When you think of Beijing, what comes to mind first?
Is the bustling capital? Delicious roast duck? Or is it a sight that will always be crowded?
In addition to Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace and other places that are well-known around the world
Nanluoguxiang may be a must-punch spot for many people to come to Beijing
But in fact, the blood of Beijing is the hutong
"Nanluoguxiang" does not fully represent the regional characteristics of old Beijing
Hutongs are the most distinctive places in Beijing
It is also the most common place in Beijing
It is the root of beijingers and the context of beijing city
There are the most authentic lives and memories of old Beijingers
Each alley is like a thick epic
It records the honor and disgrace of history and tells the moving past
In addition to those most commonly heard of NanluoguXiang, Yanbao Xie Street, Dongjiaomin Lane, Hat Er Hutong and so on
Today, let's walk into the Bell Tower Bay Hutong that you may not have heard of
Zhonglouwan Hutong is located in the vicinity of Zhonglou in Dongcheng District, Beijing. The Ming Dynasty belonged to the Jintaifang Pipe Boundary, the Qing Dynasty belonged to the Yellow Flag Station, and now belongs to the jurisdiction of Andingmen Subdistrict.
The central axis of Beijing's urban area, south to Yongdingmen, north to drum tower bell tower. The section of the road from Gulou to Di'anmen Road junction is now called Di'anmen Outer Street, formerly known as Gulou Street in the Ming Dynasty, and Gulou Street in the Qing Dynasty. Di'anmenwai Street south of the Drum Tower is the dividing line between the Dongcheng District and the Xicheng District, but north of the Drum Tower, the dividing line between the East and West Districts is not on the extension of the central axis, but on the old Gulou Street on the west side, so the Zhonglouwan Hutong located around the Bell Tower belongs to the Dongcheng District.
The drum tower and bell tower of the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, located at the north and south ends of the old Drum Tower Street, are densely marketed places. According to the Yuan Dynasty's "Chronicle of Analysis" of the capital city, the cross street in front of the bell tower has rice markets, noodle markets, goose and duck markets, satin markets, hat markets, and bead markets, and behind the bell towers there is an iron market, there are boot markets for selling leather boots and leather boots, and there are poor people gathering to wait to be hired.
The Hanlin Courtyard of the Yuan Dynasty was on the north side of the Bell Tower, and the Hanlin scholar Wei Su lived in Zhonglou Street. The Biography of Wang Mian by the Qing Dynasty scholar Zhu Yizun tells the story of Wei Su's visit to Wang Guan. The Yuan Dynasty painter Wang Mian was a native of Zhuji County, Zhejiang Province, and was good at painting lotus flowers and plum blossoms.
Wang Mian's "MoMei Poem" wrote:
My family washes the pond head tree, and the flowers bloom light ink marks. Don't let people praise the color, just leave the air full of dryness.
Wang Mian traveled to the capital city, and Wei Su came to visit on horseback. Wang Mian asked, are you the gentleman who lives on Bell Tower Street? Wei Su replied yes, and then Wang Tian did not talk to him, and Wei Su sat for a while and left. Others did not understand who the visitor was, Wang Mian laughed, I know that Wei Su lives in Zhonglou Street, and I have also read Wei Su's articles, and I feel that there is a strange atmosphere, and the behavior of imami people is also strange, so this person who is visiting must be a dangerous person. Wang Mian was dissatisfied with the rule of the Yuan Dynasty and did not want to be an official, so he was reluctant to associate with Wei Su. Later, the Ming Dynasty general Xu Da invaded the capital city, Wei Su ran to the Bao'en Temple, which belongs to the Ertiao Hutong of Beixinqiao, and wanted to commit suicide and martyrdom, and the monk of the Bao'en Temple pulled him to persuade him, the history of the Yuan Dynasty is only known to you, if you die, the history of the country will also die. Wei Su gave up throwing himself into a well and committed suicide, submitted to the Ming Dynasty, and went to Nanjing to serve as a lecturer at the Hanlin Academy. Zhu Yuanzhang believed that although Wei Su was learned, he had no integrity, and later reprimanded Wei Su for going to Anhui and Zhou to guard the Temple of Yu Que, a Yuan Dynasty official who preferred to die.
The Yongle Emperor of the Ming Dynasty moved the capital to Beijing and built drum and bell towers on the central axis. The bell tower originally hung a cast iron bell, but because of the poor tone, it was replaced and placed behind the drum tower for a long time, and this cast iron bell is now stored in the Ancient Bell Museum of the Great Bell Temple. The Yongle cast bronze bell hanging from the bell tower now comes from the cast bell alley on the west side of the old Drum Tower Street, which was the royal bell factory in the Ming Dynasty. Sun Chengze, a beginner in the late Ming and Qing dynasties, recorded in the "Yulu of Dreams of Chunming" that Sun Chengze had seen more than a dozen large bells left over from the Ming Dynasty in the bell foundry, as high as two zhangyu, with scriptures cast around him, lying upside down in the courtyard.
The bell tower was once destroyed by fire, and the bell tower was rebuilt in the Qianlong Decade of the Qing Dynasty (1745), and in order to prevent fire, it was changed to a masonry structure, so the gray bell tower seen now is not consistent with the appearance of the red wooden drum tower.
The Qing Dynasty's work of beating drums and striking bells above drum towers was the responsibility of luan Yiwei's royal honor guard. One more and five more time, first hit the drum 108 times, then hit the bell 108 times, 108 rings are divided into two sections, each section is 54 rings, the rhythm of the drum and bell is "tight eighteen, slow eighteen, not hurried and not slow and eighteen". In the night, the two to four changes are only hitting the bell and not the drum. In order to coordinate the time of drumming and striking the bell, the drummer uses a light signal to communicate with each other in the drum tower and the bell tower, called the pair of lights.
In 1924, after the last emperor Puyi was expelled from the palace, the honor guard was disbanded, and the drum tower and bell tower no longer beat the drum and hit the bell. Since then, it has been changed to firing amplified cannons at noon every day on the walls of Desheng Gate and Xuanwu Gate, which is called noon cannon. In the old days, on top of the city wall opposite the bell tower east of DeshengMen, there were three huts, one of which was a powder magazine and the other two were inhabited by the gunner's family. The gunner's surname was Li, and because he fired the noon cannon every day, his ears were deafened, so he was nicknamed "Li Deaf". Sometimes when the noon cannons on both sides of deshengmen and Xuanwumen fail to fire simultaneously, Beijing residents will hear two cannons.
Recommended reading
This is a "history of images" of old Beijing, using a unique artistic technique (wide pencil drawing) combined with a plump and timeless hutong biography, which is unique.
The pencil hutongs in Guan Han's pen are not how realistic they are, but the most touching thing is the casual and generous spiritual connotation of old Beijing that is revealed behind these works. The simple lines and thick gray tones of the pencil are most suitable for expressing the charm of old Beijing - the mottled walls of the fragments, the texture of the brick and stone weathering, the time and shade of the old locust tree, the rings of the hutongs, and the people's lives, people's emotions, people's emotions, people's thoughts, and people's stories can be seen everywhere in the paintings.