carved in the location of the Fu Zengxiang family cemetery, and the word "Fengwo" was made by him with tears to mourn his deceased brother, so this also requires cultural relics workers to study this historical fact in depth.
Liu Weidong also felt that the word "Fengwo" was 1 meter square for each word, which belonged to the category of the list book. It is very difficult to write the list, and many calligraphers today have difficulty in writing such a large list. At the same time, the characters were written by Shao Zhang, a famous calligrapher in the Republic of China period, and the carving workers carved the words out on the cliffs and cliffs, and the softness and hardness of the words were combined seamlessly, which was very rare, basically reflecting the atmosphere and charm of this work. Liu Weidong believes that the "Fengwo Moya" has been identified as a third-level cultural relic, and the district-level cultural relics protection unit is sufficient. With the in-depth study of this cultural relic by experts, the level of this cultural relics protection unit may be upgraded.
Xiaojiahe Ancient Bridge Gate
It is a cultural relic of the Grand Canal
The affirmation of the experts greatly increased Zhang Wenda's confidence, and with the experts' investigation of the relics declared by Zhang Wenda, the good news was one after another. In the demolition area in the northwest corner of the Xiaojiahe Bridge in Beijing's North Fifth Ring Road, Zhang Wenda discovered an ancient bridge with no name. Because the river channel under the bridge has long been diverted and no longer exists, the soil below the bridge deck is buried, and the pier structure cannot be seen, and only part of the bridge deck can be shown.
The reporter saw this ancient bridge that has become a Yongdao road next to a simple building in the project department of Beijing Urban Construction Company. The mottled deck is still used as a pavement, with occasional motor vehicles rolling over the stone slabs. The exposed part is clearly recognizable on the west side of the fan-shaped bridge (where the bridge head is near the flat ground). On the north side of the bridge, along the stone, there are small rectangular stone nests for the installation of the bridge railing. The slate girders of the bridge deck are spliced together from granite strips of stone in the direction of the bridge, and there are many dovetail grooves between the stone slabs, but none of the silver ingots have survived, leaving a small pit of rambling earth. Zhang Wenda said that the stone slabs on the bridge deck are fixed by swallowtail grooves and silver ingot iron mortise bites, which is a prominent feature of ancient Chinese bridges. Zhang Wenda told reporters affirmatively: "Although this ancient bridge is buried, the bridge hole has not been completely filled, and the bridge railing that is missing from the bridge deck should not be lost, perhaps buried under the bridge." ”
Zhang Wenda judged that this was a "five-hole stone flat bridge". He recalled that when he visited the Xiaojiahe Bridge in early 2015, the entire ancient bridge was buried with soil, but the bridge deck was completely exposed. After three years of returning, it was found that the surrounding environment had changed greatly, and the asphalt road on the east side of the bridge was widened to the west, resulting in 2/5 of the bridge deck on the east side being landfilled. The simple houses in the south of the bridge are almost built close to the ancient bridge, and the appearance of the ancient bridge is constantly being "encroached upon".
Survey the xiaojiahe ancient bridge
Xiaojiahe Ancient Bridge
Schematic diagram of the ancient bridge gate of Xiaojiahe River
Zhang Wenda consulted a large number of materials and conducted on-the-spot research, basically outlining the historical changes of the Xiaojiahe Ancient Bridge Gate. He said that the Qing Dynasty historical document "The Old Wen Kao under the Sun" proves that the Xiaojiahe Ancient Bridge Gate existed in the Qing Dynasty, and speculates that the bridge was probably built in the Yuan Dynasty, or even earlier. In addition, the water of the Xiaojia River comes from the Qinglong Bridge, bypasses the back of the Yuanmingyuan, and flows three miles east to reach the Qinghe River. In the "Ming Yi Tongzhi", it is recorded that the Xiaojia River is the upper reaches of the Qing River, and the water of the Qing River comes from an acre spring. In the "Guangxu Shun Tianfu Chronicle" and other historical sources also record that the river originated from an acre spring, the water flowing through the Xiaojia River through beijing city, flowing into the Tonghui River, and finally east to the Lu River and the Grand Canal in Tongzhou.
Liang Xinli, secretary general of the Beijing Historical folklore Society, who wrote the book "Beijing Ancient Bridge", said that regardless of geographical location or architectural pattern, the existing Xiaojiahe Ancient Bridge Lock in Beijing is a unique and unique product, so it is a relic of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.
Liu Weidong, a member of the Beijing Municipal Cultural Relics Appraisal Committee and a research official at the Beijing Stone Carving Art Museum, said that the Xiaojiahe Ancient Bridge Gate has the characteristics of an ancient bridge in the Ming Dynasty, which should be an omission in the census of cultural relics. Such ancient relics should be identified as cultural relics and thus protected. Once the time is available for archaeological excavation, experts can excavate it archaeologically, perhaps restoring the original appearance of this ancient bridge gate.
Guarding the relics of silence is arduous
Most of these places where Zhang Wenda went were inaccessible, there was no serious road, sometimes there was not even a mobile phone signal, every time he went out, especially when he went out alone, his wife Zhao Yuqin was sitting at home, and his daughter, who had supported him, also advised him to give up many times. Zhang Wenda's daughter Zhang Xiu said that she began to support her father's climbing the mountain to explore the ruins, but as he grew older, she had to dissuade him many times, but the stubborn father just refused to give up, "More than 70 years old, we are a little worried about him climbing the mountain, often remind him not to go to dangerous places, but I know that he is particularly dedicated to what he loves to do." ”
Many of the old mountain friends who once searched for monuments together could no longer meet together. Now, with the old man, he has a new partner. Some young people joined Zhang Wenda's action, working with him to explore cultural relics and protect them. Han Liheng is in the IT industry in Beijing, and every weekend for two years, he will accompany the elderly to explore those hidden relics. He said that Zhang Wen was able to comprehensively explore the value and background of an ancient relic from the perspective of nature, humanities, geography and other aspects, and finally excavated a complete history of hidden ruins.
Now Zhang Wenda is old, but he has not stopped searching for the ruins, but has become busier. In addition to visiting the mountains, they also regularly enter the community to tell stories about historical sites to residents. The practice of the elderly has inspired more and more people. Tang Zhenglu, a lover of history and cultural relics, told reporters that he and Zhang Wenda met in 2017, when Zhang Wenda went to his community to give a lecture on the stone carvings of Phoenix Mountain. After the lecture, they added WeChat to each other. For more than two years, Tang Zhenglu learned a lot of knowledge during his exploration of the ruins with Zhang Wenda. Tang Zhenglu said that he also wanted to make some contributions to the protection of cultural relics like Zhang Wenda.
Zhang Wenda said that now that he is 75 years old, there are many things to do, and he must learn from the old, do the old, and let more young people know what he knows.