About the front door

Zhengyangmen, the main entrance of the inner city of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, was the earliest constructed gate of the city. It is also the largest and most magnificent gate of the nine gates of the capital. In the first year to the fourth year of the Ming Dynasty, the reconstruction and repair of the Yucheng Arrow Tower was the tallest building in the city. The south of the ancients was Yang, and the south was positive. The name was changed to "Zhengyangmen", which was only for the emperor to enter and exit. Therefore, it was also called "the country gate", commonly known as the "front door."
Qianmen Street is one of Beijing's famous commercial streets. It is located on the central axis of Beijing. It is just north of Zhenggangmen Arrow Tower and south of Tiantan Road. It is connected to Tianqiao South Street. It was once the emperor's city to go to the Temple of Heaven and the mountain road.
Qianmen Commercial Street originated in the Ming Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, Beijing broke through the customization of the “before and after the market” of the Yuan Dynasty, forming a large commercial area around Zhenggangmen and in the same area from the south to the fresh fish mouth and Langfanghu. In the early Qing Dynasty, there were a lot of mountains here: artisan workshops, tea houses and theaters, forming a special market. In the twenty-sixth year of Guangxu, a large number of foreign goods surged like Beijing, Beijing-Jinhua Railway and Jinghan Railway opened, and two railway stations were set up at the front door. The front door business was booming.
Dashilan is the center of the Qianmen business district, which refers to Dashilan Street, Langfang Headlines, Shidian Street and Coal Street. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, a curfew was imposed at night, and a fence was set at the end of the street, and the night was closed.
After nearly a hundred years of development, the front door fence has concentrated on hundreds of shops and theaters such as silk cloth shops, pharmacies, shoe stores and restaurants. The headlines of the gallery and the two houses of the gallery were once the jewellery and jade market; the jewellery market concentrated 29 official furnace rooms and cast silver yuan treasure; the Qianshi Hutong, Shijia Hutong and Xiyanhe areas opened many Qianshi Liein numbers; The eight hutongs such as Wang Guangfu Xiejie and Shaanxi Lane are the places where the brothels are concentrated, commonly known as the “eight-person hutong”. Until 1928, before the start of the downhill business district, the Dashilan area has always been a bustling place for old Beijing merchants. Many famous old names originated here, such as Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant, Ruiqixiang Silk Shop, Tongrentang Drug Shop, and Liu Must live in the pickles garden, etc., until today is still prosperous o


Qianmen Qingsi Big Bowl of Tea
"When I was a child, I used to play here. The high front door seemed to be carrying my home."
When Nannan sang this old opera song to me, it was too long to shine on her face, and the small freckles on her cheeks were slightly wrinkled. She squatted on the side of the road, looked up, and stared at the front door and the people coming and going. South and South have been studying in the field from Beijing to Beijing for two years. "At that time, I had to take a test of the school in Beijing. My father didn't agree. I usually didn't talk, but I couldn't do it at that time, and I ran. I took the train and breathed the first air in Beijing. It is."
A South-South Ami had been studying at a girls’ high school in Wuhan when she was so old. She saw her photos at that time in South and South. She was short-haired, wearing a cheongsam cheongsam and looking at her eyes. Ah's father taught in a school in Beijing, supporting the home thousands of miles away with the meager income of the teacher. Later, he died in a strange land, and Ah’s youthful dreams also lost their light. When she was a child, Nannan didn’t understand Ah’s regrets and sorrows. When she grew up, she read a novel “Reminiscing a place she has never been to”. She knows this feeling. She told me that this is a complex, a knot. So she came and came to Beijing.
There are four types of teahouses in old Beijing: books, wine, clear, and wild. These four teahouses have their own characteristics and each has its own particularity. The book teahouse is mainly based on storytelling. While drinking tea, the guests heard that Mr. Shuo tells a variety of eunuchs and legends. Note that this is a charge for hearing the book. The tea house is also called a tea tavern. As the name suggests, you can drink tea and drink alcohol, as well as have a side dish. The teahouse is mainly to provide a place for businesspeople to gather business. In contrast, the wild teahouse is much more accessible, with a pergola under the big tree, a few tables and chairs, and more in the suburbs, for visitors to rest, cool, drink tea.
The number of teahouses in old Beijing was the most prosperous at the end of the Qing Dynasty. Most of them are three or five facades. There are counters in front and large stoves in the back. A large copper pot with a height of five or six feet and a diameter of three feet is placed in the middle. There are spouts on both sides, hanging under the beams and drinking. There is a performance stage in the teahouse to perform a variety of operas.
Nannan said: "Do you know, I think Beijing's days are bigger than Wuhan's days?" She didn't know that she was a child at all. She said: "I just like Beijing. I just like to go to Beijing's big roads and small alleys. I just like to walk around the crowds in Beijing. My Ah, she used to wear Yindan Shilin cheongsam. Walking around in the dream of Beijing.
Artists in old Beijing performed opera and art in the teahouse, and the guests in the audience needed to pay them a tip – not called “tips” at the time, called “tea capital” – the drama developed into a part of the old Beijing teahouse culture. Don't underestimate those who perform in the teahouses. In the history of the development of the national drama, they can't help but have a lot of color. In the fifty-five years of Qianlong, the four major Hui classes entered Beijing and once lived and performed in the area of ​​Dashilan.
Due to the ban on the establishment of entertainment venues in the city in the Qing Dynasty, theaters and tea houses were concentrated in the front gate of the Dashilan area. After nearly a hundred years of development, from the axis of Sanqing, the song of Sixi, the son of Chunchun, the child of Chuntai, to the later "Tongguang Thirteen", four famous monks, four must be born, no Not singing from here. The current "Lao She Teahouse" brings together all kinds of cultures such as folk art dramas, flavor snacks and antique crafts in Beijing.
Into the Laoshe teahouse, dozens of purple-red imitation Qing dynasty tables are placed in the hall in a staggered manner. The roof is hung with twelve beautifully crafted hexagonal lanterns, next to the lattice window and the jade carving column. Various antiques, calligraphy and paintings, Buddha statues, paper-cuts, clay figurines, kites and jade articles are displayed in the house. Every afternoon, there will be a drama performance. .
A microphone was set up on the stage, which swept a bit of interest. Fortunately, Jingjing Jingyun still has a long history, and the fans of the stage are also drunk. This summer, Beijing often rains, and the reverberations surround the beams. The old Beijing in the imagination is gradually drifting away in the rain.
South-South holiday home, I received a newsletter from her: It is said that Beijing rarely rains. It is said that the rain in Beijing is not like rain. It is said that the rain in Beijing has not yet fallen to the ground and it has become a mud idea. It is said that after the rain in Beijing has evaporated, the city will be alive for a long time and will not change back to its original state. This is no longer my dream in Beijing, but I love him.


Liulichang Legend
Let me tell you a story about the old Beijing customs. Although it doesn't have much to do with the Liulichang, it can be counted as an antique shop, and there are some legends.
Outside Beijing Deshengmen, there are two markets before dawn, one is called the city, and the other is called the ghost city. The human market is the place to buy and sell labor, and the ghost market is another set of transactions. There are no fixed points to set up stalls, nor the types of goods. From the tying rope of the Queen Mother, to the dog stick that wants to eat rice, what is sold, and anyone buys it. Not only that, but when you need it, you can order it, or even name it. You put the money on the left shoulder, and the right hand holds up your chin to a conspicuous place. Someone will say hello: "Want to grab something?" "The jade pendant that follows: You may have bloody eyes." "There is a price, but the price can be high!" "The high price of goods, see you first!" This may become a business of two silver. Of course, there are also bargains. "What do you grab?"
"I have lost one of the five bronze buttons on this horse." 'Really!' 'How much is it?' 'When you give money, roll the two pieces in your hand to me and eat it!' A business. You have a good temper to do business here, you don’t want to get angry, but he doesn’t get angry. How many things he is not angry with. Many things are stolen, just take off your hands. Because this is the original, here you I can't find out the source of the good things. For this reason, some people have bought cheap goods here. I bought a blue-and-white jade pot with the money to buy vinegar bottles. I have to buy a copper gong to buy a business. On the other hand, it was also a matter of spending money to buy ginseng to buy coriander roots, and to buy Mongolian boots that bought paper paste with the money of satin thin boots. At that time, Beijingers got cheap and went everywhere. Show, revealing your own cleverness! Eat a lot of boring in the stomach, I am afraid to be ridiculed. So people hear more
It is a cheap thing in the ghost market. White people who think that they are not stupid are taking more and more people with silver.
Why did you first say this "ghost city"? It turned out to be similar to the formation of the Liulichang Cultural Street. The exchanges between the officials of the Qing Dynasty and the literati and the literati advocated the culture. They often gathered in the area of ​​the Liulichang, and searched for calligraphy and antiques, and learned the skills. The tradition of the Liulichang Cultural Street was beginning to take shape.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Beijing antiques.
"Zhang Ye, you give long eyes, the Hongqiao on his "Yu Chun Tu", how many flaws are there on the railings on both sides?"
"There are eight on both sides."
"What about my "Spring Tour"?"
The old Zhang Ye raised his hand and lifted the magnifying glass to look closely: "How is it going up and down?"
"Not bad. The railings in the original are for freehand. It is indeed seven or eight. Your one is fake."
The infighting in the antiques is like this.
The bronze dings used by the two Zhou dynasty martial arts priests in the dynasty of the dynasty appeared in the folk, attracting the attention of many insiders. The bronze dragon on the monster "饕餮" stands proudly. One of the "Longsheng Jiuzi" "饕餮" is insatiable and swallows everything in the world. It is engraved on a bronze tripod that symbolizes power and majesty, implying a sense of greed. In order to get Zhou Ding, all kinds of people and other intrigues, fighting and fighting. In the meantime, it spanned the most turbulent years of Chinese history, and finally annihilated enmity in the smoke of the common enemy. All the dust settled, leaving behind countless conjectures.
This is the story told in the movie "Antiquities", adapted from the same name drama of human art. He described the fascinating wonders of the ancient customs of the Haiwang Village in Beijing, rising and falling, with strong realistic meaning and Jingjing Jingyun. In real life, the place where Beijing antiques culture is born and raised is the Liulichang.
The Liulichang is located outside the Peace Gate, east from Yanshou Street and two to Nanshui Liuxiang. Originally it was one of the five major factories affiliated to the Qing Dynasty Ministry of Industry, and it was named after the glazed tile factory. Later, it gradually developed into an antique street that runs ancient calligraphy and painting, four treasures of literature, and jade jewels. Among them, many famous old names, such as Rong Baozhai, Qi Gu Ge, Qing Yun Tang, and Chinese bookstores, have been produced. There are two main sources of antiques in Liulichang: on the one hand, from the families who have fallen from the bureaucracy, on the other hand, the Eight-Power Allied Forces have entered Beijing, burned the Yuanmingyuan, and plundered a large number of treasures, some of which were transferred to the Liulichang. Therefore, the prosperity of the Liulichang is accompanied by the history of humiliation, and all kinds of rare treasures also reflect the various worlds.
Years and months have passed, and many things in the ups and downs have changed the previous appearance. Today, the antiques of Liulichang have long been difficult to distinguish, but they are still an important carrier of old Beijing traditional culture. The current Liulichang is more of a cultural street and a good place for people to visit the old Beijing culture. I think the significance of the Liulichang in today is here.


The days of Beijing
The elderly in Beijing have five essential signs: canopy, fish tank, pomegranate tree, fat dog, fat steamed bread. The current courtyard is divided by the newly built cabin, and the ceiling is no longer seen, but the pomegranate tree is still there. Walking along the gray and yellow wall of the small alley, looking up, you will often find the green pomegranate trees in the narrow courtyard, the branches of the stars igniting red flowers and delicate, amazing.
In the eyes of many people, Beijingers can be poor and poor, as if they are going through the night and the night. This view is really biased, and most of them are the scourge of several sitcoms in the early years. In fact, the real Beijingers are bleak, humble, and even embarrassing. Do not believe that you look up at the sky in Beijing, gray and white, at a glance, there is a big, all-inclusive temperament. The people who grew up in this world have grown up for a long time, and naturally they have a high spirit from the bottom of their hearts. As for the mountains and the poor mouths, it is only at dusk that two or two white wines, a dish of cucumbers, state affairs, family affairs, world affairs, jokes, whining, really the life of ordinary people.
On a cool summer afternoon, I walked with Julian in the alley. He is a friend I just met on the front door of the arrow. The high-altitude arrow-up on the breeze, I stood there to see the scenery, in fact, Beijing also has a large green, gray houses hidden in it. A voice sounded from behind: "Do you speak English? Are you willing to take photos with me in the alley?" We all carry the same F80.
Julian is a Frenchman, tall and thin. He did charity education in North Korea and went to Beijing on holiday. He said that he likes the hutongs in Beijing very much, and he talks nonsense with his lame Chinese "confusion" and "confusion" along the way.
The streets and hutongs of old Beijing are different. There are commercial shops on both sides of the street, and there are also institutions called the street, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Street, the old Criminal Street. Basically a resident courtyard, called Hutong. The names of the hutongs are mostly visualized, like the alleys of the ears, the knuckles of the knives, the alleys of the hair, you don't have to look at it, you can imagine its size and shape. There are many hutongs in Beijing. "The famous Hutong 3,600, the nickname of the Hutong Sai Mao Mao", even the old Beijing natives, do not dare to say that all know.
We are walking in the alley. Because it is working time, the hutong is very quiet, the ground of the earth is the shadow of the tree. Under the pomegranate tree, there is a man’s book, which is written by Chairman Mao’s poems and Zhuge Liang’s “Teacher’s Table”. Julian picked up a few pictures curiously, and both books and scripts were available. The man smiled very embarrassedly. He was anxious to explain the meaning of these words to Julian. In a hurry, he ridiculed the blunt tone of foreigners who spoke Chinese, which made people laugh.
Going forward, the trees are getting less and less, and the walls of the houses waiting for demolition show more and more loess colors, a scene of ruin. I don't know where to run out of a group of children, laughing around us, we picked up the camera, but they shyly ran away.
Julian said that the children in Beijing Hutong are very happy. They play in the flat and staggered alleys, the sky above the head is not clean and complete without the cutting of the stone forest, so their world is also clean and complete. Simple and developed, protected and evolved, and they meet in their growth, this is the only city memory.
I picked up a gadget, a little stroller toy. It's so small, you can imagine a toddler, pushing it on the ground in a small alley. The bamboo stick rotates with the wheel—under the snare drum made of the bottle cap, and makes a childish sound.
The sky was dark, and the chef who changed the beer was riding a tricycle and sipping on the streets. The beer bottles were colliding with each other, and the pace of asking the family was the unique rhythm of old Beijing. There are countless neon flashes in Beijing's night, and the old alley behind the glitz is bleak and silent. This is the day of Beijing, the truth of the other side of Beijing.
Vocabulary - the city's lonely
Solitary originally refers to a book that has only been published in the world. It also refers to the original one that has died and the only remaining copy. Nowadays, in the process of urban renewal, most cities have only a few buildings or blocks that can represent the historical charm of the city, and they have been transformed into urban isolated houses, such as Beijing's Hutong.
- "New Weekly" July 2002 "Urban City"


Goodbye, old Beijing
Xiaoli, a migrant worker from the northeast, recently stationed at the Liulichang with the demolition team. They started to be dark, shoulder-shouldered, and cleared the broken wall after the bulldozer. There are fewer and fewer old houses, which makes many people feel sad, but Xiao Li is very happy. He is working tirelessly all day, because for him, demolition means there is work, and there is work to do. You can earn money to send home. Because I have read the middle school, there is always a dream in Xiao Li’s heart. "When I have enough money for a thousand dollars, I will buy a computer." Xiao Li said with full sorrow. He didn't know that a thousand dollars couldn't buy a few computer components, even though the computer was just a distant concept for him. "Actually, I know that I have nothing to count on. I bought a computer for my little nephew. After he learned the computer, he would not be like me."
The old Zhang who lived in the Liulichang for most of his life was rather depressed: he lived in the old house for decades, his son’s grandson grew up from here, nothing went to the hutong, drinking tea, playing chess. The days have passed. It will be demolished at once, and Zhang can’t accept it. The old neighbors have already moved away, and Zhang still stubbornly returns to see it here every day. Facing my lens, my old face is full of sorrow and distrust: "What to shoot, take a picture to get the prize!"
When it comes to demolition, the mood is always complicated. Evolution and evolution are the eternal theme of the city, but the history of the lost arms of the iron arm is our eternal price.
After the demolition of the Liulichang area began, some people came here to excavate the fragments of "antique". They said that they are not cultural goods dealers, just for the sake of collection. These fragments are not real antiques, but just a symbol, a symbol. As the bulldozers of the rumble passed by, yesterday’s life turned into today’s history. This is a big joke we gave ourselves.