Look at the remains of the ancient city of Beijing, sigh one of the vicissitudes of the landscape (Beihai and Tuancheng)

Beijingers often say that the city of Beijing has a history of 600 years, and they also say that "there was Tanzhe Temple first, and then there was Beijing City". This time node is talking about the city of Beijing in the Ming Dynasty. Strictly speaking, it should be the imperial city of the Ming Dynasty, which is now the Forbidden City.

In fact, there have been people in Beijing for a long time. The earliest Beijingers lived in Longgu Mountain in the suburbs of Beijing, that is, Fangshan Zhoukoudian, which was 700,000 years ago. They lived there for hundreds of thousands of years, and later moved upstairs, in the cave on the top of the mountain. We call them cavemen, and this is already 30,000 years ago. These people all lived in the Paleolithic age. They gathered together in the mountains and forests, and lived in digging holes, which is equivalent to cavemen. Not long after, about 20,000 years, the Pekingese came out of the mountains. They came to the place where Mentougou Zhaitang is now, flattened the land and developed a homestead in a place called Donghulin Village to live in small houses. This was the early Neolithic period 10,000 years ago. Don't look at the order I wrote here is very good, but are the Peking Man, the Mountain Cave Man and the East Hulin Man directly related? I do not know either. However, the archaeological community currently believes that the Donghulin people are the 800-generation ancestors of modern Beijingers, and the Donghulin people already have jade, which shows that they have a decent amateur cultural life. You see, the only people who survived the Quaternary Ice Age and did not go far away from Alaska are only Beijingers who were born and raised there. Those people in the West are all descendants of African Homo sapiens. Those African Homo sapiens could not bear the loneliness of the ice age at that time, and fled from Africa to the north of the Alps, Siberia, and finally to Alaska.

After the Donghulin people, Beijing's economy has developed greatly, its society has also made great progress, and its population has continued to grow. Thousands of years later, King Wu destroyed Zhou in the west of Beijing. After King Wu of Zhou destroyed King Zhou of Shang, he divided up the feudal lords, and King Wu Jifa gave his brother Ji Xun the title of "Shao Gong". It is not enough just to have a name, but also to have a fief, and this fief is Beijing and its surrounding areas, called "Yan". The capital of Yan is in Liulihe Town, Fangshan, the southernmost suburb of Beijing today. The capital of Yan is called "Yandu", also known as "Yanjing". This is the starting point of the history of Beijing's construction. Although Ji Shi was named Zhaogong, he still mainly worked in the court, that is, in Haojing. Haojing is located in today's Xi'an, far away from Beijing. It was the new capital built by King Wu of Zhou after he demolished Chaoge, the capital of Shang. Although Ji Shi had a big house, he didn't care about the decoration, so he asked Ji Ke, his eldest child, to open it. Therefore, this Yanjing was not built by Zhaogong, but by Zhaogong's son.

I haven't been to the Zhoukoudian Yuanman Cave and Shanding Cave mentioned earlier. The last time I went to Cuandixia Village, I passed by Donghulin Village. At that time, there were people digging the soil there, and I was not allowed to go in to pick up the odds and ends in the soil, so I didn't go in. In Liulihe Town, a Museum of Yandu Ruins of the Western Zhou Dynasty has been built. It is said that there is a big pit for everyone to see. A house was built next to the pit, and the mud tiles and bronze pots and pans dug out of the pit were illuminated for you to see. I thought it was kind of lame to drive to that place, so I didn't.

After the Western Zhou Dynasty, Beijing has never been a certain capital in a serious manner, and was cut off by the Khitan people along with Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures during this period. In the Jin Dynasty, Jin Taizu Wanyan Aguda set up a great cause to destroy Liao, until his younger brother Jin Taizong Wanyan Sheng captured Emperor Tianzuo of Liao alive in the third year of Tianhui (1125) and succeeded in destroying Liao. The first capital of the Dajin Kingdom is located in the current Acheng of Harbin, which is called Shangjing Huining Mansion. Later, Wan Yanliang, who was the prime minister at the time, launched a palace coup in the ninth year of Huangtong (1150), shamelessly killed Jin Xizong and ascended to the throne, known as King Hailing in history. Soon after Hailing became king, he moved the capital of the Dajin Kingdom from Shangjing Huining Mansion to Yanjing, which was called "Zhongdu Daxing Mansion", and changed the year name to the first year of Zhenyuan (1153). The location of Jinzhongdu is roughly equivalent to the southwest corner of downtown Beijing. The Liao Pagoda of Tianning Temple I visited last time is in Jinzhongdu. When developing the Lize business district a few years ago, I found some traces of Jinzhongdu, such as rammed earth at the base of the wall. The urban buildings of the Jin Dynasty are all gone now, but there are still some left outside the city of Zhongdu. The last time I went to see the rebuilt Xiangshan Dayong'an Temple is the building of King Sejong's period, which is Xiangshan Temple.

There is another building outside Jinzhongdu. In the Liao Dynasty before Jinzhongdu, the Khitan people dug soil in Jinhai to expand the lake, which was called Taiye Pond, and the dug soil formed two large mounds. The Khitan people built a palace here called "Yaoyu Palace", which is the royal palace. This Taiye Pool is the current Beihai, and one of the two large mounds is Qionghua Island; the other is Yuandi, which is the current Tuancheng. Jin Shizong—or this Jin Shizong—expanded the Yaoyu Palace to become the Taining Palace. He built a Guanghan Hall on Qionghua Island and a hall on the Yuandi, facing the Guanghan Hall across the water. . Today's Qionghua Island has changed a lot. The only thing left in the Jin Dynasty is the Genyue stone stolen from Bianliang. Back then, Jin Shizong built a round hall on Yuandi, but it has long since disappeared.

Now we say that Beihai Park is the oldest park in Beijing, which means that it was already a place for royal outings in the Liao and Jin Dynasties. In the Jin Dynasty, Beihai Park was outside the city; when Kublai Khan entered Beijing to establish the Yuan Dynasty, Beihai was in the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, and it was next to the imperial city. When Kublai Khan built the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, he built a city wall in Yuandi and renamed it Yuancheng, raised the round hall and called it Yitian Hall, and repaired a double-eave roof. The most important thing is that the cornerstone of Kublai Khan's construction of the capital is still in Tuancheng, which is the oldest city-building souvenir in Beijing.

Let me go to Beihai Tuancheng to see the cornerstone of the founding of the Yuan Dynasty.

The most convenient way for me to go to Beihai is to take the subway, and I can take Line 6 to the back door of Beihai once. Then I can go south along the east coast of Beihai, and I can go to the front gate of Beihai to see Tuancheng.

There are tall trees along the east coast of Beihai.

Anyone who has been to Beihai knows that there is a red wall along Beiduan Road in the east of Beihai, which is now Beihai Kindergarten. The gate of Beihai Kindergarten faces north from the back gate of Beihai. In fact, the gate of the building inside the red wall is on the south. It was a very important place in ancient times.

Silkworm altar first. Beijing has the so-called "Nine Altars and Eight Temples", the Temple of Heaven, the Temple of Earth, the Temple of Sun, the Temple of the Moon, and the Altar of Sheji in Zhongshan Park. There are also the Temple of Xiannong and the Temple of Xiancan. China is an agricultural country, Xiannong is one of the six gods, and the division of agriculture is Shennong. The first silkworm altar is a place to worship the silkworm god. China has worshiped silkworms since ancient times, so there is a developed silk industry. It is said that the God of Silkworm is a woman with the head of a horse and the body of a horse is called Matou Niang. In ancient times, the royal family sacrificed to the God of Silkworm was always the queen, which is called "pro-silkworm".

When you walk to the east gate, you can cross the Zhishan Bridge. This "zhi" reads "wisdom", which means climbing high, which means crossing the bridge to climb the rockery on Qionghua Island. Stand on the Zhishan Bridge and look south.

In the southeast corner of Qionghua Island, there is a hut that I like. In winter, I cook tea or wine for the snow. I am invincible in the world. The artistic conception is similar to Lu You's "northern wind blowing snow at the beginning of the fourth watch, Jiarui Tianjiao and New Year's Eve. Half a lamp of Tusu is still not lifted, and peach charms are written on the grass in front of the lamp".

On a sunny day, you have to look up, and you can see the white pagoda haunting the treetops.

Going on, you will arrive at the gate of Yong'an Temple on Qionghua Island. This Yong'an Temple is one of the "three early morning temples in the capital" that I mentioned in the article "Visiting the Yellow Temple in Beijing, Exploring the Secrets That Have Not Been Revealed for Three Hundred Years". The first one is Pusheng Temple outside Donghua Gate, and now it is the European and American Scholars Association. The most unusual thing in Pusheng Temple is the two merit steles. The merit steles in the temple are usually erected in front of the Daxiong Hall. The merit stele in Pusheng Temple is a lying stele, and one is the stele built in the eighth year of Shunzhi (1651).

There is also a monument rebuilt in the ninth year of Qianlong (1744).

These two steles are now in the Wuta Temple in the north of the zoo, which is now the Beijing Stone Sculpture Museum. There are many stone steles in it, only these two lying steles. The merit stele in the form of a lying stele is extremely rare. The lying stele in Pusheng Temple is very rare, and it may be the only one in the world, at least the only one in Beijing.

There are two stone lions in front of Yong'an Temple in Beihai Park. It is different from the stone lions in front of other temples. These two stone lions are not facing the outside of the gate, but facing the gate of the temple, so they are called "inverted lions".

There is a three-hole stone arch bridge in front of the gate of Yong'an Temple. Since it is in front of the gate of Yong'an Temple, it is of course called Yong'an Bridge.

There is a four-pillar and three-story archway at the north and south ends of Yong'an Bridge. The north face is called "Duiyun Archway" because of the word "Duiyun" on the forehead.

The one in the south is called "Jicui Pailou" because of the word "Jicui" on the forehead. Behind the Jicui archway is the north wall of Tuancheng and the eight-character climbing ladder.

Standing under the Jicui archway to see the White Tower.

Suddenly found that there are two stone lions under the archway.

It turns out that the stone lion in front of the gate of Yong'an Temple is not an inverted lion, but a stone lion under the Duiyun archway at the north end of Yong'an Bridge, because there are two stone lions in the same posture under the Jicui archway in the south. So not only can you read without asking for a deep understanding, but you can’t do the same when looking at the scenery.

The eight-character climbing ladder to the north of Tuancheng is not open. If you want to see Tuancheng, you have to go up from the gate of Beihai Park. There is a sign of "National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit" on the wall outside the gate.

You see, this "Beihai and Tuancheng" is the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units. Beijing is also the first batch of ancient buildings. There are also famous attractions such as the Forbidden City, Badaling Great Wall, Lama Temple, Temple of Heaven, Guozijian and Summer Palace. Some are not very famous, such as the White Pagoda of Baita Temple, the King Kong Throne of Wuta Temple, Zhihua Temple, Yunju Temple Pagoda and Stone Scripture.

Tuancheng was a mound of earth called Yuandi in the Liao Dynasty, and a round hall was built on it in the Jin Dynasty. When Kublai Khan entered Beijing to build the imperial palace and Yuan Dadu, the imperial palace was no longer on the basis of the Jinzhongdu Imperial Palace, but near Yuandi. Kublai Khan rebuilt the roof of the round hall on Yuandi and named it Yitian Hall. Beihai is called Taiye Pool, Qionghua Island is called Penglai, and Yuandi is called Yingzhou. They are all fairy lands, so Yitian Temple is also called Yingzhou Yuandian. In the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, rebuilt the Yitian Palace and renamed it the Chengguang Palace, and also rebuilt the city wall around the island, which formed the embryonic form of the current Tuancheng. During the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, the buildings on Tuancheng were destroyed by an earthquake. Although they were repaired, they were still weak. During this renovation, the round hall was changed into a square hall. During the reign of Emperor Qianlong, Tuancheng was overhauled, the buildings were rebuilt, and battlements were added to the city walls. What we see now is the Tuancheng after this reconstruction.

After entering the door, climb the steps to the Tuancheng, and look back, this city tower is too awesome. Although it is just a small house, it is covered with glazed tiles and single eaves.

Standing next to the gatehouse is a huge white bark pine tree, which looks very old at first glance, and is known as the "White Robe General". There are many old trees in Tuancheng.

The most important thing for me to come here is to see the monuments of the founding of the Yuan Dynasty. This memorial is a jade urn, and Qianlong built a jade urn pavilion for it.

The Jade Weng Pavilion is made of glazed tiles and glazed wall bricks. The top is not a four-cornered steeple, but a single-eave Xieshan roof. The top of the roof is a roof with a platform on it, and the Great Hall of the People is the roof of the top. In the center of the top is a gilt-covered bowl as a ridge brake, which is quite high in specification.

The jade urn in the pavilion is very large, with a diameter of one and a half meters, and now it is covered with glass around it. According to legend, when Kublai Khan built the capital in the second year of Zhiyuan (1265), there were many jade craftsmen who got a huge Nanyang Dushan jade. They carved this jade into a wine urn and presented it to Kublai Khan. Kublai Khan was overjoyed to see it, so he enshrined it in the Guanghan Hall of Qionghua Island as the mascot of the city of Yuandadu, and named it "Dushan Great Jade Sea". Whenever the Yuan army won a battle, Kublai Khan announced that he would come to Dushan and Dayuhai to reward the soldiers with wine. Marco Polo, who visited China in the Yuan Dynasty, described this great sea of ​​jade in his travel notes. Since then, the name of the jade urn has spread throughout the West. Foreigners with red beards and green eyes will go to Beihai to see this jade urn when they come to Beijing, and then say "wow" in person. At the end of Ming Dynasty, this urn lived among the people until it was discovered by Qianlong. In the eleventh year of Qianlong (1746), it was transported back to Beihai, but it was not returned to Qionghua Island, but placed in Tuancheng, where the Jade Urn Pavilion was built. Qianlong also teamed up with a group of literati from the Imperial Academy to drag out a poem and engraved it on the granite pillar of Yuweng Pavilion. Now the handwriting is unrecognizable, and only a few traces can be seen. A visit". Qianlong only retrieved the jade urn itself, and the base was not original. The original Dushan Dayuhai pedestal was recognized by someone in Fayuan Temple in 1988.

The jade urn is engraved with dragons and beasts, as well as fresh seafood and other things. After Qianlong discovered the jade urn, he brought in a jade craftsman to refine it again. He removed the mud on it, scrubbed it clean, and polished the lobster's toad's palm with a carving knife. It must have looked more detailed. Although Qianlong was very good, he was not as powerful as Kublai Khan. No matter who won the battle, Qianlong did not bring out this big jade sea in Dushan to reward the soldiers.

This large jade sea in Dushan is the earliest large-scale jade carved from a single piece of jade in China. In addition to being the mascot of the Yuan Dynasty, it is also an epoch-making work in the history of Chinese jade. In a certain year after the Beijing Olympic Games, those who were interested invited nine archaeological and cultural experts to select nine national treasures. This piece of jade from Dushan Mountain in the Yuan Dynasty was rated as the first of the nine national treasures by these nine experts. Moreover, there are complete records of its spread in history, and it has been recorded in the three dynasties of Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, which has very rich historical connotations.

Tourists who come to Tuancheng should appreciate this big jade urn, and carefully read the bilingual introduction in Chinese and English next to it.

Standing at the gate of Tuancheng, you can not only see the general in white robe and Yuweng Pavilion, but also the main building Chengguang Hall at a glance.

There must be a copper incense burner in front of Chengguang Hall.

Turning the censer, you can see the front of the main hall, which is indeed the Chengguang Hall.

The fire water tank here is not in His Royal Highness, but on the platform, with one mouth on each side. The vat didn't look very delicate, it was covered with an iron cover and locked with an iron chain, probably because Cuihua was afraid of stealing the sauerkraut in the vat. Look at its ring lion, it doesn't look like bronze.

Look at the lion on the legs of the incense burner. It is made of bronze, and the yellow color inside is revealed by touching. This is not a lion, but an evil spirit beast.

Standing on the handrail stepping steps in front of the platform, I looked into the hall.

There is a plaque of "Dayuan Baojing" hanging in the hall, which was written by Cixi. During the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, there lived a monk Ming Kuan in a small temple in a village outside Beijing. He sold the small temple to a big family in the village for a sum of money. Monk Ming Kuan went to Nanyang with the money and was donated a Jade Buddha in Myanmar. In the 22nd year of Guangxu (1896), Ming Kuan dedicated this Jade Buddha to Empress Dowager Cixi after returning to Beijing. Empress Dowager Cixi enshrined the Buddha statue in the Chengguang Hall of Tuancheng, and inscribed the plaque on it. Emerald Buddha is popular in Myanmar, and the statue is indeed in this style, with the right breast exposed and golden robes.

Below this Chengguang Hall is a five-foot blue brick base with a circle of glazed brick railings on the base. There are steps with railings on all sides of the platform and platform base, which is called "handrail stepping". There is a platform in front of the main hall, and there is no Danbi on the front of the platform, which means that the emperor does not come every day. The main hall is a square with three rooms wide and three rooms deep, with a building on each side. On the top of the main hall is the top of the mountain with double eaves, and on the top of the buildings on all sides are the top of the mountain with single eaves and rolling sheds.

Look at the back of the hall.

The architectural layout of Tuancheng is very regular. Chengguang Hall is the center, Yuweng Pavilion is in front, and Jingji Hall, which can be seen from Beihai, is behind. On the east and west sides of Chengguang Hall, there are two pavilions facing each other at the usual position of the Bell and Drum Tower, called Duoyun Pavilion and Guanlan Pavilion.

There are auxiliary halls on the east and west sides of Chengguang hall, and the east auxiliary hall is below.

There is a hall on the east and west sides of Chengguang hall, which is called Dongxi Shunshan hall. Below is the Shunshan Hall on the east side called Gusetang, and the Shunshan Temple on the west side is called Yu Qingzhai.

The Shunshan Hall with the highest specification among the ancient buildings in Beijing is in the Summer Palace, and the East and West Shunshan Hall of the Paiyun Hall. Below is the Dongshun Mountain Hall of Paiyun Temple, how about it? Great, right?

Although this Tuancheng originated from Yuandi in the Jin Dynasty, there are no traces of the Jin Dynasty anymore, and it was eradicated by Kublai Khan, Zhu Di, Kangxi and Qianlong. However, there is the earliest surviving symbol of Beijing's construction here, which is the jade urn. Xiangshan Temple was built in the Jin Dynasty before the Yuan Dynasty. It was also rebuilt in the Qing Dynasty and lost its original appearance. Only this jade urn still retains its original form as the cornerstone of the Yuan Dynasty. Therefore, if you want to see the authentic and oldest relics of Beijing City, you must go to Beihai Tuancheng to see this "Dushan Great Jade Sea".

After viewing the urn, I am satisfied and go home.