China News Client Beijing, June 14th (Reporter Shangguan Yun) Beijing is a city with a long history. When carefully studying its history of capital building, people often wonder: Where is the Jinzhongdu site? What is the "urban planning" of Yuan Dadu? Why did Beijing City appear "convex" in the Ming Dynasty...

　　The answers to these questions can be found in the exhibition "Archive Witness Beijing" being held at the Beijing Archives. Maps and files show that the water supply and drainage system of Yuandadu is already complete, and there was a water company in the late Qing Dynasty.

From Jinzhongdu to Yuandadu

　　Jinzhong is the capital city of the Golden Kingdom, and its geographical location is more in line with today's Beijing. It can be seen from the restoration picture that the shape of Jin Zhongdu is square, but the area is relatively small.

The location of the city changed from Jinzhongdu to Beijing in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Photo courtesy of Beijing Archives

　　Its establishment imitated the regulations of the previous dynasties, and set up alleys for easy management. Miyagi is in a relatively central position. Wang Lanshun, deputy director of the Exhibition and Display Office of the Beijing Archives, said that now walking along the West Second Ring Road in Beijing is probably to the location of Baizhifang, which is the central axis of the capital city of Jinzhong.

　　However, the city failed to resist the attack of the Mongolian army. After the capital of Jinzhong was destroyed, it was burned down by the Mongolian army at that time. There are not many sites left, but place names like Lize Bridge can still be seen now.

　　Around 1264, Yuan Shizu Kublai listened to the suggestion of the heavy minister Liu Bingzhong, and changed "Zhongdu" to "Dadu", that is, the future capital city. The design concept of Yuan Dadu is very advanced. The rivers and lakes are cleverly used, and the water supply and drainage systems are very smooth.

　　Judging from the restoration map, Yuan Da is located in the northeast corner of Jin Zhong Du with a larger area. Liu Bingzhong is a person who understands the "Zhou Yi" very much. He also referred to the doctrines when he named the city gate. sentence.

　　In addition, when he participated in the construction of Yuan Dynasty, he also referred to the architectural concept in Zhou Li·Kao Gong Ji, and the layout was uniform, with the imperial city centered and the axis clearly defined.

Why did Beijing City become a "convex shape" in the Ming Dynasty?

　　Speaking of old Beijing, the alleys with many names may be one of the most impressive. As a matter of fact, when Yuan Dadu was built, there was already a relatively complete street plan.

The schematic diagram of Yuan Dadu's water system. Photo courtesy of Beijing Archives

　　Wang Lanshun said, what is interesting is that although Yuan Dadu is quite large, there are not many residents in it. "At that time, Mongolia was a nomadic people. After entering the capital, they still had the habit of raising cattle and sheep and other livestock, and they were also raised in the yard. The houses are not standard Siheyuans, but the yards are relatively large, and there is a saying of "eight acres."

　　According to the "Analysis of Zhijin" records, the organizational system outside the imperial palace of Yuan Dynasty was "three hundred and eighty-four fire lanes, twenty-nine Hengtong". In his view, "Fire Lane" actually implies that the streets and houses are spacious. Even if one family is on fire, it cannot cross the street and spread to other people.

　　"The city walls of Yuan Dynasty at that time were generally rammed earth walls, which were not so strong. It was probably in the Ming Dynasty that they began to build walls with a lot of bricks." Wang Lanshun said.

　　After General Xu Da conquered the Yuan Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty rebuilt the Beijing city, shrinking the original north wall to the south by five miles, and extending the south wall to the south by three miles. During the Jiajing years, the emperor Jiajing planned to build an outer city. The original inner city "wrapped up".

　　As a result, just after repairing a wall in the south, the financial resources could not keep up. No way, the Emperor Jiajing discussed with the ministers and decided to build two north-south walls connecting the inner and outer cities. In this way, the Beijing city changed from the original word shape to a convex shape.

1560 "Pictures of Alleys in the Five Cities and Squares of the Capital". Photo courtesy of Beijing Archives

　　"In the Qing dynasty, they almost completely accepted the planning of the Beijing city of the Ming Dynasty. They paid more attention to the construction of gardens, such as the construction of the gorgeous three mountains and five gardens." Wang Lanshun said.

"Knowledge points" on a water pipeline diagram

　　At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Beijing City was already relatively prosperous. In 1908, the Jingshi Water Supply Company was also established. At that time, the "chairman" was industrialist Zhou Xuexi.

　　After the establishment of this water supply company, the planning and design of the water supply pipeline was quickly carried out. The "Beijing Fine Full Map" drawn in 1908 is actually a plan for a water pipeline.

　　"The red line on the picture is the route where the water pipes will be installed in alleys and alleys. The small red dot represents the location of the faucet on the pipeline." Wang Lanshun introduced.

　　If you are more careful, you can also see that this picture is divided into inner city and outer city. The pipeline distribution in the inner city is relatively uniform, but it appears in a certain area in the outer city.

　　"The area where the pipeline is concentrated is probably just the front door today. Not only is the pipeline concentrated, but the red dots representing the faucet are also very dense." Wang Lanshun explained that this was because the Dashilan to Guanyin Temple Street area was densely packed with shops. The amount is large.

Contour lines appear on the city map

　　The map is good, and the plan of the water supply line is always true. Indeed, it often reflects the history of a period in detail. The same is true of the "Map of Kyoto City Inside and Outside" drawn in 1916.

"Map of Inner and Outer City of Kyoto" in 1916. Photo courtesy of Beijing Archives

　　"This picture began to use different colors to represent different areas of the city. In addition, contour lines were also drawn, which tells us that although we usually walk in Beijing, it may not be easy to feel the changes in terrain. There are actually differences. "Wang Lanshun said.

　　He introduced that after the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, Pu Yi, abdicated, was given preferential treatment by the government of the Republic of China at that time and was still chartered to live in the Forbidden City. Therefore, the "Forbidden City" is still marked here in the "Map of Kyoto City's Inner and Outer City".

　　In addition, the words of Li Wang Mansion and Zheng Wang Mansion can also be seen everywhere in the picture. As for the inner right second area, outer right five area, etc., the forbidden city is used as a reference, and the right side is divided into the inner right first area, the inner right second area, etc.; the left side is divided into the inner left first area, etc. The Temple of Heaven is now in the "outer right five zones".

　　Of course, the precious materials exhibited in "Archive Witness Beijing" don't stop there. The whole exhibition is divided into 7 parts: "City of Xianzhe, Picture of Beijing, Charm of Ancient Capital, Flood of the Times, Exploration, Advancement, New Chapter of Reform, Ingenuity and Dream". Wang Lanshun said that this also introduced Beijing's history and culture, urban development, ecological environment construction and social livelihood. (Finish)