Beihai Park is the oldest surviving royal garden in China. It was a royal promenade in the Liao Dynasty, and it has been nearly a thousand years. King Hailing, the leader of the Jurchen Jinren, started to build Beihai Park into a royal park after he established Jinzhongdu in Beijing. There is a saying that "there was Beihai first, and then there was Beijing", which means that the construction of the modern Beijing city was later than the Beihai Park in the Jin Dynasty. The earliest construction of Beihai Park was basically carried out around Qionghua Island, and the final construction was almost all along the northern edge.
Take a bus from Ping'anli to the east along Ping'an Street, and the driver will stop at the back gate of Beihai to let people on and off. If you want to enjoy the spring breeze in Beihai, you should get off here. After getting off the bus, there is a gate to enter Beihai Park. This gate is neither the front gate of Beihai nor the back gate of Beihai, but a side gate of the back gate of Beihai. Entering through this side door is the northern edge of Beihai, and turning to the right is Jingxinzhai. Jingxin Zhai is a small garden that Qianlong asked someone to build, in order to sit down and read a book, or meditate, wondering if he would offend himself. After Qianlong finished reading the books he brought, he asked the princes to continue reading here, and the Jingxinzhai became the prince's study.
The entrance to Jingxinzhai is a circle of verandas, with a pool instead of a courtyard in the middle. On the opposite side of the pool is the main house, five large tile-roofed houses, gray tile roll sheds and hard hilltops, with eaves front and back. There is a plaque on the archway under the eaves of the front porch, which says "Jing Qing Zhai". This should be written by Qianlong. He likes to write Chinese characters blindly. The first two characters are in official script. Although the third character is in official script, the subordinate "Zhai" is not written in this way. "Zhai", under the "Zhai" in Jinshu is "Show". Anyway, this plaque shows that it was originally called "Jingqingzhai".
Follow the chaoshou veranda and pass through the side gable of the front porch of the main house, you can go to the main door of the main house and look inside. It turns out that there are three huts behind the main house. In the main room, there are official grand master chairs and marble screens, and there is also a plaque hanging on it, which reads "Don't put things first". This "not to be the first of things" comes from Sima Qian's father, Sima Tan, a historian of the Western Han Dynasty, "On the Essentials of the Six Schools", "not to be the first to the things, not to be the last of the things, so you can be the master of all things." The "things" here refer to the feelings of things, that is, the laws of nature. This sentence means that things should not violate the laws of nature, but should conform to nature. This is the principle of the Taoist "inaction" theory. It turned out that what Qianlong sat here was studying Taoism.
There is a dark corridor outside the side gable of the main house.
There is also a pond behind Jingqingzhai, the main house, which is the fish pond of Qianlong's family. I don't know what kind of fish they raised in the past, but now they raise koi. On the other side of the fish pond is a corridor called Qinquan corridor.
Qianlong could stand in the shade under the eaves and porch by the side of the fish pond after reading a passage from a Taoist sage, while silently reciting Taoist quotations, while breaking up the small palace corn buns and throwing them into the fish pond to feed the fish. If you want to go to the Qinquan Corridor, you can't go into the water and swim there, you should take a detour by the side of the fish pond. You can walk into a small courtyard. There is a three-room north room and a three-room east room in the small courtyard. This is Baosu Bookstore, where Qianlong read private books. Jingxinzhai is the garden within the garden of Beihai Park, and Baosu Bookstore is the Zhaizhongzhai of Jingxinzhai. Baosu Bookstore borrows from Lao Tzu’s "Tao Te Ching" "see the simple and embrace the simplicity, less selfishness and few desires", which means to maintain the pure and simple human nature, and don't engage in selfish desires. It is also a Taoist theory.
Qianlong ordered people to build a lot of verandas around this fish pond, walking in it even if it rains is not afraid of being drenched.
As Qianlong walked in this corridor, his subordinates would cut corners and rush ahead, placing a cushion and a plate of melon seeds at the place where the emperor might sit along the way. This shortcut is a small bridge.
All the way, you can walk to the other side of the fish pond behind the main house.
Just saw the appearance of Qinquan Corridor, and then looked at its exposed roof from the inside. The colorful paintings on the Fang are all auspicious patterns and stories with profound Taoist principles.
Everyone is looking up, I know they are looking at the pillow Luan Pavilion on the rockery. The rockeries here are all made of Taihu Lake stones. It should be said that the Qianlong family also took up a lot of Taihu Lake stone resources.
There is a climbing corridor next to the rockery, leading to the Pinnacle Building on the mountain. That building is not open now, and from a distance it looks like some textiles are drying on the railings on the second floor.
The spring breeze blows, the willows are green, and the old vines on the wall are not new.
After leaving Jingxinzhai, you will see a glazed archway on the side of the road, a full-scale archway with four pillars and seven floors. You can see that there is a cloud pier under the glazed sparrow, which is a characteristic of the archway in the Qing Dynasty. "Hua Zang Realm" is written on the plaque, and Hua Zang Realm is the lotus world. There are 20 floors in the Huazang Realm, and we live on the 13th floor, which is called the Saha World. The Huazang Realm is the sum of all the worlds, including the Paradise of Ultimate Bliss that most people go to in the end.
There are not many existing glazed archways in Beijing. We have seen a glazed archway of "All Fragrances" on the top of Longevity Hill in the Summer Palace; There is a glazed archway with plaques in different languages; there is a glazed archway of "Tongshen Mizang" in front of the Xiangshan Reclining Buddha Temple; plus this one, there are four in total.
Entering the Liuli Archway in the Huazang Realm is a temple, the Xitian Brahma Realm, which is usually called the "Daxitian" temple.
This temple was originally built in the Ming Dynasty. I came here to see the ruins. The gate is still there, but the outer wall has collapsed a lot. You can directly enter the backyard of the temple from the path next to Jingxinzhai. A few years ago, it was closed for a period of time for refurbishment, and when it opened, it was already completely new.
From the front, this is the royal temple, and there are glazed handrail walls on both sides of the steps outside the mountain gate. The mountain gate is also a glazed roof and glazed screen wall.
Entering the mountain gate is the Hall of Heavenly Kings. This Hall of Heavenly Kings is called the "Treasure Hall of Great Mercy and Truth", and it is still the original decoration of the Ming Dynasty. The golden nanmu hall was only found in the Ming Dynasty, and the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City was originally made of golden nanmu. It was burned in the Qing Dynasty, and later it had to be rebuilt with pine wood. Therefore, if the golden nanmu buildings in the Ming Dynasty are destroyed, one will be lost, and they must be strictly guarded.
The "Treasure Hall of Great Mercy and Truth" was inscribed by Qianlong during the reconstruction in the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, and it is bilingual in Manchu and Chinese. The plaque "Huazang Hengchun" was also written by Qianlong, and Huazang is still the world of lotus. This Heavenly King Hall is the largest and highest-standard Heavenly King Hall in China. It can't wait to be higher than other people's Daxiong Hall. The roof is covered with black glazed tiles and double eaves. The yellow glazed tiles on the front of the eaves and on the roof ridge are suspected to have been added by Qianlong. Were they all black in the Ming Dynasty? The base of the main hall is very high, three feet long. Although it cannot be compared with the inside of the palace, it is the tallest outside the palace, and it is still the Xumizuo. On the base of the platform is a circle of white marble railings, and there are reliefs on the capitals of the pillars. There is Landing Pill in the middle of the stomp, indicating that the emperor will come, that is, Qianlong came here after reading the book in the Jingxinzhai, and continued to meditate in front of the Bodhisattva.
This hall is not open now, just open the door for tourists to peep. I opened my eyes wide and looked inside, and there seemed to be three bronze statues inside, which were the Buddha of the Third Age. Well, it is different from other Tianwang halls, it is the configuration of the Daxiong hall. I remember that there is a hall behind this main hall, but now this courtyard is open, and the back is not open. I had no choice but to look at the side hall.
There was an Arhat Hall in Daxitian Temple at the earliest. The Arhat Hall was built big, and it turned into a big hall, called Dayuanjingzhibao Hall. Dayuanjingzhizhi is one of the four wisdoms of Buddha. Arhat halls should generally have an independent courtyard, and this Dayuanjing Zhibao Hall also has a courtyard, and the gate in front is called the gate of truth. The true meaning is that the monk who came to China from India to preach scriptures during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the scriptures he brought from India seem to be different from the ones that the Tang monk brought back. Later generations said that the sutras he brought were true and worthy, and what mortals recited were conventional truths. This Gate of Truth may mean that the monk Zhenyi passed by here when he came to China from India, and then went to Nanjing;
After weathering the weather, the Gate of Truth and the Great Mirror and Zhibao Hall behind it were blown away by the wind. However, the dragons in Chinese culture that have nothing to do with Buddhist scriptures have remained, and there are nine of them. This is the shadow wall in front of the gate of truth: Nine Dragon Wall. This is the largest and most magnificent Nine Dragon Wall in China, and it is the only double-faced dragon, that is, eighteen dragons. In the modern Peking opera "Shajiabang", there are eighteen wounded and sick soldiers of the New Fourth Army. They are eighteen heroes on the top of Mount Tai. Why are there eighteen heroes? It is the eighteen Chinese dragons on the Nine Dragon Wall. Let's take a look at the golden dragon in the middle.
People say that the four major cuisines in China are Beijing, Lu, Sichuan and Cantonese. Those three are easy to say, but this Beijing cuisine is not clear. In addition to roast duck and hot-boiled mutton, the only ones that can be counted are the Manchu Banquet, right? But who has nothing to do to eat a full banquet? Speaking of Man-Han Banquet, it is almost not far from Beijing cuisine. In fact, some people say that the real Beijing cuisine is palace cuisine, and some people say that it is Qing palace cuisine. Isn't it just potatoes, eggplants and sauerkraut? Even if there is meat, his 100-inch big iron pot can't cook it, can it? So the Jurchens went to Beijing and ate Ming court dishes. The most reliable palace dishes in Beijing are Fangshan in Beihai and Tingli Restaurant in the Summer Palace, and there are also restaurants opened by the descendants of chefs in the palace. The palace dishes that are preserved now are essentially based on the strengths of the major cuisines, with more exquisite materials and more delicate techniques. And to some extent, some of the old Jurchens brought from the Northeast were added, the little cornbread, right? Grilled deer strips should be the same, right?
Fangshan used to be Jilan Hall at the foot of the mountain behind Qionghua Island, but now it has been moved to the northern edge of Beihai, just south of Nine Dragon Wall. It is said that it was here at first, and now it has moved back. Beijingers don’t often go to Fangshan, let alone outsiders. I once had a farewell party for our foreign colleagues at Fangshan on the island, and I was accompanied by several Chinese and foreign colleagues. It's the first time for everyone to eat palace dishes, and there are waiters dressed as Lan nobles walking back and forth, heh! Everyone ate happily and turned their backs. There is now a line to eat here, it is already three o'clock in the afternoon, and there are people who have just lined up, and I don't know if they eat too late for lunch or too early for dinner?
There is a small and exquisite three-entry courtyard on the hillside next to Fangshan. This small courtyard is very famous and is called "Kaixuetang". Its courtyard gate is not big, just an ordinary gate with one hall and one coupon. Similar to the Jingxin Zhai, there is also a Chaoshou corridor at the entrance, and this kind of hanging flower door is usually connected to the Chaoshou corridor. But the top of this vertical flower door is very fancy, and it still has double eaves. Looking from bottom to top, this roof should be called double eaves-Xieshan-rolling shed roof. Because of the narrow space, hands and feet cannot be freed, so the final effect of this roof is a bit weird.
The main house in the front yard of Kuaixue Hall is five rooms wide, with a gray tile roll shed and a hard hilltop. The plaque reads "溦观堂", and "Shuowen" in "Shuowen" means light rain. That is to say, Qianlong read the book in Jingxin Zhai, then went to the Brahma Realm of the West Heaven to worship Buddha, and finally came here to listen to the rain. "Drizzle and slanting wind make Xiaohan cold, light smoke and sparse willows make it hard to be sunny", this is what Su Shi said about the plum rain in Shanghai, which lasts for three months. Where in Beijing is there such grinding and chirping rain? Qianlong understands this poem here? It can only be said that he is "sorry for writing new words".
There is also a verandah in the second entrance courtyard. The main room is the same as the front yard. The plaque reads "Yu Lan Xuan" in black and white on a white background. If you want to come here, there must be many magnolia trees in the past.
Most of the usual plaques have a black background. Here, black characters on a white background are used. Firstly, it has an elegant effect; secondly, it imitates writing calligraphy on rice paper. In fact, the "lan" here does not only refer to orchids, but borrows its beautiful meaning, which means fragrance and elegance. Why is this courtyard fragrant like an orchid room? That's because Qianlong's Chaoshou verandah here is full of copybook steles. You see, this also coincides with the black characters on the white background on the plaque, right? Qianlong liked ancient calligraphy. One of his rarest ones was Sanxitang calligraphy, and a set of rubbings of "Kaixuetang stickers" contributed by sycophants, which are now in the Forbidden City. Qianlong selected some engraved steles from "Kai Xue Tang Tie" and posted them here. The front one is "Quick Snow and Sunny Tie" by Wang Xizhi of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. In "Kai Xue Tang Tie", it is the first post of the first volume. , here is also the first monument. I walked around and noticed a piece of "Nanlu Tie" by Mi Fu in the Northern Song Dynasty. However, the carved stone here is only the middle section of "Manna Sticker". The paper version of the original post is now in the National Palace Museum in Taipei.
The third entrance courtyard is the same as the front courtyard, and it is also a circle of verandas, and the main building is also the same as the front courtyard, but this time all the wooden structures are made of golden nanmu. The plaque is also black on a white background, saying "Kaixuetang". You see, there are actually two golden nanmu houses in Beihai Park, that's incredible!
Kuaixuetang comes from "Kaixuetang Post". So here is now called the Calligraphy Museum.
Get out of Kuaixuetang and continue westward, and you will see the mountain gate of Chanfu Temple. This temple must have been rebuilt in the Qing Dynasty. Look at the roof of the mountain gate, which is a typical Qing Dynasty single-eave mountain top. Want to go in and have a look? not open. The inside seems to have been repaired in recent years. At least there are new buildings at the bell and drum towers on both sides of the mountain gate, but they are definitely not the bell and drum towers. I remembered that it used to be open here, called Beihai Botanical Garden.
Opposite the Chanfu Temple is the Wulong Pavilion in Beihai Park, which is as famous as the White Pagoda.
The location of the Wulong Pavilion was said to have a main hall in the Ming Dynasty. After Shunzhi entered Beijing in the Qing Dynasty, the main hall was demolished and changed into the Wulong Pavilion. The five pavilions are all with pointed roofs at four corners, with two single eaves on the outside and two double eaves on the inside. They all have their own names. Take a look at the Longze Pavilion in the middle, with double eaves, a round spire on the top, and square eaves on the bottom.
Look at the interior, the brackets and painted squares have smallpox, this is a place for tourists to rest, and there are men and women singing and dancing on weekends.
Going westward along the northern edge of Beihai is the Hall of Ultimate Bliss, commonly known as Xiaoxitian. This hall is square, with double eaves and four corners with pointed roofs. It is the largest square hall in China. There is a wall around the main hall, and outside the wall is a circle of river water. This is not called a moat. There is a glazed archway in the southeast and northwest of the wall. Look, there are not many glazed archways in Beijing, and there are four of them here. In addition to the "Huazang Realm" archway in the Brahma Realm of the West, there are a total of five glazed archways in Beihai.
Although the shape and structure of the four glazed archways are the same, the one in the south is the most magnificent. But why? I thought for a long time before I found out that it might be because of the arch bridge on the river to the south.
Therefore, the main entrance is facing south, and the Hall of Paradise of Bliss is seen from the south, because it looks majestic and dignified after a short period of time.
After entering the main hall, there is a Buddha mountain in the middle, a canopy on the top of the mountain, and a golden Buddha sitting under the canopy. Above the main beam hangs a plaque of "Elysium", which means that this is the Western Pure Land. Needless to say, the Buddha on the top of the mountain is Amitabha, that is, Buddha of Infinite Life. If you look carefully, there is indeed a Bodhisattva on each side of the Buddha statue. They must be Mahasthama Bodhisattva on the left hand and Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva on the right hand. These are the three sages of the West.
Walking to the side, I saw a tiger on the mountain. Needless to say, this must be the "Tiger Arhat" LP Ben. It is said that when he recited scriptures, a tiger from the mountain came to listen.
Then this mountain should be full of arhats? After counting, the number became chaotic when it reached more than twenty, but it was definitely not five hundred. Looking up at the beams and ceilings of the main hall, there are Sanskrit characters on the Plum Blossom Ping Chess, either Buddhist verses or proverbs.
Octagonal dragon caisson.
In terms of structure and form, this temple should be regarded as a mandala. According to the introduction, Qianlong built it to celebrate the 80th birthday of his mother, the Empress Dowager Chongqing. It makes sense to say so, so here is the Buddha of Infinite Life. It is also a metaphor for the queen mother's future, she must go to the Paradise of Paradise. There is a stone monument outside the south gate of Xiaoxitian, which is called the Wanfolou Stone Monument. The monument was not here, but in the Chanfu Temple in front. When Chanfu Temple collapsed, the Ten Thousand Buddha Hall was destroyed, leaving only this stele. When the Beihai Botanical Garden was built, the monument was moved here.
In the 1950s, Changying made the first children's feature film "Flowers of the Motherland" in New China. This movie has long been no longer shown, and not many people remember the story in it, but "Let Us Swing the Oars" written by Qiao Yu and composed by Liu Chi in the soundtrack of the movie has been handed down and become a classic of Chinese children's songs . It seems that there is no plot for the crew to experience life when making movies now, but the actors in those days had to experience life first. When the crew of "Flowers of the Motherland" experienced life in Beihai Park, the composer Liu Chi wrote this song on the spot, and led the young actors to sing this song by the water. Since then, this song has become the repertoire of all youth choirs across the country, and this song has also become the theme song of Beihai Park. When it comes to boating season, every small trumpet in the park plays happily in turn. There are very few hand-rowed sampans in the park now. When we were young, rowing in the park was always the most popular spring outing. Today, I really saw the "swinging oars" on the North Sea. Under the White Pagoda, above the spring water, the boat pushes away the waves, and the cool wind blows head-on. Very happy.
As the sun goes, the pavilion gradually darkens.
却归去。
